On 24 June 2010, the Heinrich Boell Foundation in partnership with the Center for the Regional Development and Initiatives organized a public debate in Telavi. The topic of the debate was: Main challenges for the local self-governance in the Kakheti Region. The debate took place at the Telavi Branch of the State University after Iakob Gogebashvili.
The discussion was dedicated to analyzing the problems and the challenges of the local self-governance and newly elected local-self government bodies (Sakrebulos) in the Kakheti Region.
The following speakers were invited to the debate: Kote Kandelaki – The Chairman of the International Center for Civic Culture, Gocha Shavgulidze – The Member of the Kvareli Sakrebulo, Marekhi Mgaloblishvili – The Head of the Telavi Branch of the Young Lawyers’ Association of Georgia. The debate was moderated by Levan Alexishvili, the Executive Director of the Regional TV Station Hereti.
The debate was attended by the members and the chairmen of 8 local municipalities functioning in the region, representatives of the local civil society and the media. During the discussions, the main focus was made on issues related to transparency of the local municipality activities and on the process of involving citizens in the decision-making process. The experts highlighted a need on behalf of the local self-government bodies to better clarify their responsibilities and the scope of work and an importance to systematically report the electorate about their work and to listening their problems.
The participants underlined that the public in general is not informed about differences between the functions of the municipal Sakrebulos and the local councils (Gamgeoba) and between the functions of local government bodies and the central government.
At the end of the discussion, the participants agreed that the local elected self-government bodies should have systematic communication with the local communities to better serve their needs. Moreover, the participants highlighted that today the local municipalities have all necessary resources for this.
Since the beginning of 2010, the Heinrich Boell Foundation, within its Democracy Program organizes public debates/discussions in various towns of Georgia. The Heinrich Boell Foundation has signed a partnership agreement with the Center for the Regional Development and Initiatives to organize public debates in Gurjaani, Telavi, Poti and Batumi.