On the 29th of November Solidarity Fund PL in Georgia organised a conference entitled “Active Resident Strong Municipality! Participatory Budget in Georgia.”

The conference participants were welcomed by the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland in Georgia Mr Mariusz Maszkiewicz, the Managing Director of the Solidarity Fund PL in Georgia Ms Justyna Kucuk and Deputy Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia Ms Mzia Giorgobiani.

The overall goal of the conference was to present the results of the 2019 participatory budget (PB) processes, with specific objectives to launch a discussion on PB process methodology and the development of new mechanisms of local civic engagement.

An integral part of the conference was the awards ceremony of the PB Certification Process in Municipalities, that has been launched by the Intern-Agency Consortia to assure and improve the quality of the ongoing PB process in Georgia. 9 municipalities (Tskaltubo, Zugdidi, Batumi, Kutaisi, Akhaltsikhe, Ozurgeti, Gori, Mestia, Sighnaghi) implemented the participatory budget process in 2019 in accordance with the participatory budget standards and were awarded with certificates.

The conference was attended by the governmental stakeholders, international organisations, both branches of the local authorities (municipality and sakrebulo) as well as civil society organisations and experts having hands-on experience in the participatory mechanisms.

The conference was run within the framework of the Solidarity Fund PL project called “Participatory Budget (PB) as a tool of local residents’ activation in the life of self-government life and the professionalisation of human resources working in the field of participation”.

The Project is co-financed by the Polish development cooperation programme of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland.