Commitment: Strengthening transparency and good governance in Ozurgeti Municipality
Commitment Description: Georgia is distinguished by the involvement of all three branches of government in the open government process, as well as the active participation of local self-governments. 9 out of 13 municipal bodies involved in the implementation of the OGP Georgia Action Plan (2018-2019) are committed to elaborate the transparency and integrity strategies which will facilitate establishing the guiding standards of integrity and transparency.

The transparent use of budget funds is the top priority for municipalities. In this regard, one of the significant challenges faced by some municipalities is lack of strategic documents designed for analyzing the challenges/threats occurring in the process of transparency and good governance, identifying ways of addressing them, and defining the actions to be carried out for strengthening the existing standards of transparent and good governance. Therefore, the introduction of transparency and integrity standards will significantly improve the quality of democratic governance in these municipalities. Outcome: The Transparency and Building Integrity Strategy (2019-2022), the respective Action Plan (2019-2020) and the monitoring framework have been developed and approved by the Municipality Assembly
Timeline: Start date - October 2018, End date - September 2019
OGP Thematic Areas: Transparency, Accountability, Engagement
Reporting Period: 2019, Annual
Lead Agency: Ozurgeti Municipality City Hall and Municipality Council (Assembly)
Ozurgeti Municipality City Hall and Municipality Council (Assembly) Transparency and Integrity Building Strategy and Action Plan were elaborated in close cooperation with the local NGOs and other partners (Georgian Democratic Development Union, Innovation and Civic Development Center, Progress House, National Parliamentary Library of Georgia).

The process of developing the Strategy and Action Plan documents included the following stages:

• Performing the situational and SWOT analyses
• Approving strategic priorities
• Elaborating draft Strategy and Action Plan
• Holding public discussion on the draft documents with different stakeholders.

For the four-year period (2019-2022), Ozurgeti Municipality has set three strategic goals, which in turn include nine strategic objectives.

After extensive discussions, the Transparent and Integrity Building Strategy and Action Plan were finally approved by Decree N 90 of Ozurgeti Municipality Assembly on 30 December 2019.

In cooperation with USAID/GGI, Ozurgeti Municipality Assembly and City Hall continued to develop a Monitoring Framework and self-assessment methodology, which was approved by Assembly with a Decree N18 on 31 March 2020, after the expiration of the deadline set by the Action Plan.