| 4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
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The strategy of the Community Centers Development Initiative, falling under the larger program implemented by PSDA with EU support - “Introduction of E-Governance in Local Governments”- has been executed in different stages. The initial step was the inception phase entailing active communication with all key project stakeholders and groups to be affected by the initiative. More specifically, earlier in 2011 PSDA team held meetings with Local Government representatives: Governor’s Office, Municipal Administration and Village Administration. Following joint discussions and based on the feedback collected the proposed strategy was revised to reflect the true needs existing locally as it comes to improved delivery of services.
The inception phase was followed by necessary legislative work and selection of pilot locations for testing the concept of ‘Community Centers’ - the new type of community service points in rural areas, offering multiple services to the local population. The following criteria were applied for identifying suitable locations for the pilot CCs: 1)distance from the Municipal center (where regional offices of PSDA, its partner agencies and Public Service Halls offering similar selection of services are located) – the longer the distance the more there is a need for service delivery in the given remote locality; 2)number of population residing in the villages - the larger the number of individuals affected, the higher is the likelihood of selecting a given locality; 3)readiness of the Municipality to cooperate and contribute to the successful implementation of the initiative; 4)special circumstances - villages located in the vicinity of state/administrative borders and in conflict-affected areas, inhabited by ethnic minorities, IDPs, etc.
Following the selection phase, PSDA project team facilitated construction of 3 pilot CCs in selected villages, coupled with reconstruction of 9 existing facilities of the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure positioned in locations matching the predefined criteria. The newly constructed CCs were fully furnished and supplied with necessary equipment and modern technologies, employing personnel, skilled to serve local population, through seamless access to electronic databases of the respective public agencies.
To ensure delivery of public and private services through Community Centers PSDA developed and signed cooperation and service delegation agreements with the following agencies: National Agency of Public Registry, National Archive of Georgia, Social Service Agency, and Ministry of Agriculture. To ensure provision of private sector services, the project team signed cooperation agreements with representatives of the private sector, involving banks, insurance and telecommunication companies.
Another important element of the action plan was the capacity building measures targeting the newly recruited personnel. These front-line employees were hired through competitive recruitment process by encouraging applicants from the given locality to participate in the selection procedures. The selected candidates were sent to an intensive three months program with temporary internships at the central agencies delegating their services to the CCs. These rigorous trainings ensured introduction of courtesy and client-orientation in the process of service delivery thereby increasing the quality of services rendered on the ground.
Further important component was the organization of informational campaign during the second phase of the initiative. These measures were based on Community Centers’ Communication Strategy outlining key activities aimed at raising public awareness on CCs and the benefits created by the initiative.
The initiative proved to be a successful step towards the broader goal - “bringing government closer to people” placed high on the Government’s agenda. Hence the Government of Georgia is strongly committed to sustain and upscale the initiative, thus supporting PSDA to extend the benefits of this novel approach. As a result PSDA secured additional funding to construct additional 6 CCs. Currently 14 CCs are fully operational, whereas construction of 4 Centers is currently underway.
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| 5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
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The solution was developed and funneled by Public Service Development Agency. The actual implementation of the initiative was carried out by PSDA’s dedicated project team along with support provided by the respective units of the agency and the Ministry of Justice.
On the Central Government level, PSDA has been actively cooperating with the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia for the overall coordination of the initiative in line with the Regional Development Strategy. Cooperation with other state agencies and the private companies was equally essential for the initiative’s success. Currently, four partner agencies and private companies are presented in the Community Centers offering variety of services. Local citizens can receive services provided by Public Service Development Agency, National Agency of Public Registry, Social Service Agency, National Archive and Ministry of Agriculture, as well as those supplied by banks, insurance and telecommunication companies. With the latter agencies PSDA signed cooperation and lease agreements ensuring the sustainability of the project through incomes generated in the form of lease payments.
Since one of the key aims is to foster equal development opportunities by extending the service delivery to vulnerable groups (e.g. local women, ethnic minorities and people with disabilities) involvement of the civil society sector was of utmost importance. To institutionalize and ensure long-term cooperation, MoUs have been signed between PSDA, the Municipality and the service provider organizations, such as the “Multinational Georgia for Strengthening Democratic Values” delivering distance language courses. To facilitate implementation of educational and other community-oriented events, PSDA cooperates with the following international/civil society organizations and the academia: National Examinations Center, Tbilisi State University, Swedish Agency for International Development, National Association of Local Authorities of Georgia, National Library, “Go Group Media”, State Fund for Protection and Assistance of Human Trafficking Victims, Center of Electoral Systems Development, etc.
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| 6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
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In 2011, PSDA received financial support from the European Union as part of the Technical Assistance framework with the aim to streamline the delivery of public services at the local level and contribute to the decentralization agenda of the country by improving the way Local Governments serve the population. The piloting of the Community Centers project as part of the larger program “Introduction of E-Governance in Local Governments” proved to be a successful initiative effectively addressing the needs of local population by bridging the gap between local governments and citizens and bringing highly sought-after services to the local population. As a result, tangible results yielded through the project by the time of its execution in December 2013, along with highly positive evaluation of the initiative by the various actors, including the Government of Georgia, other international and donor agencies and the Civil Society, served as a solid foundation for continued cooperation with the EU Delegation to Georgia leading to the implementation of the second phase of the project covering 2014-2016 years.
The overall EU funding granted to PSDA to implement the initiative constitutes EUR 2,062,952 (Phase I – EUR 1,262,952, Phase II – EUR 800,000) covering the costs of necessary human resources, technical equipment, construction works, capacity building measures, etc.
On a larger scale implementation of the initiative can be viewed as a step towards the broader goal - “bringing government closer to people” placed high on the Government’s agenda. Thus, the initiative has been substantially acclaimed by the Government of Georgia and the latter is strongly committed to support PSDA in sustaining and upscaling the initiative countrywide, by allocating additional funding. As a result PSDA continued the construction of additional Community Centers with its own funds with further EU support channeled to cover the costs associated with human resources, public awareness campaign, capacity building measures, etc. To date the total amount of PSDA contribution to the initiative amounts to EUR 526,100 (Phase I – EUR 123,600, Phase II – EUR 402,500). Construction of additional Community Centers especially in the areas where the number of population is rather high and the distance from the Municipal center is fairly significant enabled PSDA to extend the benefits of this novel approach to other localities where access to public services is highly demanded but difficult to obtain due to the absence of infrastructure and the distance from the municipal center.
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| 7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
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Successful implementation of the initiative yielded number of outputs leading to improved and streamlined public services rendered at the local level; notably:
1.To ensure seamless availability of public and private services, coupled with fostering civic participation at the local level 14 Community Centers are established and effectively functioning in following villages spread across the country: Sartichala (Gardabani municipality), Shashiani (Gurjaani municipality), Gomi (Khashuri municipality), Khevi (Kharagauli municipality), Ruisi (Kareli municipality), Chaladidi (Khobi municipality), Manglisi (Tetritskaro municipality), Koda (Tetritskaro municipality), Phoka (Ninotsminda municipality), Nigoeti (Lanchkhuti municipality), Jvari (Tsalenchikha municipality), Shorapani (Zestaponi municipality), Kvareltskali (Akhmeta municipality) and Mukhaestate (Kobuleti municipality);
2.Another important output is the fully trained and skilled front-line staff employed by the Community Centers, who underwent competitive selection procedures and were trained to meet the customer service standards applied by the agency. The selected candidates were attached to the respective state institutions the services of which are available at the Community Centers to gain more insights about the nature of the work and acquire hands-on knowledge as it comes to client-orientation and efficiency in service delivery.
3.To contribute to the creation of equal development opportunities for the local population a) Community Centers Development Strategy and its Action Plan and b) Communication Strategy of the Community Centers and its Action Plan is developed. The Development Strategy contains a declared mission, values and vision of CCs and envisaged extension of the service delivery to vulnerable groups (e.g. women, minorities, and the disabled), through measures aiming at social inclusion, such as: awareness raising campaigns, organizing trainings (language courses, computer literacy, sessions on topics of common interest such as: gender issues, domestic violence, etc.); while the Communications Strategy sets a roadmap for implementing awareness raising activities and informational campaigns to effectively communicate with project stakeholders and the wider public;
4.A total number of 100,931 Public Services are delivered through Community Centers to date;
5.Up to 200 events (including trainings, seminars, conferences and other social inclusion activities) are housed by the Community Centers, with more than 2500 local citizens participating.
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| 8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
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Implementation of the Community Centers Development Initiative has been subject to rigorous internal as well as external Monitoring and Evaluation measures in order to methodically assess the progress achieved towards the predefined goals.
There were two main elements of Monitoring and Evaluation process developed as part of the present initiative:
Internal Assessment – PSDA on a monthly basis conducts on-site monitoring of each of the Community Center to pinpoint and address existing logistical or technical shortcomings and assess performance and thus professional qualification of the relevant staff. Moreover, through a specially developed web-based monitoring document each front-line employee of the Community Center is enabled to fill in the number of various services provided daily, identify problems faced and collect additional feedback, requests and recommendations (desired services, preferred social activity to be integrated into the CCs) from the local population in electronic fashion. Results collected from these assessment forms on a regular basis are then carefully analyzed and respective measures are taken accordingly. Moreover, PSDA actively works with partner state agencies (National Agency of Public Registry, National Archive of Georgia and Social Service Agency) with the aim to introduce joint monitoring system in the CCs.
External Assessment – along with internal Monitoring and Evaluation measures, implementation of the present initiative is closely supervised by the EU as a donor agency. Notably, based on the results of the EU external evaluation, the initiative received the highest grades - three “A” grades and two “B” grades. The “A” grades were received for: a) Relevance and Quality of Design b) Efficiency of Implementation to Date and c) Potential Sustainability. The “B” grades were received for: Effectiveness to Date and Impact Prospects. The evaluation stressed that the Project was timely and relevant aiming at improving local governance and public service delivery. Additionally, evaluation stressed project’s compliance with the existing National Strategy Documents, Policies and relevant International Agreements (the EU Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, the EU-Georgia Action Plan, European Neighborhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI), Georgia Strategy Paper (2007-2013). National Indicative Program for 2011-2013 supporting further Public Administration Reform and strengthening of local government in Georgia has also placed a special emphasis on the effectiveness and viability of the present initiative.
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| 9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
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Expectedly the initiative faced number of challenges requiring special attention. These problems were mostly associated with the difficulties of the day-to-day monitoring of the Community Centers’ operations affecting the quality of maintenance of the newly developed infrastructure. These problems were mainly attributable to the low sense of ownership of the local population vis-à-vis Community Centers, rooted in limited public awareness and civic culture on the ground. In fact, this new type of infrastructure was considered as a readily available product managed remotely by Central Government. This in turn resulted in reluctance of local citizens to contribute to effective functioning of the CCs, leading to instances where the centers were damaged, thus hampering efficient delivery of services. Due to significantly high level of demand on services rendered by the CCs it was of utmost importance to ensure their uninterrupted functioning. The situation was even more aggravated in CCs located remotely from the capital.
These obstacles were addressed by PSDA through number of measures: a)the project team used effective communication techniques and designated a person responsible for the everyday communication with the local focal points to ensure that service delivery was not affected by any external or internal factors b)the project team developed a network of local employees tasked to report to the central office on a regular basis thus limiting the possibilities of delay when any action was required from the capital c)as it was envisaged at the outset, PSDA has launched an active campaign combining public awareness activities and community gathering events to promote Community Centers and allow local population to effectively use the benefits offered by this new concept. Consequently the CCs have hosted a multitude of events attended by local people, thereby increasing their sense of ownership and empathy; thus reducing the scale of damage encountered locally.
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