Georgia wins top Open Government Partnership Award
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Georgia is taking genuine steps to offer transparent state bodies and Governmental structures, and has won an international award for its efforts.
Yesterday in Mexico Georgia’s Parliamentary Inter-Faction Group won a special award initiated by the Open Government Partnership (OGP), an international platform uniting 65 foreign states.
Georgia was awarded the inaugural Government Champions Award, which aimed to showcase the ideal collaborative relationship between a government and civil society while developing a National Action Plan – an obligation Georgia took in February 2015 when the Parliament of Georgia joined the OGP.
Georgian non-governmental organization IDFI nominated the Parliament’s Inter-Factional Working Group, composing of majority and minority lawmakers, for the OGP Award.
In its nomination IDFI said the Group had made an "active input” in the creation of the National Action Plan and put forward commitments which Georgian Parliament was supposed to implement in 2015-2016 for more openness of state structures.
Open governance is the nearest way to the citizens and vice versa. The modern world seeks for the means to reduce this way and Georgia is one of the leading countries in this process. More transparency undoubtedly means more communication with society,” said majority Member of Parliament Tamar Kordzaia.
Georgian delegation at OGP Summit. Photo by Nina Beradze.
Creation of Georgia’s National Action Plan included drafting amendments that would make the Government’s actions more transparent and beneficial to citizens. In Georgia an 11-member Inter-Factional Working Group was established in the legislative body and tasked with developing the Open Parliament Georgia National Action Plan.
On July 17, 2015 the Georgian Parliamentary Bureau endorsed the Working Group’s Action Plan, which composed of 18 duties for 2015-2016. The document complied with OGP Information Accessibility, Civil Involvement, Accountability and Technologies and Innovation Principles.
Parliament staff initiated two duties out of 18 in the Action Plan. The first aimed at public awareness of the activities of Parliament, its role and mission, as well as enhancement of the institutional image and role. Parliament outlined the need to hold ‘Parliamentary Openness Week’ and establish public education programs that would allow citizens to share their views and allow Parliament to listen.
The second initiative envisaged establishing new technologies and innovative approaches to get people more aware of Parliament. This included encouraging involvement of youth and ethnic minorities, as well as other interest groups in Parliamentary activities and enhancement of bilateral communication.
Furthermore the Action Plan envisaged the establishment of the Open and Transparent Government Standing Parliamentary Council, assisted by the Advisory Council (AC) and composed of international organisations and non-govrnmental organisations. One of the functions of the AC will be to monitor the implementation of the Open Parliament Action Plan.
OGP is a multilateral initiative that involved dozens of government and civil society organisations around the world. It launched in 2011 to make governments more open, accountable and responsive to citizens.
Yesterday the OGP announced Georgia had been shortlisted as one of three semi-finalists in the running for the inaugural Government Champions Award, chosen from nominees from 66 member states.
"We are constantly improving the governance culture in Georgia as open governance is an essential part of our Government” – with these words Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili opened the first ever European Region Government Point of Contact (POC) conference Georgia’s capital Tbilisi today.
Government representatives from dozens of countries are coming to Tbilisi to participate in an international conference about open governance.
Georgia has become co-chair of the Open Government Partnership (OPG), an international platform uniting 69 foreign states to empower open and effective governance worldwide.
"We are proud that Georgia can serve as an example of how all three branches of government can be efficiently involved in the Open Government Partnership (OGP) process”, says Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili.
The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) has listed the most and least transparent state institutions in terms of availability of public information; with 55 state agencies being 100 percent transparent but over 1,000 state agencies ignored the NGO’s request.
Tbilisi City Hall has presented the Open Government Partnership Tbilisi Action Plan 2017, which envisages five key commitments that can make the functioning of the local government more transparent and effective.
Today national stakeholders of the Open Government Georgia met with OGP representatives to discuss Georgia’s vision, plans and expectations ahead of the country’s chairmanship year.
Executive Director of Georgian non-governmental organisation IDFI Giorgi Kldiashvili has been selected as a new member representing civil society in the Open Government Partnership Steering Committee.
Georgia is preparing to assume the chairmanship of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Steering Committee from September 19, 2017.
Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Support Unit Joe Powell, highlights Georgia’s progress in a letter issued before the OGP Global Summit to be held in Tbilisi in July this year.
The government of Georgia will host the 5th Open Government Partnership (OGP) Global Summit in Tbilisi on July 17-19.