UNDP Georgia is implementing a multi-year project “Supporting Public Administration Reform in Georgia”, funded by the UK Government. The project addresses a complementary but distinct set of specific, predetermined needs in three crucial areas of the ongoing Public Administration Reform (PAR) - Policy Development and Cooperation; Civil Service and Human Resource Management and Service Delivery, as stipulated by the PAR Reform Roadmap 2020. The initiative intends to sustain, support and build key institutions and processes required for advancing the Public Administration Reform through offering consultancy, capacity building, technical assistance, etc. Among the main objectives of the Project is to support the establishment of a sound and unified policy monitoring system across all the Ministries, under the general coordination and guidance of the Administration of the Government of Georgia (AoG). The Government has taken a number of major steps over recent years to improve its policy planning system, strengthen the link between policy planning and budgeting, and build strong mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation. In 2014, a structural and functional review of the Administration of the Government of Georgia (AoG) led to the establishment of the Policy Planning and Strategic Coordination Unit (PPSCU), which is responsible for planning and monitoring the work of the Government, including policy development, coordination, monitoring, reporting, and evaluation. In 2015, the Government of Georgia adopted the Public Administration Reform Roadmap 2020, which aims at encouraging, assisting and facilitating the establishment of "a transparent, predictable, responsible, and efficient public administration that would meet the society's demands and correspond to European standards." The Public Administration Roadmap Action Plan 2015-2016 contains a number of key commitments, including strengthening the functions of the Policy Planning Department of the AoG and the establishment of policy planning /analytical units in all Ministries. The Government also adopted the Policy Planning Reform Strategy 2015 – 2017, which contains a detailed analysis of the challenges to be addressed in the policy planning system, methodological guidance on the policy-planning process, and a series of commitments to be implemented in 2016 and 2017. These and other commitments were included and further elaborated with specific timelines in the 2016 agreement for EU Support for the Public Administration Reform. Much more remains to be done, however, to build a strong and coherent network of policy planning units able to carry out their work effectively, in accordance with uniform standards and practices in line with international requirements. Although the units have generally been in place for at least two years, they have started to identify common challenges and share their experience in carrying out their work only recently. Additionally, the methodological guidance for the units has been neither clear nor consistent. The lack of Government capacity to provide adequate training on monitoring and evaluation (M&E) guidance materials and international practices has undermined efforts to establish a common approach to policy planning, monitoring and evaluation. The differences in approaches have been reflected in more than 60 national action plans currently being implemented in Georgia, which employ differing formats, terminology, and implementation strategies.
A related challenge has resulted from the proliferation of ad hoc coordination mechanisms created in the dozens of thematic, multi-sectoral action plans and strategies adopted over the years. A complete inventory of these interagency council and commissions does not exist despite that the Ministries are heavily invested in participating in their work. Each coordination mechanism has given rise to its own network of thematic working groups, many of which are supposed to meet quarterly. Each Ministry is a member of at least several interagency coordination commissions and their working groups, most of which have been in existence for many years. A UNDP-supported international consultancy is presently underway to assist the Administration of the Government of Georgia in establishing a unified system for developing, monitoring, reporting on, and evaluating policy. As outlined by the international expert in his Scoping Report, four main elements of the unified policy planning system have been identified: (1) Development of a Unitary Digital Policy Platform (UDPP); (2) Adoption of a single, comprehensive, authoritative guidance on effective M&E terminology and practices; (3) The creation of the capacity in Government to carry out regular and uniform M&E training; and (4) A stocktaking and lessons-learned study, with recommendations, of the Policy Planning Network: the Ministerial policy planning and analytical units; the interagency coordination councils, commissions, etc. and their working groups; and the support secretariats for the interagency coordination mechanisms. Another related UNDP consultancy will undertake a needs assessment of all the policy planning units during the same period with a view to develop professional competencies and deliver a comprehensive training and consultations package on public policy. Objective of the Assignment: The primary goal of the local consultancy is to undertake the analytical study of the Policy Planning Network and provide recommendations aimed at fostering and development of a more consistent and effective approach to all stages of the policy planning process (i.e., policy development, monitoring, reporting, and evaluation). Although most of the Ministerial policy planning/analytical units in the Ministries were established only around two years ago, there is a broad range of experience among the units, owing to differences in mandate, size, and the nature of the strategies and action plans they are responsible for. There appears to be an even broader range of experience among the secretariats servicing the interagency coordination councils and commissions and their thematic working groups. Some of the interagency coordination mechanisms and their working groups have developed effective terms of reference and working methods while others have not. The secretariats represent a rich source of expertise and experience in policy development, monitoring, reporting, and evaluation. Until now, there has been little exchange of information or experience within the Policy Planning Network aimed at identifying effective solutions to common challenges. To that end, a study will be undertaken by a local consultant in relation to the policy planning units and the implementation coordination mechanisms (including the secretariats that service them) in order to identify challenges, best practices and lessons learned. The study will include an updated inventory of all policy strategies and action plans approved on a Ministerial/Governmental level and presently being implemented by the Government of Georgia. Particular focus shall also be made on an analysis of available reports on Basic Data and Directions (BDD) developed by the ministries. The scope of the assignment will also include: - The periodicity of the coordination mechanisms, both mandated and the actual regularity;
- Achievements and the main challenges experienced by coordination secretariats and ways they have addressed those challenges;
- The experience of integrating input from CSO and NGO stakeholders, including their participation in the coordination mechanisms and their thematic working groups;
- How to address the problem of overlapping mandates between related coordination mechanisms and duplicate reporting under related strategies and action plans;
- Suggestions and recommendations for improving the functioning of the policy planning units, the coordination secretariats, and the coordination mechanisms;
- Suggestions and recommendations on how the proposed Unitary Digital Policy Platform might best address the challenges identified; and
- Recommendations on how to improve the exchange of experience among the members of the policy planning network.
The draft study along with its recommendations, will be widely circulated within the Policy Planning Network and discussed at a workshop for that purpose, to be convened by the Policy Planning and Strategic Coordination Unit of the AoG. The finalized study and recommendations, taking into account input from the workshop, will constitute a key contribution to the effort of the AoG to establish a unified policy planning system. The study shall be conducted in 25 days, whereas remaining 15 days shall be allocated for support in the development of a concept on Unitary Digital Policy Platform.
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