2019•07•18     Tblisi

Where East meets West, the country of Georgia has had a tumultuous past after regaining its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Back then, the country was on the verge of both economic and government collapse. However, the Georgians of today can look back and be proud of their achievements. The reason? The government-led reform has been the name of the game. Improved financial management and public procurement, better public service delivery, administrative burden reduction, ease of doing business and anti-corruption are just a few of the developments to improve accessibility and transparency for everyone.

Key enablers include legal and regulatory reforms, organisational and process re-engineering, collaboration and intergovernmental cooperation. All of this was underpinned by technology to ensure cost efficiency, productivity, quality, and effectiveness. The book E-Georgia: Decades of Successful Transition is a collection of the best cases. Each one includes the key objectives and outcomes, while it also highlights the technological, legal, regulatory and strategic tools used to achieve the various goals. The case selection shows how the vast array of initiatives have enabled Georgia to improve its international competitiveness, be among the top performers globally for ease of doing business, the rule of law and anti-corruption, open budget and government, as well as global cybersecurity indexes.

As part of the ongoing partnership with Georgia’s Data Exchange Agency (DEA), UNU-EGOV continues to support these efforts in light of the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals for an innovative, equitable and sustainable growth (SDG 9), smart cities and communities (SDG 11), and strong and resilient institutions (SDG 16). As part of the DEA/UNU-EGOV partnership, UNU researcher Morten Meyerhoff Nielsen worked closely with DEA staff to identify and analyse the different cases, resulting not only in the e-Georgia publication but also in academic output.