ISET’s Policy Institute is proud to announce the unveiling of its Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) Manual. The ISET Director, Tamar Sulukhia, introduced a presentation of the work, where she thanked governmental and donor initiatives alongside USAID for all the assistance provided during the process.

Reform progress analysis for policy making and public dialogue through ReforMeter: the objective of the proposed activity is to increase transparency, public accountability, and efficiency of Georgia’s economic reforms’ implementation and outcomes through engaging multiple stakeholders in the efficient dialogue.

This in-depth study seeks to quantify the costs and benefits associated with introducing a local tourism fee to support public services and touristic infrastructure in Georgian municipalities. Locally generated and retained fee revenues are one of the best methods for boosting local economies and maintaining tourist infrastructure. A tourism local tax and/or fee is an internationally accepted practice and is paid by non-residents when staying in local tourist accommodations and when receiving specialized services.

Starting from October 26, the ISET Policy Institute team, in cooperation with the USAID Economic Governance Program, started an online training course in Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) for public servants. The aim of the training is to provide participants from the selected institutions a clear understanding of the purpose of RIA, its structure and implementation, and how it works within the context of Georgian. The course will also develop and strengthen the participants’ technical skills that are necessary to conduct standard RIAs in accordance with the RIA methodology approved by the Government of Georgia in January 2020. The training is organized around specific RIA steps, included practical group activities every week, and will last for a total of seven weeks.

In partnership with PMC Research, ISET Policy Institute is working on the project “Sector and Value Chain Analytics” under the USAID Economic Security Program, implemented by DAI. Using quantitative and qualitative analytical methods, the project team analyzes economic tendencies in the local and also regional/global context, competitiveness of local businesses, opportunities, and challenges in various targeted value chains.