United Nations Development Programme

Country: Georgia

Project Document

The Georgian parliament is assigned a critical role by the Georgian constitution as a supreme law-making authority, setting the country’s principal policy directions, oversight of the executive, and representation of the population (Constitution of Georgia, Article 48). The parliament is also responsible for voting and overseeing the execution of the national budget (Article 93). The effective functioning of the Georgian parliament is essential to the smooth operation of the Georgian governmental system, which is based on the separation and balance of powers between the leading state institutions.

Although the Parliament has been in existence since Georgia’s independence from the Soviet Union, the country has undergone through several rounds of significant political turmoil since 1991. The Rose Revolution of 2003 heralded a new era of democratic transformation, and Parliament’s development process began in earnest from the democratic parliamentary elections of 2004. As noted in the UN Country Programme Action Plan 2006 – 2010 (CPAP), continuation of Georgia’s impressive economic, social and political transformation will depend upon continued reform and strengthening of governance structures to ensure efficient decision-making, expanded representation of citizens’ interests, and effective oversight of government actions. 

UNDP has been partnering with the Georgian Parliament since 2004 with a multifaceted development programme running from 2004 to 2008 that focussed on four main areas; supporting a more efficient and transparent law-making process, strengthening Parliament’s human resources, building a modern IT infrastructure, and developing enhanced capacities for public communications and dialogue. The former project, Strengthening Effectiveness and
Transparency of the Parliament of Georgia, provides a solid framework upon which to launch a new programme with more targeted support to enhance parliament’s capacities in law-making, oversight, and representation.

Parliament’s functioning has improved substantially since 2004. A streamlined organizational structure and decision-making processes, supported through the UNDP project, has permitted legislative proposals to be considered promptly and efficiently. Parliament supported the new government in passing a wide range of reform measures that put the country’s economic and social development on a new path. The capacity of the parliament to reach out to citizens to listen to their concerns and enter into dialogue has increased substantially, especially through the establishment of the new Media Centre with UNDP support. Nevertheless, communication between the parliament and the society needs further strengthening since not all segments of the society are yet fully convinced that debate about social priorities should take place in democratic forums, of which the Parliament chamber represents the ultimate expression. Parliament has a key responsibility to ensure that it is perceived as both effective and transparent. As the 2006 – 2010 CPAP acknowledges, “Oversight of the Government and public participation in decision-making, although increasing, needs to be strengthened (CPAP: 2.6).

Georgia has ambitious goals to secure stability and economic growth through institutionalized ties with international organizations of democratic states. Parliament’s own international strategy complements this approach. It is a member of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, and has already established links with organizations such as the European Parliament and Baltic – Nordic parliaments. Parliament’s leadership seeks to build on these partnerships during its forthcoming mandate.

II.                 Strategy

Further support to the parliament is an important investment in the continued rooting of a stable democratic system in Georgia. The previous project, Strengthening Effectiveness and
Transparency of the Parliament of Georgia, provided a firm foundation of professional administration upon which to build a next phase of support. The new project will emphasize capacity development through exposing parliament, including elected members and administration, to modern practices of public dialogue in decision-making, continuing to strengthen the professional capacities of the senior staff, and assuring more effective oversight by the parliamentary institution.

The project content is drawn from the constitutional responsibilities of parliament, which include setting principal national policy directions, lawmaking, oversight, and representation. In practice, in effective legislative institutions, parliament’s constitutional responsibilities are not carried out independently from each other but rather are integrated in all of its actions.

The most effective approach to capacity development is through helping to strengthen ongoing parliamentary activities. In this regard, the project will focus particularly on supporting enhancement of parliament’s role in the MTEF process and annual budget cycle, development of national policy and legislative framework on local self-government, and supporting parliament’s technical capacities in the areas of policy advice, legislative drafting, and legal analysis.

The major parliamentary responsibility areas in which the project will support capacity development are:

1.      Representation: Expanded opportunities for citizen and civil society into legislation and oversight, with a particular focus on the budget process throughout the budgetary cycle, and on local self-governance

2.      Law-making: Strengthened policy development, technical drafting and legal analysis skills among both parliamentarians and technical support staff with particular attention to self-government

3.      Oversight: Increased acceptance of the importance and validity of effective governmental oversight, including the fostering of constructive dialogue between government, opposition, and wider society; clearer and more integrated relationship between Parliament and the Chamber of Control

4.      Administrative strengthening. Further professionalization of the parliamentary staff and clearer distinction between administrative and political support functions

5.      International partnership: (Cross-cutting theme). Strengthened ties with parliaments in countries of Eastern Europe, Baltic States and the Nordic courtiers, fostering capacity development in areas 1 – 4, and building mutual understanding between Georgia’s parliament and other democratic parliaments.

As noted in (5), the project will support parliament in forging ties with parliaments with similarities in political history to Georgia, such as the Baltic or other Eastern European states, as well as those with a longer uninterrupted democratic heritage (such as the Nordic countries), in order to build a long-term partnership permitting the exchange of skills and experiences, and capacity-building. Where possible, specific project activities will be leveraged from this partnership, where pre-existing mutual confidence will foster more rapid and efficient identification of activities and needed expertise.

The project is designed in modular form, permitting activities to be launched as resources are not fully mobilized. UNDP is committed to providing base funding for the project and will seek partnerships with donor countries and institutions. Programming is also designed to provide synergy with other democratic governance initiatives such as those on decentralization and local governance and the assistance to the Chamber of Control.

As outlined above, the project will consist of 4 modules as follows:

1. Parliament participates effectively, consistently, and constructively in a transparent and inclusive Mid-term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and annual budget cycle in conformity with the Basic Data and Directions (BDD) document

Support to the parliament’s increased involvement in the budgetary processes will be structured around the annual budget cycle and assistance will be provided during all three key processes: a) approval of the Basic Data and Directions, b) preparation/approval of the budget and c) monitoring of budget execution; Project support will aim at strengthening the in house sustainable capacities to get involved into the budgetary process more actively. In Particular the activities are the following:

1. Support parliament’s involvement in discussion and consideration of the basic Data and Directions document:

This activity involves assistance to the parliament to elaborate a thorough and detailed analysis of the document, organize workshops with participation of the respective government stakeholders (MOF, line ministries) and discuss the proposed priorities. It will also pay a particular attention to consideration of the local priorities and alignment of the local and national development perspectives. This will be facilitated by joint meetings workshops and seminars with participation of legislative, executive and local stakeholders.

2. Support Parliament’s positioning during consideration of the draft budget.

This aims at increasing the parliament’s involvement into the substantive consideration and redesign of the budget. The capacity of the Budget and Financial Committee (BFC) and the Parliament Budget Office (PBO) will be strengthened to analyse the draft, prepare respective conclusions and elaborate parliament’s position regarding the draft. Supporting the thorough consultation process with government will be key for an informed conclusion to be produced by the parliament. Prominent international experience and expertise will be utilized to enhance the parliament’s role in the budget preparation.

3. Strengthen parliament’s monitoring role in the budget cycle.

Parliament’s monitoring function will be enhanced through more active participation in the consideration of the annual budget execution report by the government. Relations with the Chamber of Control (CoC) and discussion of the COC report will be paid a particular attention in this regard. The regular meetings will be introduced with different spending units to better understand and analyse the execution trends of the adopted budget. This process will also feed into the discussion of the next year’s budget, since a solid understanding of each important spending unit’s priorities and abilities will be formed.

4. Capacities of the staff of BFC and PBO strengthened

The capacity development will be the key to sustain the introduced processes and innovations beyond the end of the project’s support. Therefore, the respective staff will make the key target during the entire duration of the project to acquire, maintain or enhance the suitable technical knowledge and functional capacities for support of the parliament’s operation. The focused capacity needs assessment will be carried out at the beginning of the project to identify the deficiencies, that needs to be addressed as priority matters. Consequently, the Capacity Development package will be put in place, to address the issues of programme budgeting, fiscal policy, macroeconomic and monetary policy, etc. The international expertise will be used heavily to draw upon the best practices and design and implement the most targeted package.

5.      Secure government representatives’ engagement and support to the activities

This envisions close consultations with the government stakeholders through the office of the Parliamentary Secretary of the Government of Georgia to establish agreement on pilot testing public /civil society input to budget deliberations and institutionalizing meetings with the ministry of Finance at all stages of the process.

2. Through broad dialogue and consultation, Parliament develops an appropriate policy and legislative framework for democratic local governance and self-governance

1.      Support the Regional Policy, Self-Government and Mountainous Regions Committee to develop options for improvement of a legal framework on democratic  local governance system

This activity envisions a strengthened role of the Parliament’s Self-Government committee in developing a respective legislation in consultation with all the major stakeholders, including the UNDP’s “Support to Local Governance” project. Discussions are to be organized and decisions made on various subjects, such as functions for regional administrations in regional development, etc.

2.      Support the Committee to pilot a dialogue process on the decentralization options  with citizens

This activity envisages popularization of the decentralization idea throughout the country, with may be carried over through various means, such as introduction of Self-Governance Days in Georgia, similar to the European practice. Public dialogue will also be ensured on all Committee initiatives and the respective staff will receive a targeted guidance on structuring the dialogue and communication process.

3.      Support the Regional Policy, Self-Government and Mountainous Regions Committee to draft laws/amendments to improve the self-governance legislation

This activity envisions providing support to the Committee in developing a respective legislation, especially following discussions with Public supported in the above action. This activity will be carried out in close coordination with all stakeholders and especially the UNDP “Support to Local Governance” project and NALA, which also makes efforts in a similar direction. The particular attention is to be put on amending the sectoral legislation as well as the legislation related to local budgetary processes (such as law on local budgets and local audit issues). 

4.      Strengthen capacity of the committee’s staff to carry out the duties.

This activity targets the staff of the committee and aims at strengthening the effectiveness of their operation. A special capacity development package will be put in place for each staff member, based upon their functions and requirements. National and international expertise will be heavily used while familiarizing the staff in best practices throughout the world.

3. Parliament is equipped to effectively play its constitutional policy and law-making role

1.      Support the parliament in ongoing reorganization efforts to ensure that administrative systems meet institutional needs.

Parliament is currently undertaking a comprehensive reorganization exercise, which will be supported by the project immediately after starting of its initial activities. Several steps have to be supported in the institution, in particular: reorganization, attestation, competition and capacity development of the staff. Due to the rapid pace of the reform, the exact scope of the project’s support in the first stage will be clarified upon the signature of the project document by the respective parties. The other steps, however, will be supported in a complex fashion from the very beginning to the end. Competent national and international (if needed) experts will be mobilized and put in support to the Parliament’s administration to organize the processes in the most effective fashion. Involvement of the international stakeholders in these processes will also enhance the credibility of the undertakings in various perspectives.

2.      Support implementation of the comprehensive capacity development package to the staff of the parliament.  

Following the reorganization exercise, the functions and qualifications of the parliament’s staff will be documented, that will serve as a foundation for the capacity needs assessment and design of the special capacity development assistance. The capacities related to legal drafting and policy analysis will be placed high in the priority list. The UNDP-established Training Center will be used extensively for the CD purpose, however, the process will not be limited to the classroom trainings, but also include on the job trainings, twining with related bodies, staff exchange, study visits, etc.

4. International partnerships established with Baltic, Nordic and Eastern European parliaments to further parliamentary development and collaboration (crosscutting theme)

1.      Support development and implementation of a strategic partnership plan with Nordic, Baltic, Eastern European and GUAM parliaments as well as with other EU comparable countries;

The project will support the parliament to further its cooperation with Baltic, Nordic and Eastern European, GUAM parliaments to identify opportunities for collaboration. Organization of a GUAM parliamentary assembly will be supported in Georgia as a mean to further foster relations between the respective parliaments. A targeted plan will be developed for legislative exchanges and provision of Baltic, Nordic, Eastern European legislative expert advice to Parliament of Georgia in the areas that are identified as priorities in the project.

III.              Results and Resources Framework