1. European Regional Consultation for the Open Forum for CSO Development
Effectiveness in Brussels, Belgium
April 14-15, 2011

2. Donor Pledge to Georgia
International donors and financial institutions
pledged $4.55 billion at an international donors’
conference on October 22, 2008.
Priority areas:
Development of transport infrastructure;
Implementation of energy projects;
Construction of houses for IDPs.
A large amount of funding was also provided to support the state budget.

3. Why to Conduct Monitoring?
Unprecedented support to Georgia
Lack of control/monitoring mechanisms to ensure
appropriate oversight/management of the donor funds
by the Government.
Seeing the need for involvement, seven
Georgian NGOs formed a coalition to monitor
transparent and efficient spending of the funds.

4. Coalition: Transparent Aid to Georgia
Coalition Transparent Aid to Georgia was founded in November 2008 right
after the Brussels' conference.
Mission:
Promote transparency of the foreign financial aid pledged to Georgia by donor countries and
international organizations to assist Georgia in overcoming the crisis following the August 2008
armed conflict, increase government accountability and encourage the participation of civil
society in the aid management.
Members:
Open Society Georgia Foundation
Georgian Young Lawyer’s Association
Transparency International Georgia
Economic Policy Research Centre
Eurasia Partnership Foundation
Green Alternative Georgia
Georgian Regional Media Association
Independent Experts

5. Scope of Work:
Monitor the appropriateness of aid allocations;
Promote the transparency of aid expenditures;
Analyze the macroeconomic effectiveness of aid allocations;
Advocate for alternative expenditure priorities (when
necessary) and effective mechanisms to ensure
transparency and accountability;
Raise civil society participation in decision making
processes;
Cooperate closely with representatives of the Georgian
Government, donors, political parties, local and international
organizations, and the mass media, etc.

6. Awareness Raising
Launching the Coalition Transparent Foreign Aid to Georgia;
Weekly newspaper articles in all major regional newspapers on aid
transparency to make aid topic popular in the regions;
Regular press conferences on aid transparency issues;
Training CSO and media representatives on aid transparency;
10 events presenting different policy papers and reports on aid
monitoring;
Event: Year after the Brussels' Conference - unveiling findings of 1 year
monitoring.

7. Key Communication Messages:
Transparency of foreign aid - How is the money spent?
The foreign aid pledged will work on the benefit of the
society if spent efficiently
Not only transparency but effectiveness and efficient
spending of these funds is essential
The misuse of foreign aid may lead to detriment of many
sectors
Conditionality: Donors should pay more attention to
government’s performance and set conditions for granting

8. Media Coverage
Functioning of the coalition was widely covered by
the following communication channels:
Regional and national press
Digital media
Electronic media - TV/Radio
(over several hundred articles and approximately 100 TV plots)

9. Monitoring Efforts
Monitoring of the state budget that encompassed all direct
budget support grants (USA, World Bank, Asian
Development Bank – how has the aid been reflected in the
state budget)
Monitoring road rehabilitation programs (violation of
procurement procedures/CoI cases)
Donor monitoring and their ranking (most and least
transparent donors)
Monitoring IDP housing (quality and financial monitoring)

10. Successful Advocacy Cases:
Advocating for improvement of domestic monitoring
mechanisms (MoF published detailed donor aid matrix)
Advocating for donor transparency based on the Paris
Declaration (Georgia joined Paris Declaration in December
2010)

11. Successful Advocacy Case (1):
Environment protection in donor funded energy projects
Campaign:
Response to the Problem of Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park caused by the
construction of 500 kilovolt power transmission line across the National Park
Achievement:
Government selected the version that would inflict no damage on the park. The
European Commission provided additional 3 million EUR grant to cover the
difference between the funds provided earlier and the actual amount needed.

12. Successful Advocacy Case (2):
Cottage Settlement for Georgia's New IDPs: Accountability in Aid and
Construction
Campaign:
Study of IDPs' settlements elicited the practice of inadequate increase of the agreement
values due to the frequent changes made in the ones (therefore, initial value of 85
agreements was increased by 26,6% in total, amounted to circa 10 mln. USD)
Achievement:
1,5 month after presentation of the study report there was made an amendment to the
regulation on Public Procurements banning increase of public procurement agreement
value more than by 10%.

13. Unsuccessful case:
Appealing the donors to envisage aid
conditionality in aid pledges to support
sustainable democratization processes in
Georgia

14. Lessons Learned
Identification of key stakeholders from the government and
maintenance of mechanisms for regular information sharing
Joint efforts bring better results
Issue oriented advocacy campaigns and involvement of
qualified experts
Involvement of international community
Thoroughly planned awareness raising campaign

15. Policy papers/monitoring reports elaborated:
Reflection of donors' financial aid within the framework of Brussels Conference decisions
in the 2008 and 2009 State Budgets of Georgia - OSGF
Economic Challenges of Georgia and Governmental Strategy against Global Economic
Crisis - OSGF
Implementation of 18-month Economic Program under the IMF-supported Stand-by
Arrangement - OSGF
Evaluation of the Loan Component of the Post-War Aid Pledge - OSGF
Review of the legislation regulating the process of reception, allocation and monitoring of
international aid in Georgia - GYLA
Donor Ranking - TI Georgia

16. Policy papers/monitoring reports elaborated:
Environmental Impact of the Projects, Implemented with Financial Aid - Association Green
Alternative
The analysis of Grant Agreements between the donors and the Government of Georgia -
GYLA
Accountability to Beneficiaries - TI Georgia
Cottage Settlement for Georgia's New IDPs: Accountability in Aid and Construction - TI
Georgia, GYLA
Aid to Georgia: Empowering Georgians via the World Wide Web - TI Georgia
Accounting, Disposal and Control of the International Aid in Georgia - GYLA
Monitoring the Millennium Challenge Program, 4th and 5th Stages - EPRC

17. Thanks for your attention!
Contact Information:
Ani Akhalkatsi
Civil Society Support Program Coordinator
Open Society Georgia Foundation
E-mail: ani@osgf.ge