World economies hampered by the pandemic; countries facing public healthcare crises, with millions killed by COVID-19; thousands of cities under lockdown; social distancing and transformed social practices; countless institutions functioning online; the youth spending endless days and nights in front of computer screens; and, globally, over a year of online education. This is the reality in many countries around the world, including Georgia, in the spring of 2021.

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.

ISET is proud to welcome Mr. Luc Leruth, a professional of considerable academic experience who has worked for many years in financial institutions, to the ISET Policy Institute as one of its Lead Economists. A native of Belgium, Mr. Leruth previously worked as the Director of a number of the IMF's Technical Assistance Centres in Africa and the Pacific region.

In order to equip citizens with knowledge and information on political parties' programs and help voters explore which political party is closest to their views, the ISET Policy Institute participated in designing and implementing Election Compass Georgia, a collaborative effort of Georgian institutions and countries' development partner organizations.

From April to July, ISET will lead an online training program in Regulatory Impact Assessment aimed at equipping the members of participating institutions with the required technical skills and understanding of the procedures associated with carrying out the RIA in accordance with the methodology set out by the government of Georgia in January 2020.