Commitment: Strengthening transparency and good governance in Akhaltsikhe 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: Akhaltsikhe Municipality City Hall
Akhaltsikhe Municipality City Hall Transparency and Integrity Building Strategy and Action Plan were elaborated with the support from the USAID/GGI program and in close cooperation with the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI).

On 27 June 2019, Akhaltsikhe City Hall and IDFI organized the public discussion on the initial drafts of the Transparency and Integrity Building Strategy and Action Plan. The meeting was held in a discussion format and it was aimed at gathering feedback and further on the document from different stakeholders, including representatives of civil and media sectors and academia. During the development of the final versions of Strategy and Action plan, the Monitoring and Evaluation Framework was also elaborated.

On 7 July 2019, the Akhaltsikhe Municipality City Hall Transparency and Integrity Building Strategy, Action Plan, and accompanying Monitoring and Evaluation Framework were approved by the Order N 1470 07 of Akhaltsikhe Municipality Mayor. On 12 July 2019, IDFI conducted training on anti-corruption issues for Akhaltsikhe Municipality staff (31 participants).

The Transparency and Integrity Building Action Plan of Akhaltsikhe Municipality City Hall includes the following objectives:

• Improve existing mechanisms of ethics and integrity
• Improve the human resource management system
• Refine the transparency standards of Akhaltsikhe City Hall
• Strengthen public engagement and oversight mechanisms
• Improve the standards of transparency and integrity for legal entities established by Akhaltsikhe City Hall
• Increase competition in the public procurement area.