SlovakAid project Georgia - Preparatory meeting

The preparatory meeting, which was the first joint activity, was held at the beginning of December, 2010. The core project team of experts and project management met to jointly discuss the project plan, the coordination of all individual project activities, the timetable and division of roles and responsibilities.

The project team discussed the project activities for the coming period - needs assessment, selection of 10 Georgian trainers, development of a training module and materials, and preparation of the training of trainers.

The training needs assessment (TNA) and a review of the relevant Georgian legislation has already begun. The basic inputs for the final TNA document include the results taken from questionnaires, the financial and legal environment for municipalities and the opinions of selected experts. At this preliminary stage, the following top priorities (going beyond the original project scope) were identified – Performance Audit and Benchmarking, Public Procurement, Budget management and Cost centres, Project appraisal and Project management, and PPP.

Selecting the future Georgian trainers will be one of the crucial tasks in the coming period. They will not only take part in the training of trainers, but they will also participate in the development of the training module and materials and they will also be responsible for the future trainings of Georgian municipal officials. The project experts decided to select one half of the trainers from academia and the other from those with a practical background. This will result in 5 pairs of trainers, combining both an academic and practitioner background to ensure the best possible transfer of knowledge and experience to municipal officials.

Another important task is the development of the training module and materials, preparation of the training of trainers and all related preparatory activities. In this connection, the project team discussed the main priorities, which should be covered within the framework of the training (see above). The level of focus on topics already indentified or which may be added later (based on TNA) will be the subject of discussions in early 2011. On the basis of a final decision on the contents, all materials for the folders for the training of trainers (planned to be held by the beginning of May, 2011) will be prepared.

During their short stay in Georgia, the Slovak experts were also given the opportunity to visit the city of Rustavi and to meet there Mr. Kakha Gurgenidze, the Chairman of the Rustavi City Council and Mr. Giongi Tabatadze, the Vice-mayor of the Rustavi City Council. The city of Rustavi was selected as one of 4 municipalities within the project, where future training sessions will be organised for municipal officials. During the discussions regarding the project priorities already identified, one extra area was mentioned by the City Chairman – programme performance budgeting. All Georgian municipalities will be obliged to introduce this from 2012 and this means that all preparatory activities must be completed next year. Training and advice are a core precondition for the implementation of this relatively complicated financial instrument. The project team will consider how to include this extra issue in the programme.

Juraj Nemec, Slovak Project Leading Expert, Giongi Tabatadze, Vice-mayor of Rustavi, Kakha Gurgenidze, Chairman of Rustavi City Council, David Melua, Georgian Project Coordinator / NALAG Executive Director