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  • Tbilisi: Georgia's policymakers finish training course

    Georgia's policymakers finish training course
    Nine graduates focus on public sector reform
    By Mary Makharashvili

    The Messenger, Georgia
    Dec 17 2004

    The graduation ceremony of the first nine trainees to pass the
    one-year Public Policy Knowledge Network (PPKN) training program was
    held on Thursday at the Tbilisi Marriott.

    The program is part of a four-year project organized by the Georgian
    Foundation for Strategic and International Studies (GFSIS) and the
    Canadian Bureau for International Education, and financially
    supported from the Canadian International Development Agency.

    The training is focused on public sector reform and is specifically
    concerned with public policy capacity building within the government
    of Georgia

    More specifically, the project trains officials to deliver practical
    assistance, that is, policy analysis, on issues of importance to
    government ministries. At the same time, it aims to build public
    policy curricula within the major public administration schools of
    Georgia.

    The curriculum involves specific training in modern academic and
    governmental practices of public policy, economics, and
    transition-oriented training in public administration.

    "This program is very important, because it increases analytical and
    managerial abilities, which is very important for the state service.
    An understanding of modern management styles in the state sector is
    very necessary," President of GFSIS Alexander Rondeli said in an
    interview with The Messenger.

    "State service is not paid proper attention. Very often people who
    cannot find any other job are employed in the state service. But over
    time this should change. Now the state service is becoming smaller
    and that is why it should be more effective," he said.

    According to him, the continual changes in the state administration
    is a clear sign that Georgia needs better staff.

    The nine employees from five state structures, including the
    ministries of foreign affairs and economic development began the
    one-year training course conducted by foreign experts in October
    2003.

    "The year-long training held at GFSIS has been very profitable for
    me. I learned a lot of interesting things that will be useful for my
    future carrier," said training participant Maia Kurdgelashvili from
    the Ministry of Economic Development.

    In the current 2004-2005 academic year, Rondeli says 34 officials are
    participating in the course. They will be followed by two more years
    of trainees before the project ends in spring 2007.

    Rondeli says that trainees are chosen who have much to offer and are
    considered by their ministries to be future planners and implementers
    of strategic policy-making. "It is strategic thinking that is most
    lacked by Georgian state employees," Rondeli says.

    Georgia is not the only country in which the Canadian International
    Development Agency is implementing this project. It is also
    successfully active in Armenia and Azerbaijan.
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