Build the capacity of the representatives of Parliament of Georgia and executive agencies to understand and apply the RIA methodology.

Georgia is in the process of institutionalizing RIA as an integral part of policy-making, both in the executive and legislative branches of government. RIA has proved to be an effective policy-making tool and has been integrated into policy and legislative processes in a large (and increasing) number of countries. RIA institutionalization is also part of the Association Agreement between Georgia and the EU, as one of the commitments under the agreement.

Under the scope of this project, the ISET-PI team is expected to:

• design and deliver RIA training modules tailored for GGI partner executive agencies as well as for the Parliament of Georgia;

• coach pilot RIA exercises (up to 10 pilot RIA exercises) conducted by representatives of GGI partner executive agencies and Parliament of Georgia;

• support in the drafting and finalization of pilot RIA reports;

• prepare a user-friendly, practical manual on RIA, describing steps necessary to conduct RIA and develop RIA report. The objective of this project is to develop a new RIA manual fulfilling the needs expressed by the beneficiaries, both before and during the implementation of the training and coaching activities performed by the ISET-PI team.

Activities performed so far:

• Activity 1: Sep 28-29, 2018

ISET-PI team conducted a Training on Regulatory Impact Assessment for the representatives of the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure (MRDI), Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development, and Ministry of Finance.

• Activity 2: Oct 15, 2017 – May 31, 2018

ISET-PI team conducted a Training on Regulatory Impact Assessment for the representatives of the parliament of Georgia, Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports of Georgia, and Tbilisi Local Council. The training was conducted on November 7-8, 2018. After the training, the RIA working group (consisted of different committees of the Parliament of Georgia – Sports and Youth Issues; Education, Science and Culture; Healthcare and Social Issues; also representatives of Parliament’s research department and Budgetary Office) started implementing the Pilot RIA on Physical Education and Sport. The RIA implementation process was actively supported by the ISET-PI team – the RIA experts and ISET-PI researchers supported the RIA working team in desk research by reviewing the literature and providing methodological support on all steps of the project.

• Activity 3: May 28, 2018 – Ongoing

ISET-PI team is currently working on the Regulatory Impact Assessment on the Housing Policy Strategy of Georgia. ISET-PI team is actively involved in each step of the RIA implementation process (including desk research by reviewing existing literature and data analysis) with the RIA working group consisting of the representatives of the Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Labor, Health, and Social Affairs of Georgia.