Current status

Submitted

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After a contribution is submitted to BePART Forum, the initiative is marked as “Submitted”; as other partners involved in the initiative submit information from their side, the initiative is marked as "Under review" and goes through the validation process; twice a year, initiative are validated by the BePART Working Group at the Council of Europe. Successful initiatives are marked as “Validated”. Do you want to learn more - click here

Contributor(s)

First contributor: Rustavi Innovations Hub Local Authority

Summary

The goal of the initiative was to increase the cooperation between the stakeholders in the process of solving the challenges and to strengthen inter-sectoral, co-financing processes through their institutionalization in Marneuli, Bolnisi and Dmanisi municipalities, in Kvemo Kartli region. Within the framework of the initiative, the municipal co-financing mechanisms developed and successfully implemented in Rustavi using the design thinking methodology were replicated in various municipalities. The process involved representatives of local self-government, civil society, education and the private sector. Following the establishment and institutionalization of co-financing mechanisms, together with NGO Orbeliani, local youth initiatives will be identified and funded with co-financing from the municipality and the private sector.

The initiative intends to achieve the following results:

Inter-sectoral platforms for cooperation are created in Marneuli, Bolnisi and Dmanisi municipalities.
Practical legal mechanisms for co-financing of local initiatives are established and adopted in the target municipalities.
Co-financing and crowdfunding mechanisms are introduced in practice within target municipalities, that supports their institutionalization.
Financing principles and mechanisms introduced in target municipalities are generalized to other municipalities.

Administrative level

Local (Kvemo Kartli region, Georgia)

Year of implementation

2020-2021

Policy area(s)

Local Development and Planning
Youth

Further details

Rustavi Innovation Hub

Civil society organisation

Contact info

www.hub.org.ge

Tipology of involvement in the initiative

Organising
Implementation

Bolnisi, Dmanisi and Marneuli municipality

Public Authority

Contact info

Tipology of involvement in the initiative

Participating with a direct involvement

Level of Participation

Consultation
Dialogue
Partnership

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By level of participation we refer to the type of involvement in the decision-making process. The levels are identified by the intensity of participation: going from “information” to “consultation” to ” dialogue” to “partnership”. Do you want to learn more - click here

Developed practice(s)

Step(s) of the political decision-making process at which the practice was implemented

Drafting of policy
Decision – making on policy
Implementation of policy
Re-formulation of policy

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There are six different steps of the political decision-making process: agenda setting, drafting of policy, decision-making, implementation of policy, monitoring and reformulation of policy. Each step offer opportunities for CSOs and public authorities to interact. Do you want to learn more - click here

How the initiative was implemented

Situation

Initiative was implemented by Rustavi Innovations Hub, with support of UNDP Georgia.

The need to implement the initiative was linked to the lack of mechanisms for cooperation between the civil sector and local self-government and the low quality of dialogue in the target municipalities. Also, CSOs do not have the knowledge, experience and skills to gain the resources needed to carry out their activities. Rustavi Innovations Hub had interesting and successful experience in this regard, the replication of which would be important in other municipalities.

Activities performed

Creating of Inter sectoral working groups, discussing new co-financing mechanisms in working groups and adapting them to local needs. Also, representatives of the civil sector and local self-governments learned about the board game created by the Rustavi Innovations Hub, which aims to identify local problems and challenges and find ways to solve them. This board game is a good tool to increase the engagement process, especially among young people.

Tools and mechanisms applied

Design thinking meeting, using of design thinking methodology to adapt and implement successful experiences in other municipalities. A board game based on the principle of "monopoly" is also used to identify problems, it is fun and allows a high degree of involvement to be achieved. Based on the problems and challenges identified during the game, a competition of initiatives was announced, in which civil activists participated. For the competition was used the platform https://app.orbeliani.net/en. In total 10 initiatives were financed and implemented.

Goals of the civil participation initiative

At community level

Increasing participation and establishing new dialogue principles.

From Civil society organisation's perspective

Increasing participation and establishing new dialogue principles.

From Public Authority's Perspective

Increasing participation and establishing new dialogue principles.

Results expected prior to the implementation

Creation a new mechanism of implementation of local initiatives by local activists.

Immediate results achieved after implementation

Creating a new co-financing tools for local activists, which enables intensive cooperation of civil society organizations and activists with local self-government. Mechanisms have been established through which the self-government can support various civic initiatives. Civic groups also gained experience in community project preparation and implementation and crowdfunding.

Long-term impact

Participatory tools have been institutionalized under the project, which will ensure the sustainability of the project results and make civic activism more effective in the long run. Also, inter-sectoral platforms created within the project can be used in the future as mechanisms to solve different problems.

Practice lessons learnt (obstacles and solutions)

Agency (i.e., political conditions/power structures)	Obstacles	/
Agency (i.e., political conditions/power structures)	Solutions	/
Legislative	Obstacles	According to Georgian legislation local governments cannot issue grants to civil society organizations, which seriously complicates the acquisition of resources for civic activism.
Legislative	Solutions	The co-financing program developed within the project and implemented in 3 municipalities enables civil activists to receive additional resources from local self-governments.
Administrative	Obstacles	Municipalities do not have experience in managing the civil sector financing process.
Administrative	Solutions	Within the framework of the project, the representatives of the self-government of the target municipality learned about the experience of Rustavi Municipality and introduced it locally.
Socio-cultural	Obstacles	/
Socio-cultural	Solutions	/
Economic	Obstacles	/
Economic	Solutions	/
Human capital	Obstacles	/
Human capital	Solutions	/
Other	Obstacles	/
Other	Solutions	/

Further information

Self-assessment

The self-assessment presents the opinion of the contributor about on what extent the following principles for Civil Participation have been reflected in the implementation of the initiative/practice/case-study, ranging from 1 (min) to 4 (max) (N/A: not applicable, do not know)

Openness	4
Explanation	The process of the project, the planned consultations were open and anyone could participate in them.
Trust	4
Explanation	Thanks to the fact that representatives of various fields were involved in the project activities and made their own contribution to its success, the trust was quite high.
Independence	4
Explanation	There were no attempts by any stakeholder to obstruct the project.
Participation	4
Explanation	The project involved representatives of the private, public and business sectors. In the process of preparing the documents created within it, anyone could express their opinion.
Transparency	4
Explanation	Project implementation was fully transparent. Its activities were covered by local media and organization. The platform https://app.orbeliani.net/ used during the project was created for transparency of the processes.
Accessibility	4
Explanation	All project activities, all documents created within it are fully accessible to any interested party.
Non-discrimination	4
Explanation	Any discriminatory moments were excluded from the moment of creating the project application. This is especially important given that it was implemented in a region densely populated by ethnic minorities.
Inclusiveness	4
Explanation	The project activities did not have any particular specifics that could have prevented inclusiveness. Also, inclusiveness was one of the main requirements for local initiatives funded within it.
Accountability	4
Explanation	Reports on project activities were systematically prepared to the donor. Information about all its activities was also posted on the Facebook page of the organization, as well as on the media channels of the target municipalities.

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