SELF-GOVERNMENT BODIES AND

THE DECENTRALIZATION PROCESS

EVALUATION BY THE CIV IL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS

MAY 2016

The report was prepared by the Civil Development Agency (CiDA) and the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy, in cooperation with the Regional Civil Society Network (R-CSN) and national civil organizations.
The report was compiled with the support of the Open Society Georgia Foundation, the East-West Management Institutes
ACCESS programme, funded by USAID, and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).
The views, opinions and statements expressed by the authors and those providing comments are theirs only and do not neces
sarily reflect the position of Open Society Georgia Foundation. Therefore, the Open Society Georgia Foundation is not responsible
for the content of the information material.
The report is made possible by the support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) within the East-West Management Institutes (EWMI) ACCESS Project. The contents of this report is the
sole responsibility of Civil Development Agency (CiDA) and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID, the United States
Government, or EWMI.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction................................................................................................................................................................6
Main Findings............................................................................................................................................................7
1. Transparency and Publicity of the Local Self-Government Bodies

1.1 Public Information..................................................................................................................................8

1.2 Webpages................................................................................................................................................9
1.3 Sessions of Sakrebulo.............................................................................................................................10
2. Finances of the Self Government and the Budgetary Process...............................................................................12
3. State Procurement..................................................................................................................................................14
4. Competence and Authority of the Self-Government Bodies.................................................................................15
5. Evaluation of the Decentralization Process...........................................................................................................17
6. Societys Involvement and Control

6.1 Citizens Involvement in the Implementation of the Local Self-governance.........................................18

6.2 Societys Attitude and Control................................................................................................................18

7. Policy on Human Resources..................................................................................................................................19
8. Self-Government Elections in Georgia..................................................................................................................21

INTRODUCTION
Civil society organizations (CSOs) play an important role in Georgia in the process of the self-government concept
elaboration, refinement of legislation, development of self-governance practices, promotion of citizen participation,
and monitoring and evaluation of self-governments performance.
In recent years, a number of reports were prepared by civic organizations with the main purpose of analysing and
evaluating the decentralization process in Georgia.
This report is mainly based on the CSOs meeting on 12-13 December 2015, in Gudauri, with the participation of
NGOs working throughout the country and regional NGOs, which are the members of the Regional Civil Society Network. The discussion was devoted to the reform of self-government and in general, the evaluation of the decentraliza
tion. Recent reports of civil society organizations and various assessments are also used in this report.
This report aims to bring together civil societys recent assessment of self-governance reform and work performed,
based on which it presents a vision which might be effective solution for the identified problems. Self-government is
the authority that has the closest contact with society. Therefore, the implementation of positive reform is impossible
without the engagement of the civil society. The activities, experiences and expertise of the latter will be essential for
the development of reform. Additionally, cooperation of the central, as well as municipal authorities and representatives
of communities is important for overcoming challenges and achieving a true decentralized local government.
This report was prepared by the Civil Development Agency (CiDA) and the International Society for Fair Elections
and Democracy, in cooperation with the Regional Civil Society Network (R-CSN) and national civil organizations.
The report was compiled with the support of the Open Society Georgia Foundation, the East-West Management
Institutes ACCESS programme funded by USAID, and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

MAIN FINDINGS
Since reclaiming independence, development of self-government and the decentralization of governance have per
sisted as the main challenges in Georgia. Despite using various models at different times, the state does not have clear
vision or solution on the issue of decentralization that is based on the consensus among society.
Following the 2012 elections, the newly elected government has put decentralization forward as one of its main prioriti
es. Implementation of the self-government reform and real decentralization is immensely important for achieving democ
ratic governance. Accordingly, implementation of changes in this regard by the government is a step forward. However,
it is noteworthy that the government proposed an ambitious decentralization reform concept. Unfortunately, in February
2014, the adopted organic law - the Code of Local Self-Government only reflected a small portion of this concept.
In line with the new Code, a number of issues must be resolved on the next phase of the reform. Despite the creati
on of seven new self-governing cities based on the Code, full-scale decentralization and optimization of municipalities
remains among the issues to be resolved in the future. The authors of the reform linked this to a number of reasons, in
cluding the absence of the general population census, which began in 2013-2014, the results of which should determine
the implementation of the key part of the reform. An additional reason for the postponement of the reform is hugely
related to income and power distribution, which should be carried out gradually.
Despite a number of pending issues, which were put forward for the future, after the 2012 Parliamentary Elections
and the entry into force of the reform (from the date of the announcement of 2014 local election results), a couple of
significant changes and interesting trends were observed.
The 2014 reform led to important achievements, such as the direct elections of Mayors and Gamgebelis, through the
creation of seven new municipalities the roles of cities and villages were strengthened in these self-governing entities.
Because of the political processes, the quality of transp arency has significantly incr eas ed and municipal authorities ex
press increased readiness for civic involvement as well as cooperation with society.
Despite the achiev ed results, specific aspects of access to information remain problematic; proactive publishing of
information presents a challenge, as well as financial independence of municipalities, citizens real engagement in the
decision making process, effective and corruption free state procurement. Nepotism still is a standing issue especially
in the process of human resources management.
Within the framework of the self-government reform, territorial optimization should be handled in a timely manner.
Municipalities should become active in the process of attr acting finances; public servants must undergo train ings in
order to ensure that they hold the necessary knowledge and skills to guarantee public access to information, timely and
proper planning of the budget, as well as progress on other issues are necessary in guar anteeing an efficient functioning
of self-governance. Meanwhile, attr acting qualified personnel, objective evaluations of potential candidates and trans
parency of vacancy announcements in human resources hiring process is very important.
7

1. TRANSPARENCY AND PUBLICITY OF THE LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT BODIES

1.1 Public Information
Since the 2012 elections, there has been some progress with regard to the publicity of the work of self-government
bodies. The overall trend has largely improved. Some studies confirm that municipalities are providing more informa
tion and in better timeframes compared to previous periods.1 Despite this, there are still a number of issues with regard
to the provision of the public information. For example, quite often deadlines set by law in regards to the provision of
public information are not met or the information is not provided at all. It should be noted that according to Georgian
legislation, the maximum period for providing the information is 10 days, which should be used to its maximum only
in exceptional cases. In general, information should be provided as soon as possible without any delay.2 However, ac
cording to the civil organizations, in most of the cases the 10 days period is used even in cases when there is no lawful
ground.
Existing practices reveal that in many cases, information spread by the self-governance bodies is incomplete, or does
not correspond to requests. Provision of the incomplete information or denial of the request on public information in
many cases is due to the incorrect qualification of the requested information as personal data. Provision of information
on financial and budgetary issues is problematic is some municipalities. Additionally, self-government bodies infor
mation and statistics on a set of issues are not documented and/or stored, which in itself is problematic. Qualifications
of human resources also represent a problem, as the staffs of the municipalities often do not know how to process given
information.
In the monitoring process, it was revealed that in a number of cases, the provision of information depends on who
the requester is. For example, requests made by civic organizations are handled with more responsibility in comparison
to individual requests from citizens.
Monitoring has also revealed that there are fewer violations with regard to the provision of public information at
Sakrebulos compared to Gamgeobas. One of the most problematic issues with regard to the provision of information
is receiving public information from the Commissions for Selection and Certification at self-government bodies. There
were cases when contestants or human rights organizations faced difficulty obtain ing information and proper documen
tation from the Commission, which were necessary in order to make an appeal with regard to the results of the compe
tition or certification.
1

Access to Public Information in Georgia - Report Summarizing 2010 2015 Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI), December 11,
2015. Available at: https://idfi.ge/ge/access-to-public-information-in-georgia-report-summarizing-2010%E2%80%932015 [Last checked on 20 February 2016].
2
The General Administrative Code of Georgia, Article 40, Paragraph one: information must be provided no later than 10 days if the following public information is requested: a) Obtaining and processing of information from the structural units located at other settlements or other public institutions; b) Obtaining and
processing considerable number of individual and unrelated documents; c) Consultations with its structural units in other settlements or other public institution.

1.2 Webpages
The internet is one of the most effective means of receiving information. Therefore, it is important for self-gover
nment bodies to have web-pages through which they can provide updated and interesting information to the society.
It should be noted that according to the General Administrative Code of Georgia, Article 28, paragraph 2, Public in
stitutions are obliged to proactively disclose public information in accordance with the terms and conditions of bylaw
normative act. The changes intr oduced in the Code of Local Self-Government on July 22, 2015 also set the minimal
standards of proactive disclosure of information.
The code of the Self-Governance1 also specifies the types of information that should be disclosed by a municipality
in a proactive manner. Some municipalities have adopted normative acts that determine specific issues with regard to
the placement of information on webpages. However, not all the municipalities have adopted such an act. Meanwhile,
the adopted acts do not regulate all aspects of information disclosure and request rules. In addition, the list of the infor
mation to be proactively disclosed to public is not uniform for all municipalities and in some cases, very low standards
are imposed. Herewith, the model resolution that was jointly adopted by the Management System Development Cen
ter (MSDC) and Vano Khukhunaishvili Center for Effective Governance System and Territorial Arrangement Reform
with the support of the Open Society Foundation Georgia should be mentioned. In this model resolution, the stan
dards are much higher than the standards set in the resolutions of any municipality on the proactive disclosure of public
information. The above-mentioned model resolution has been sent to the Sakrebulos of all municipalities throughout
Georgia but it is unknown if the recommendations were taken into consideration.
According to the monitoring carried out by civil society organizations, some of the self-governing bodies do not
have webpages at all. In some cases, though there are websites, they are not updated, making it impossible to obtain in
formation on current issues.2 It should be noted that the majority of the Sakrebulos have orders posted on the websites,
which is certainly a positive fact, but only a third of self-government bodies have their budget placed on the website.3
Unfortunately, the webpages are not used for two-way communication between the population and local self-gover
nments. This is caused by the fact that in number of cases websites do not have email function or event when the email
communication is possible self-government bodies do not reply to letters received electronically.
1

Organic Law of Georgia The Code of Local Self-Government , Article 851, Paragraph 3.
Detailed information on the usage of webpages and social networks can be obtained through the Report of Monitoring Websites of Local Self-Government
Bodies, International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), June 30, 2015. Available at: http://www.isfed.ge/main/916/eng/
Also please read the following blog: How Do the Official Webpages in Imereti Municipality Work. Transparency International Georgia February 5, 2016.
http://www.transparency.ge/blog/ramdenad-gamartulad-mushaobs-imeretis-munitsipalitetebis-opitsialuri-vebgverdebi
3
It should be noted that the budget is a legal act and its placement on the official website (matsne.gov.ge) is mandatory. However, municipal budget is not as
readily available on the official webpage (matsne.gov.ge) in comparison to its publication on the self-governances official webpage.
2

As for the positive aspects, it should be noted that the use of social networks and the informing of population through
this tool is a commonly accepted practice for the self-government bodies.
Improper usage of the webpage or its absence on the one hand represents disregard of the obligations imposed by
the law, and on the other hand is a hindrance to the active communication between the population and self-government.
As mentioned above, the obligation imposed by law on the proactive disclosure of information by the self-government
bodies depends on the adoption of normative act from their side. In this regard, there is a very positive example of Tchi
atura, where a resolution on the disclosure of information was adopted in reaction to the initiative from society and is
still in force today. These types of cases reveal the importance of engagement of civil society in the process of guaran
teeing proactive disclosure of information by the self-government bodies.1

1.3 Sessions of Sakrebulo

In line with The Code of Local Self-Government, government sessions of the municipalitys Sakrebulo and
Commission of the municipalitys Sakrebulo shall be public except in the circumstances specified by the law.2 Any
individual has the right to attend public sessions of municipalitys Sakrebulo or Commission of the municipalitys
Sakrebulo without prior notice/permission.3 Accordingly, in order to be able to exercise his/her right to attend a pub
lic meeting, self-government bodies should inform the public about the scheduled sessions effectively and in a timely
manner.
Sakrebulos sessions are mainly held once a month at the municipalities according to the legislation. In some cases,
Sakrebulos regulation specifies a weekday when the session should be held. The handb ook elaborated by USAIDs
Programme G3 and UNDP, which was provided to the municipalities by the Ministry of Regional Development and
Infrastructure and Vano Khukhunaishvili Center for Effective Governance System and Territorial Arrangement Reform
(CEGSTAR), contained the template of the Sakrebulos resolution. This was the document used by almost all munici
palities when adopting the resolution. The template contained the following article: Sakrebulo sessions in accordance
with the Code of Local Self-government Article 26 Paragraph 1, in line with the rules enforced by this resolution
should be convened at least one a month. According to the rule, the session should be convened on the first Monday of
each month (If Monday is a day off, on the next working day). If we look through the Sakrebulos regulations of the
self-government units, we will see that the same text is copied and only the days are changed (for example in Tchiatura,
1

Union of Tchiatura Residents has mobilized the population in 2012 and addressed the municipality Sakrebulo with 1000 signatures. Based on the request
the Sakrebulo has adopted the Rules on Provision of Information according to which information should be continuously obtained and disclosed through
the available tools.
2
Organic Law Code of Local Self Government. Article 87.
3
Ibid.

10

Telavi Community, City of Mtskheta) One can detect only the changes in the days of the week (in some cases Wed
nesday, Monday or any other day is chosen in this regard). Although in some municipalities (for example in Kobuleti,
Rustavi) the text is only partially copied. It is specified that the session is held at least once a month, but there are no
details with regard to the day. Here, the texts contains the following specifications: as per need or according to the
decision of the head of the session.
In the cases when the days of the week are not specified in the text of the resolution, people who follow self-govern
ment issues closely have an access to information about the details but same information might not be accessible to the
public. It is problematic to obtain the information about the day of the session when it is not specified in the resolution.
Additionally, it is problematic to inform public on the extraordinary sessions.
Information on the sessions is spread through social networks, websites and media. The most widespread ways of
informing public are the stands that are placed at the self-government buildings. Although there exist several problems:
The village population does not have a possibility to get acquainted with information placed on the stands;
There are cases when stands are located beyond the area of citizens reach, where it is impossible to enter without
special permission.
There are positive precedents of session livestreaming in some cases. Although, it should be noted that in certain
cases, the agendas of the sessions are not disclosed in advance and this fact represents the violation of the law.1
It important to highlight that the Gori municipality is a good example where civil organizations are provided with
the information about the sessions through emails in advance and simultaneously spread through the social networks.
People with special needs face difficulty attending the session due to the infrastr ucture that is not adapted to their
needs. Only a few municipalities, for example Rustavi, have the special infrastr ucture which makes the ground floor
of the building accessible to all.
In many cases, regulations of the representative bodies of self-government are similar. This is partially caused by
the copying of documents from these bodies from each other and also by utilization of the templates provided to them
through the handbook on self-government.2 The purpose of the handbook was to ease the burden of organizational as
pects under a firm schedule for the newly created municipalities, alth ough the massive usage of the template without
consideration of local contexts is not an accepted practice.
1

The General Administrative Code of Georgia. Article 34. Sakrebulo, which is a collegial public institution, is obliged to publicly announce a week before
the information on the next meeting, the venue, time and agenda of the meeting; also in case of the corresponding decision on the closure of the session.
2
Handbook for Newly Established Municipalities. 2014. Available at:: http://www.lsg.gov.ge/contentimage/2014.pdf [Last checked on February 20, 2016].

11

Recommendations for the Improvement of the Practice:

In order to solve the existing problems with regard to transparency and public access, it is necessary to improve
qualifications of the public servants with active engagement of the municipal bodies, local and international organiza
tions (through training programmes, handbooks, etc.), especially on the timelines of provision of information, and the
nature of public information;
It is necessary for all municipalities to adopt regulations on the proactive publishing of the information and
provision of public information;
It is important for all local self-government bodies to have a website, which will be systematically updated with
interesting and relevant information for the population;
It is necessary for the Sakrebulos relevant units to publish information in a timely manner in accordance with
the deadlines specified in the law on the sessions of Sakrebulo, as well as take all meas ures to guar antee the right of
attendance at the sessions for interested individuals. They should also facilitate easy access through abolishing burea
ucratic barriers at the entry permits bureau or through providing special permits for entr ance;
It is important to adapt the building of self-government in a way that will guarantee the access of all interested
individuals into the building and not only on the first floor of the venue.

2. FINANCES OF THE SELF GOVERNMENT AND THE BUDGETARY PROCESS

It is impossible to implement self-government effectively without real financial decentr alization. Financial decent
ralization should have been a key component of the self-government reform. Unfortunately the changes (for example
on the issue of proportions and mechanisms of revenue) which were separately reflected in the legislation though the
regulation after the introduction of the Code of Self-government does not provide ground for optimism. The share of
the revenue allocated to the self-government is minimal and it does not serve as an additional source of income for local
budgets because the amounts of transfers decrease simultaneously. Accordingly, this will not be an important positive
factor for the purposes of an increasing local budget. Therefore, there is a need for new regulations, according to which
the increas e in revenue will not be reflected on transfers negatively; at the same time, there is a need for elaboration of
more liberal policy with regard to the taking loans and grants by self-government.
Municipalities receive an additional budget for the implementation of the main projects through the funds of the
12

regional projects and the municipal development fund. Besides state funds, the self-government is usually given a pos
sibility to receiv e funding from international organizations; alth ough due to the lack of proper knowledge and skills,
they are unable to utilize this possibility.
It should be noted that the regulations do not define the powers delegated to the municipality for the implementation
of the rules for calculating the targeted transfer and they are reflected only in the form of digits in the law on the State
Budget, which in practice leads to certain difficulties.
For the participation of the sides interested in the budgetary processes, it is problematic that legislation does not de
fine precisely what is meant under the public discussion and how it should be convened. For example, who exactly and
how they should be invited to these types of discussions, how information should be disseminated among the public and
so on; all of the above-mentioned issues create difficulty in making a clear interpretation of the term. In many cases, the
public discussion on the budget is convened at the period when in real terms it is impossible to introduce corresponding
changes into it and the feedback received during the discussion process is senseless.
The process of budget discussion usually carries only formal nature and it does not reflect the priorities defined by
the population; this fact causes their passive engagement in self-governance issues.

Recommendations for the Improvement of the Practice:

The financial decentr alization process should be taken to a higher level; local revenue incr eas e should be en
couraged. At the same time, the formula on equal transfers should be overlooked in a way that rises in revenue of the
municipality does not affect the amount of transfers from the centr al budget;
It is desirable to work out a regulation which will clearly define the rules of the calculation of targeted transfers
for implementation of obligations delegated to the municipalities;
Self-government bodies should be actively involved in the process of calculation of transfers which are to be
allocated to their municipalities;
It is desirable for self-governance bodies to express their initiative for attracting additional funds. National Association of Local Self-government, international and local organizations should support self-government in the process
of fund finding with the help of provision of proper information and equipping them with necessary skills.
It is necessary to plan budget discussions in a timely manner in order to safeguard the reflection of citizens pri
orities and ideas of it in order to ensure more transparency and further citizen engagement within the process. Rules for
13

the public discussion of the budgetary issues should be specified in the Sakrebulos regulations, as the current law does
not provide necessary details on the issue.

3. STATE PROCUREMENT
According to the civil organizations, tenders in self-government are announced publicly, by means of internet and
information available for all individuals. At the same time, a current trend of simplified procurement, which entails the
possibility of spending quite large sums while bypassing transparency and publicity of the process, should be assessed
negatively.1
When it comes to tenders, the main problem is prioritizing certain companies and factors of nepotism, which entails
drafting terms of reference in a way that is adapted to a specific person or company. It should be noted that civil society
organizations have identified that municipalities do not take adequate meas ures in cases of violations of deadlines or
provision of improper work by companies.
At the same time, some civil society organizations think that it is not right to put a focus on the price and not the
quality provided by the companies participating in the tendering process as this fact is reflected on the work performed.
Big companies refrain from participation in the tender, competition is decreased and accordingly, the quality of the
product/service received is poor. The risk of corruption is considerably lowered due to the current electronic system,
although quality continues to pose challenges. In this regard, it is possible to avoid the issue in several ways, however,
this mainly depends on the purchaser organization (requests of proper tender documentation, preliminary conclusions
of experts, requests of proper expertise or audit before accepting the product or service and so on). Moreover, there is
the pricing mechanism in action, which has been incorporated into the legislation to more or less solve the issue.2 Despite this, it is not used actively in practice. According to the civil organizations, this fact may be explained by the lack
of competence of the public servants concerned.
Effective utilization of the black list is also a problem as those individuals or companies who are in the list register
new companies in order to participate in the public tender.
1

Please see: State Procurement in 2013-2014: How is the budget spent? Transparency International Georgia. July 2015. Available at: http://www.transparency.ge/sites/default/files/post_attachments/saxelmcipo_shesqidvebi_2013-2014_clebshi.pdf [Last checked on February 20, 2016].
2
In case of decrease of the price quoted in the tender document with 20% or more the side should present the corresponding documents that confirm that it is
possible to perform the work for the last price provided. Decree N9 of the head of the State Procurement Agency, of April 7, 2011, Approval of the Simplified
Electronic Tender and Holding of the Electronic Tender , paragraph 11.21.

14

Recommendations for the Improvement of the Practice:

For more effectiveness of the state procurement procedures, self-governing bodies should compile a
tender documentation in a way that guarantees receipt of high quality goods and services. Simultaneously, the
mechanism established by law on checking pricing adequacy should be used efficiently in order to check if the
offered unreasonably low price makes it possible to provide services/goods within the quoted price range. The
terms of the tenders announced by the self-government bodies should minimize the possibility of participation
of black listed individuals (for example by demanding information on experience). In this regard, the role of the
State Procurement Agency will be important in the elaboration of the corresponding handbook and providing of
trainings;
Self-Government bodies should not adjust tender terms to a specific person or company. In such cases, self-go
vernment bodies and subsequent state bodies should react accordingly. This issue also concerns the case when the side
who has won the tender does or does not fulfil its responsibilities outlined in the tender documentation sufficiently;
It is desirable to minimize the possibility of a simplified procurement process, as this makes itpossible to incr e
ase the degree of transparency of public procurement as well as promote rational expenditure of resources;
Despite the fact that electr onic tenders and their results are published on the following website w, obligation of
proactive publication of information about tenders results and carried out procurements should be determined by law,
as this will increase the possibility of monitoring from civil society and will better inform the population on the issues
of spending budgetary funds.

4. COMPETENCE AND AUTHORITY OF THE SELF-GOVERNMENT BODIES

The legislation defines the separation of powers, which led to a slight change in the reform and became an object
for criticism. One of the changes entailed the transf er of rescue services under the Interior Ministry. On one hand, it
was regarded as a positive change due to the saving of funds (another factor is that if the municipality does not have
enough employees in this regard, it does not have to search for additional power in nearby municipalities). On the ot
her hand, effectiveness was put under question (for exampl e, if it is correct to call to 112 when there is not centralizes
database about all settlements and operators often must inquire from the caller how a rescue team could reach the loca
tion). There are similar problems with regard to calling emergency services when too much centralization diminishes
the effectiveness of the work performed.
15

Competences of the self-government bodies is problematic. Many competences that should be implemented by the
local government face intervention from the centr al government (through directives, normative acts); at the same time,
self-government bodies might be implementing competences, which in turn, fall under the central or autonomous re
publics government. (Unfortunately, nowadays there is no relevant grounded research on the separation of powers on
the competences on the activities of municipal bodies.)
The issue of cooperation among municipalities has been put forward as a result of local self-government reform.
The law has defined the right to unified action for the purpose of effective implementation of certain competences.1
Although, observation has revealed that in a number of issues, municipalities do not cooperate on the specific topics
and communication serves to be ineffective.
The mechanism defined in the legislation according to which the Sakrebulo can dismiss a Mayor/Gamgebeli was
assessed negatively by the civil society organizations. This regulation comes in conflict with the aspiration of novelty
in the legislation on directly elected Mayors and Gamgebelis.
One of the major problems is that the properties of municipalities are not fully documented. The documentation
that lists the properties under possession of the municipalities, exists, but because full-scale studies were not perfor
med in each municipality, the list may not properly reflect the realities of the documentation of the municipalities
properties. It should be noted that throughout the years, recently created or rearranged self-governance units were
inheriting the property owned by their predecessors according to the documentation in line with the reform. In real
terms, the existence of the property and its state were not checked in most cases, caused by the fear of subsequent
responsibility.

Recommendations for the Improvement of the Practice:

The competences of the self-government should be defined clearly, the authority of centr al, autonomous and
local governments should not be confused, and interventions in others authorities should be prevented;
It is recommended for local and international organizations working on self-governance issues to provide rese
arch on the separation of powers which in turn would reveal the issues and necessities faced by the population;

It is necessary to encourage cooperation among municipalities, as this will increase effectiveness in certain is

Local Self-Government Code, paragraph21.

Cooperation for Securing Public Service among the Self-Government Bodies USAID, Programme of Democratic Government in Georgia (G3), 2014. Available at:: http://www.lsg.gov.ge/contentimage/3/municipalitetebTan_TanamSromloba.PDF [Last checked on February 27,
2016].
1

16

sues. The role of the Local Self-government Association and the Regional Advisory Council is very important in this
process;
There is a necessity to conduct an audit of the property that is on the balance of self-government bodies and to
reflect a real situation in this regard.

5. EVALUATION OF THE DECENTRALIZATION PROCESS

The ongoing reform on decentralization has been limited with the minimal novelty. The main change brought about
by it is the increase in the number of self-governing cities and partial assignation of local revenues. Financial decen
tralization should have been the cornerstone of the new wave of decentralization, but in parallel to the changes that
introduced partial assignation of local revenue, the decrease in transfers was adopted as a result of which local budgets
and volume of activities will not change.
It should be noted that the reform was not followed by territorial optimization- The establishment of self-governing
cities and communities based on 7 municipalities were not the result of a new territorial demarcation or any other chan
ges. The law has arranged the State Commission, which must work on this issue, however, the Commission is unable to
perform on the topics of defined in this agenda in a timely manner. For example, the criteria for territorial optimization,
which should be the basis for the reform is not defined at this time. Taking into consideration the fact that next self-go
vernm
ent elections should be held in 2017, the Commission has a very limited time for achiev ing the specific results.
The lack of progress in this regard is an indicator for the absence of political will.
Despite these shortcomings, civic organizations assess positively the launch of the decentralization process. The
process has positively affected the quality of the provided services and has made for more effective. Previously, a main
portion of the budget was spent on disadvantaged cities and villages, but due to decentralization, village funds were
increased and bodies of self-government are more focused on the areas which falls under their competence.

Recommendations for the Improvement of the Practice:

The need for territorial optimization was put forward several times and its postponement has a negative effect
on the processes. Therefore, this crucial component of the ongoing reform of self-government should be implemented
in a timely manner.
17

6. SOCIETYS INVOLVEMENT AND CONTROL

6.1 Citizens Involvement in the Implementation of the Local Self-governance
Due to the lack of motivation, the degree of engagement of citizens in the process of local self-government imple
mentation is low. This trend is especially obvious in the villages.
Citizens involvement through the creation of public councils and petitions are not novelties. The new Code on selfgovernment introduces common councils of the settlements, the effectiveness of which will be observed in practice. At
this stage, it can be said that due to the difficulties with procedures of holding the first council, there is a huge chance
that population will be discouraged to form the councils; especially when citizens trust in local self-governance and
the level of their initiative is low. Some of the research carried out reveals that there are very few examples of success
ful cooperation between municipalities and citizens. The reasons for inactivity, besides lack of knowledge, are that the
society feels that they cannot influence decisions, thus they become indifferent towards the possibility of cooperation.

6.2 Societys Attitude and Control

Civil society and media represent effective means of control of self-governments work. Civil organizations under
line the fact that media attention, in most cases, has a positive effect on the resolution of the issue by the local gover
nment.
Existence and active involvement of civil society organization unions, platforms and networks (for example Regi
onal Civil Society Network, which was established in 2013 and unites 55 regional civil society organizations) are of
great importance. On one hand, this will cause an increase in the control of the performance of self-government bodies
for society, and on the other hand increase accountability of local authority towards the population.

Recommendations for the Improvement of the Practice:

Despite limited population involvement, a few success stories that exist in Georgia should be duly utilized.
While working on various forms of citizens involvement, it is crucial to incorporate the opinions of civil groups that
are experienced in this regard.
It is very important to initiate control from the societys side. The civil sector and media should be involved as
much as possible in the self-government activities. Utilization of the regional networks and platforms knowledge will
assist the goal of spreading knowledge and experience.
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7. POLICY ON HUMAN RESOURCES

Recruitment of qualified professionals at self-government bodies is important for upholding the self-governance
functions effectively.
Civil organizations have observed problems with the policy on human resources, competitive examinations and the
certification processes. Public access to the work of the Commissions on Examinations and Certification is not uniform.
For example, civil organizations were not given the possibility to observe an interview process at some municipalities.1
Meanwhile, civil organizations did not have the option to attend a final decision making process by the Commission at
any self-governing body.
In a number of cases, after review
ing the reports of the Commissions on Examinations and Certification, it is doub
tful that competition was held fairly. Specifically, there were cases when the candidates with lower points were priori
tized over candidates with the higher scores.
It is problematic to obtain a report of the Commission on Examinations and Certification. In several instances, the
participants of the process were denied the obtainment of reports, which defined the reas ons for the denial of the can
didacy of the position for which he/she applied. Problems were also detected in the process of evaluation of candida
tes; since in a number of cases, the Commission did not have the evaluation form requir ed by the regulation or did not
utilize it during the evaluation process. At the same time, where the Commission had the above-mentioned evaluation
forms, it did not provide the necessary information of objective, fair and full evaluation of the candidates.
It was observed that participants of the competitions were asked improper questions, were not assessed impartially
as well as were put some pressure on by the Commission members or officials.2
Dismissal of municipality staff from their positions also represents a problem. According to IDFIs research in 2014,
from 91 local self-government institutions (the Sakrebulos and Gamgeobas) a total 3251 individuals were dismissed for
various reasons. The massive dismissal of staff in public service clearly indicates the existence of a systemic problem3.
International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) has observed the interview process in 5 self-governing bodies, although
with some limitations: Tbilisi City Hall, Kutaisi City Hall, Gori City Hall, Telavi City Hall, Lanchkhuti Municipality; 10 self-governing bodies
have refused to the observation of the ongoing or planned interview processes: Ozurgeti City hall, Rustavi City hall, Akhaltsikhe, Ozurgeti,
Aspindza, Kareli, Telavi, Terjola, Sagarejo and Tetritskaro municipalities;
2
Please see he reports of Monitoring the Process of Certification and Competition in Public Service International Society for Fair Elections
and Democracy (ISFED). The link is available at: http://www.isfed.ge/main/855/geo/; http://www.isfed.ge/main/896/geo/; http://www.isfed.
ge/main/984/geo/ [ Last checked on 21 February 2016].
3
Please see The Statistical Analysis of Dismissal of Employees from Various Public Institutions in 2014. the Institute for the Development
of Freedom of Information (IDFI). November 25, 2015. Available at: https://idfi.ge/ge/statistical-analysis-of-dismissal-of-employees-from-various-public-institutions-in-2014 [Last checked on April17, 2016].
1

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Facts of nepotism and the incr eas e of the number of positions in the regions are definitely problematic.1 It should
be noted that one of the novelties of the Code on Local Self-government was the definition of the maximum number
of staff at the self-government bodies.2 According to the formula specified by the law, in most of the cases there was a
need for reducing posts, however, this point only concerns the number of public servants at the local self-government.
According to the observations of the civic organizations, the number of staff has increased at the Non-commercial
Non-Profit Legal Entities and there was no trend of the improvement of public services, thus, this rise can be regarded
as artificial.3 At the same time, staff of the Non-commercial Non-Profit Legal Entities is not selected based on compe
tition; this fact significantly incr eas es the possibility of nepotism.
During the competition and certification process, the phase of test exams has been obligatory since 2014. This
phase was taken out of the municipality competences that created more trust towards the objectivity of the process.
At the same time, according to the new law on Public Service, entering into force on January 1, 2017, the holding
of a special certificate will be necessary for embarking in public service at the local self-government. It is important
that the new regulation not make the recruitment process at the municipalities that have ethnic minorities even more
difficult.

Recommendations for the Improvement of the Practice:

Self-governments activities should be objective and as transparent as possible during the recruitment process.
Corresponding bodies should act in a timely manner in case of detecting nepotism;
In order to attract professionals, the conditions of competition should be refined by the intr oduction and estab
lishment of a common system of participant evaluation;
In order to foster the existence of local high-level professionals, it is important for the government to implement
special policies in the municipalities populated by the ethnic minorities.
Please see Signs of nepotism in Chkhorotsku Municipality Transparency International Georgia. September 10, 2014. Available at: http://
www.transparency.ge/blog/nepotizmis-nishnebi-chkhorotsqus-munitsipalitetshi; Also see: Son-in-law, Wifes Cousin, Godsons Father- Relatives of Kvareli Gamgebeli in Public Service. Kakheti Information Centre. August 7 2014. Available at: http://ick.ge/articles/19052-i.html;
Supreme Court in the Public Service Against the Slavery Relations Kakheti Information Centre. November 18, 2014. Available at: http://
ick.ge/articles/20139-i.html [Links last checked on February 21, 2016].
2
Code of Local Self-Governance. Article 156.
3
Review of Changes at Adjara Municipality bodies after Self-governance Elections in 2014. Transparency International Georgia. February
3, 2016. Available at: http://www.transparency.ge/blog/2014-tslis-tvitmmartvelobis-archevnebis-shemdeg-acharis-munitsipalur-aaipebshi-gankhortsielebuli-tsvlilebebis-mimokhilva [Last checked on February 21, 2016].
1

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8. SELF-GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS IN GEORGIA

Several issues should be singled out when it comes to the self-government elections.
The decision to elect directly Mayor and Gamgebeli should be accessed positively as it fosters democratic governan
ce at the local level. The 50% barrier guar antees a high level of legitimization of the elected officials. Additionally, the
increase in the number of members of parliament through the proportional list in the self-governing community, and the
decrease of the barrier in proportional elections will foster pluralism in the representative body.1
Despite these positive changes, important and problematic issues that were not resolved by the reform should be
underlined. Primarily, this is related to the refining of the electoral system. As there were no substantive changes intr o
duced in the recent reform in regards to the territoriality of the municipalities, and accordingly, the electoral system re
form was not introduced. Furthermore, it should be noted that the territorial optimization process, which is proceeding
at a very slow rhythm, puts the possibility of changes in the electoral system by 2017 under risk. Implementation of
self-governance reform at such a late stage makes evident that there is not enough time left for electoral reform, which
requires a huge amount of resources and a broad communication campaign for the electorate.
Another problem is the utilization of administrative resources among aspects, which do not, but should place emp
hasis on the involvement of the staff of self-government bodies in the agitation process, as well as on planning projects
in the municipal budget implementation, which coincide with the election period.2
One of the main achievements of the self-government reform is the direct election of the Mayors and Gamgebeli.
However, possibilities for their impeachment were weakened as the latter can be used as a tool of political retribution
as well as used against the interests of the majority of the population.

Recommendations for the Improvement of the Practice:

With the purpose of solving election related issues, first it is important to finalize the territorial optimization pro
cess in a timely manner. This is crucial in order to not hinder electoral reform and rule out the possibilities of meeting
the electoral period of 2017 in haste with unsolved issues.
1

Please see Monitoring of 2014 Local Self-Government Elections -Final Report.

International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy, 2014. Available at: http://www.isfed.ge/main/777/geo/ [Last checked on 27 February 2016].
Also see Non-governmental Organizations Evaluate Pre-election Period: Local Self-government Elections. June 14, 2014. Available at: http://www.
transparency.ge/post/press-release/tsinasaarchevno-garemos-shefaseba-2014-tvitmmartvelobis-archevnebi http://www.isfed.ge/main/777/geo
2
Please see Monitoring of 2014 Local Self-Government Elections-Final Report. International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED). 2014.
Available at: http://www.isfed.ge/main/777/geo/ [Last checked on 27 February 2016].

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 The practice of using administrative resources should be eradicated. Staff members of the self-government bodi
es should not get involved in the electoral campaigns. Furthermore, it is desirable to plan the implementation of projects
with budgetary funds which will result in the exclusion of the possibility of doubts misuse of administr ative resources;
The possibility of the Mayor and Gamgebelis impeachment should be revised to ensure that democratic proces
ses are not violated at the local level.

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