Many countries of the Eurasia region have shown commitment to implement the principles of the EU Water Framework Directive and IWRM, and they tend to reform their water institutions and policies and develop river basin management plans in approximation with these principles. 

Based upon the OECD assessment of the water policy needs in the region, a long-term water policy outlook is proposed to examine and link the water challenges the Eurasia region is facing or expected to face in the future with the existing policy framework and to outlook the potential policy responses required towards a sustainable future.

This project has been put in place to address this need by providing further insight on the prospective vision of the water policy framework in Georgia, including potential implications for the reform of legal, regulatory, and governance systems. The overall purpose of the project is to make the case for future reform steps and add insight into the potential sequence of actions. 

The objective of the project is to review the existing policy framework and declared strategic vision and identify the likely barriers to reaching the strategic destination under the current policy framework. 

Recommendations for policy reform will be identified that increase the likelihood of reaching the desired target. Where relevant, recommendations to recast the strategic vision will be made in the event that the strategic vision appears unrealistic or unaffordable.

Overall, the study will contribute to promoting the use of strategic thinking in water management, pursuing efforts made so far by national institutions and the OECD in the context of the National Policy Dialogues (NPD). This study will contribute to increasing awareness among decision-makers, stakeholders, and experts on the potential for, and benefits from, a more visionary strategic decision making for water management, as well as the role that economic assessment methods could play in supporting the identification of more sustainable options for long-term water resources management. 

OECD Contracted ISET Policy Institute: 

• To assist the OECD in developing an assessment of Georgia's country water policy framework and its perspective vision. 

• To collect available data, strategic documents and arrange and conduct interviews with relevant stakeholders from different sectors to inform the assessment. 

• To conduct scenario analysis for different modalities of water policy framework, taking into consideration macro- and micro-affordability aspects of policy implementation. 

• To develop policy recommendations on the sequence of reforms ongoing in the water sector of Georgia.

Read the final report - ENG