Economic Governance (GE0069)

Commitment 4: Innovative platform of economic governance

The Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia commits itself to create an interactive portal, which shall ensure maximum engagement of society and the private sector in the economic policy development process, effective decision making, transparency of processes and the business environment predictability growth.

The portal will place:
• Brief description of each economic reform, justification of necessity and international experience;
• Draft laws;
• Reform progress and implemented work;
• Questionnaire to be filled out for fixing an opinion about the reform.

The user will have a possibility:
• To fix own view in connection with the priority of different reforms.
• To present an initiative that could be supported by voting in its favor; in case the issue gains a sufficient number of supporters, it will be considered by the Economic Analysis and Reforms Department under the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development.

Commitment 4: Innovative platform of economic governance
Lead Agency Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia
Other Involved Actors Public Agencies
Civil Society/ Private Sector/International organization
Issues to be Addressed Upon implementation of economic reforms, at different stages the engagement of stakeholders and social groups for ensuring consultations, assessments and adaption of reforms to citizen needs takes place. However, this is not a regular process, being more of a fragmentary character. The purpose of the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development is to increase the wide public engagement in the reforms’ initiation, development and implementation process.
Main Objective Increasing society engagement in the economic reforms’ planning and implementation process.

OGP Principles Transparency Accountability Citizens Participation Technologies and Innovations
 
Milestones to Fulfill the Commitment New or ongoing commitment Start date: End date:
Interactive web-portal YOU. Conceptual perfection of GOV platform. New May 2018 December 2018
Interactive web-portal YOU. Promotion of platform GOV. New November 2018 June 2019
Indicator All functions of the Portal have been activated; the web-portal has at least 500 visitors monthly.
Risks and Assumptions Irregular update of the Portal; delayed responding to fixed views, communicated initiatives.

Commitment 4: Innovative Platform for Economic Governance

Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan:

“The Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia commits itself to create an interactive portal, which shall ensure maximum engagement of society and the private sector in the economic policy development process, effective decision making, transparency of processes and the business environment predictability growth.

The portal will place:

• Brief description of each economic reform, justification of necessity and international experience;
• Draft laws;
• Reform progress and implemented work;
• Questionnaire to be filled out for fixing an opinion about the reform.

The user will have a possibility:

• To fix own view in connection with the priority of different reforms.
• To present an initiative that could be supported by voting in its favor; in case the issue gains a sufficient number of supporters, it will be considered by the Economic Analysis and Reforms Department under the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development.”

Milestones: 

1. Interactive web-portal YOU. Conceptual perfection of GOV platform
2. Interactive web-portal YOU. Promotion of platform GOV

Start Date: May 2018

End Date: June 2019

Editorial note: For the full text of this commitment, please see https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/georgia-action-plan-2018-2019/.

Context and Objectives

With this commitment, the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia (MoESD) aims to consolidate information on economic reforms and processes implemented by MoESD and its subordinate legal entities into a single repository. Currently, information on economic reforms can be found on different webpages of government institutions, such as parliament.ge and economy.ge. However, various other organizations publish economic information relevant to their work. This makes it difficult to acquire comprehensive information about ongoing reforms. The new interactive web portal will include brief descriptions of each economic reform, justification for the reform, international experiences, draft laws, progress updates on reform implementation, and a questionnaire for the public to provide feedback on the reforms. Additionally, the new web portal will allow citizens to vote and prioritize aspects of economic reform packages. Citizens will also be able to propose initiatives that will be considered by the ministry if they gain enough votes by other users. 

By creating this web portal, the ministry plans to ensure access to information and transparency on ongoing and prospective economic reforms that directly link to access to information. It also aims to engage society and the private sector in discussion and decision making through the participation mechanisms. Thus, this commitment is relevant to the OGP values of access to information, civic participation, and technology and innovation for openness and accountability. The commitment clearly explains what kind of information will be placed on the web portal and what participation options users will have, which makes its implementation verifiable. However, it does not explain in detail the intentions of the two milestones.

According to interviewed stakeholders, [17] the interactive portal is a timely step forward, considering that public interest in economic reforms increases each day. The portal might be especially useful in helping the government to receive feedback from citizens who do not represent civil society organizations but are interested in reforms and in providing their viewpoints.

However, as stated during the IRM researcher’s focus group discussion, [18] the commitment does not specify how public involvement on the platform will affect the decision-making processes regarding economic reforms. The commitment states that citizen proposals will be “considered” by the Economic Analysis and Reforms Department under the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development. However, the commitment does not explain what this consideration will involve.

Also, the commitment does not specify what mechanisms will be strengthened or created to allow citizens to track the results of their participation in economic policy making. Thus, while the commitment provides tools for participation, it is unclear how the government will ensure that this participation has an actual impact on policy making. Accordingly, the potential impact is considered minor.

Next steps

Based on feedback from stakeholders, and because that this commitment responds to an area of high public interest (economic reforms), the IRM researcher recommends carrying it forward, but with specific improvements in its design: 

• Stakeholders recommend developing specific rules and procedures for how the Economic Analysis and Reforms Department will consider public proposals and voting into relevant decision-making processes. Stakeholders also recommend that the government require that citizens be notified that their feedback has been received. Citizens should also be provided a clear, well-reasoned response, in case they have questions and/or clarification is needed. [19] Submissions to the website should be considered by expert working groups, including civil society stakeholders, to ensure wider expert consideration of the proposals. Furthermore, care should be given to ensure that the online proposals function complements—and does not replace—other stakeholder engagement mechanisms.
• The IRM researcher recommends extending the initiative beyond economic reforms to gather all major political-administrative reforms that are of public interest on a single portal. This could boost public interest and participation levels.
• The IRM researcher recommends improving the commitment design by creating a robust awareness-raising and promotional strategy to ensure that citizens are aware of the availability of the you.gov.ge platform and the opportunities it provides. The strategy could entail a massive outreach campaign, active utilization of social media, and other types of awareness-raising activities nationwide.

[17] IRM researcher’s focus group discussion with experts, researchers, and master’s students of public administration, 18 June 2019.

[18] Focus group, 18 June 2019.

[19] IRM researcher’s focus group discussion with master’s students of public administration, 18 June 2019.

4. Innovative platform for economic governance

Theme 1: Improving Public Services

Limited

The Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development (MoESD) created a new portal (you.gov.ge) that brings together information on ongoing and planned activities by MoESD and its subordinate legal entities. The platform also includes features for initiating, voting, and prioritizing aspects of economic reforms. However, as of November 2020, the portal is still a pilot version.

According to CSOs’ input in the monitoring framework, the new platform has several technical issues that limit its wider usability and accessibility. In particular, major functions such as voting and initiating are only available to registered users, even though the registration function does not work. It also does not display the dates for information, so it is unclear if the information is updated regularly. It also does not include a share function.

MoESD did not conduct any awareness raising to promote the new portal.