NGOs Suffer with Brain Drain

Many civil society leaders become public officials in Georgia after the last November bloodless revolution, which marked a triumph for the Georgian civil society. Political analysts and experts say the trend should foster democratization of governance in the country, as well as might lead to changes in the donor organizations’ policy.
 
Three members of the cabinet – Ministers of Education, Justice and Environment, as well as two deputy Security Ministers are former NGO leaders. Many high-level positions in the Justice and Security Ministries are also occupied by the former NGO members.

While one of the leading human rights activists Giga Bokeria of leading human rights watchdog Liberty Institute became a lawmaker after he joined President Saakashvili’s National Movement-Democrats ruling party. Like Bokeria, another former member of the Liberty Institute Davit Zurabashvili also moved to the new Parliament, as well as a leading civil activist Levan Berdzenishvili. Zurab Chiaberashvili, head of the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy – an election watchdog, now is the Tbilisi Mayor.

“We will be a powerful lobby of the third sector in the Parliament,” Levan Berdzenishvili told Advocacy.ge.
 
“We will try to carry out reforms, which will lead Georgia to liberal democracy. The reforms include the draft – 10 Steps towards Liberty – elaborated by the non-governmental organizations,” MP Giga Bokeria told Advocacy.ge.

Legal expert and civil society leader Davit Usupashvili says, that before the last November’s revolution in Georgia many refrained from working at public sector preferring to work in the non-profit sector, because of unfavorable political and bureaucratic environment.
 
After the peaceful power transition in Georgia, along with changing the political situation, these people got a chance to use their experience and managerial skills at public offices – Davit Usupashvili says.

This trend was quite anticipated. As far back as in January now Education Minister Kakha Lomaia, who led the Open Society – Georgian Foundation then, said, that outflow of staff from the civil sector was unavoidable.

“This process will raise the authorities’ professionalism and on the other hand promote the renewal of the civil sector itself. New ‘faces’ will appear in the non-governmental sector,” Kakha Lomaia said.
 
Davit Usupashvili said, the particular reshuffle in the third sector is really necessary, especially on the background of the tendency, when any non-governmental organization was identified with the name of one or several persons.

Experts allege that the outflow of staff from the third sector might affect the policy of donor organizations. If in the developed countries the non-governmental sector is co-funded by the state, in Georgia the third sector is basically funded by foreign donor organizations.

“Until now many donors had to work only with the non-governmental organizations, since they failed to find any partners in the public service. The situation might change now,” Davit Usupashvili says.

If the authorities express willingness for the cooperation with donors, the latter may think that the work with the public offices is a shorter and more direct way for implementation of their projects.

Experts think, that in case of such development of events, more competitive environment will be created, as the non-governmental sector will have to compete with the authorities. 

But in a long-term outlook, as Usupashvili says, the government might change its position of a competitor and become a donor for the non-governmental sector. “But to achieve this, it is of vital importance to further strengthen democratic institutions, to further develop civil society and liberal values in Georgia,” Usupashvili says.
 
Davit Losaberidze of Caucasian Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development (CIPDD), says that the brain drain process triggers non-governmental organization to work over a new staff recruitment policy which would deal with the new challenges.