Development of Civil Society Organizations in Georgia

At the beginning of 2005 the UN Association of Georgia, with the support of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), conducted a research of non-governmental organizations operating in Georgia. The research was rather wide-scale and covered almost all the regions of Georgia. Its supreme goal was to study the development of non-governmental organizations. 

Noteworthy, that in 2002 similar research was conducted by the UN Association of Georgia and the Center for Strategic Researches.

The both researches were conducted under the Citizens Advocacy Program.

We interviewed expert Keti Kharatyan, who also participated in both researches, about the peculiarities and general background of development of non-governmental sector in Georgia.

Q. What kind of methodology was used while conducting this research and what was its main purpose?

A. The research aimed at defining the level of institutional development of Georgian civil society organizations, what kind of changes have occurred since 2002. A group of experts selected 8 criteria, under which these organizations were estimated. These criteria are: activity/experience, structural development, mission/strategy, presence of procedures of activities, financial sustainability, material technical base, human resources management, external relations. Each criterion was divided into sub-criteria. Hence, the organizations were evaluated under 28 sub-criteria. 

Q. How could you estimate the current level of development of non-governmental organizations in Georgia?

A. The non-governmental organizations gained highest scores in the criteria regarding the material-technical base and activity/experience. This is not uncommon, since with the support of donor organizations, Georgian civil society organizations have accumulated huge technical resources necessary for their activities.

From this point of view the situation is worse in the regions, especially in Adjara, where the civil sector is too young. Among other regions, the Guria region is best equipped.

On average, the Tbilisi organizations have implemented 20 projects during the period of their existence, while the regional organizations – 10 projects. However, more “aged” and developed organizations have implemented over 50 projects, on average, while in some cases this figure amounts to 160. As for the regions, average parameter of projects is high in Imereti and Kakheti. This parameter is lowest in Adjara.

Q. Which spheres were distinguished with the lowest parameters?

A. The Tbilisi civil society organizations gained lowest scores under criteria of external relations/cooperation and structural development, while the regional organizations – under criteria of mission/strategy and human resource management. 

Q. It can be said that there is particular difference between Tbilisi and regions in terms of development of non-governmental organizations?

A. As a whole, if we compare the organizations from Tbilisi and regions, the Tbilisi organizations gained higher scores and this result is not uncommon. Formation of the non-governmental sector was launched in Tbilisi several years earlier than in the regions. Concentration of donor organizations was higher in the capital. The same can be said about the communications, which frequently promoted the dissemination of information about grant competitions. At the same time, in Tbilisi it was much easier to get in touch with donors.

Q. Is the situation different from that one existing two years ago?

A. The situation has really changed under each criteria: average scores have increased in all eight criteria both in Tbilisi and in the regions. It means that the institutional development of Georgian civil society organizations is underway; their structure is being perfected, more attention is being paid to distribution of functions among the employees, planning of activities and assessment procedures.  

Annual budget of organizations has significantly increased; for example, if in 2000 the budget of 8% of organizations amounted to USD 200 000, by 2004 a share of such organizations exceeded 20%. A share of organizations, which managed to make their budgets stable within past years, has increased. 

However, the situation has not significantly changed in terms of attracting new financial resources.  50-100% of the NGO budget is still replenished by donor organizations.

Q. Is the situation different in terms of legislative regulation?

A. The legislative base related to the non-governmental organizations did not create any serious difficulties to the civil sector. In any case, the legislative problems were not named during the quiz conducted in 2003 and 2005 years.

Since 1 March 2005, according to the amendments to the Civil Code of Georgia, a function of registration of organizations was transferred to the Justice Ministry. This amendment enabled the Justice Ministry to create a constantly renewable register, which is available on the official web page of the Justice Ministry.

Moreover, the procedures of registration of organizations have been simplified. If previously a term of registration was defined by 30 days, now this term has been reduced to 15 days. Moreover, the founders can give registration documents to a notary, who, in his turn, is obliged to send them to the Justice Ministry or a relevant territorial body within 5 days. This method is more convenient for a founder, as he will have to come only to one place (one-stop principle).

Q. What kind of difficulties are basically observed in terms of development of NGOs?

A. The main difficulty, that is observed among most organizations is the dependence of their financing on donors, since they have no opportunity of self-financing. The second, most frequent problem, is the relationship with the authorities. The regional organizations frequently mark that the representatives of local government bodies are not always ready for cooperation. The civil sector still comes across the problem of availability of public information.

The problem of keeping and attracting highly skilled staff is also very actual. In many cases, highly skilled, qualified staff moves to international or governmental organizations. Noteworthy, that the tendency of moving to the governmental organizations has become frequent in the post-revolutionary period.    

Q. Which fields are most popular for the activities of the non-governmental organizations?

A. The fields of activities of the civil society organizations are diverse. However, the following are most popular: human rights protection, promotion of democracy and civil society, environmental protection, women’s problems, children’s and teenagers’ problems, youth problems, public health, promotion of state reforms, conflictology, peace building, support of local self-governance, problems of refugees.

The civil society organizations of Adjara are basically working over human rights and monitoring of activities of state structures. In Samegrelo the problems of children and teenagers, conflicts and peace building, public health, problems of women and refugees are rather actual.  Samtskhe-Javakheti focuses on environmental protection.

The Kartli NGOs are basically working over promotion of state reforms, children’s and teenagers’ problems, local self-governance and refugees, in Guria – human rights, civil society development, public health.

As for the Kakheti region, the civil society organizations are basically involved in youth problems, environmental protection, development of local self-governance, in Imereti – human rights, development of local self-governance, small and medium business development, women’s problems.