What is the Social Policy Unit and what are its goals?

The Social Policy Unit (SPU) seeks to support “Informed citizenry taking initiative to promote
social development in a collaborative and strategic way with government, NGOs and other civil
society groups”. The unit is based in the Horizonti Foundation and works within the Georgia
Community Mobilization Initiative funded by USAID. The SPU has worked since 2000 in East
Georgia in collaboration with Mercy Corps, and since 2001 in West Georgia with CARE
International. A Social Policy Advisor selected by Management Systems International (USA)
works with the policy unit, consolidating the efforts of GCMI to initiate both community and
national-level social policy. Four staff members engaged by Horizonti collaborate in Tbilisi, and
others live and work in several regions of Georgia, including Kakheti, Shida Kartli, Samtskhe-
Javakheti, Imereti, Samegrelo and Guria.

The SPU works closely with GCMI partners and with a wide range of other local and national NGOs,
community groups and Government agencies. Three factors that we believe will significantly contribute
to integration of efforts to initiate adapted and coherent social policies in Georgia include 1) promoting
credibility by building on previous achievements within the country, 2) introducing new tools to promote
good social policy with Georgian and other appropriate policy-makers, and 3) increase visibility and
public participation.

The program:
The first 2 years of the GCMI program (2000-
2002) saw a gradual and significant identification of
key target issues in social policy in Georgia. Since the
Horizonti Foundation and the Social Policy Unit are responsible across the country to initiate social
policy, they began a series of workshops on advocacy, which target policy changes in Education,
Social welfare and Health. These are the object of efforts in reform at the Governmental level, in
collaboration with the World Bank Reform Program.

Main social policy issues addressed in 2003-04:

¾ Establishment of a comprehensive Social Work Education program with Government, NGOs
working in the field. Establishment of Resource Center in Soros Foundation premises, working
group on Code of Ethics for Social Work in Georgia; publication of Social Work objectives by
Ministry of Education; holds regular working group meetings for cross-organizational
exchange; seeks funding for a comprehensive Social Work and Social Policy program at the
university level in Georgia; and supports community social service development.
¾ Increased training and support for NGOs working with the Elderly. Networking in 2004
includes a conference organized by Mission Armenia for the Caucasus region and the
establishment of a Georgian working group on the elderly.
¾ Board of Trustees program for schools to increase transparency and accountability within
local community schools. Building on former initiatives in the field, the SPU approach is local,
with community input and participation. SPU works closely with the Ministry of Education and
other organizations in the field. 10 Pilot schools are being intensively trained, and it is
expected that a national association for boards of trustees will be established. A special effort
to include minority schools has meant that Meskhet and Azeri schools are participating in the
BoT program. Encouragement and technical support for the creation of a Georgian National
School Board Association.
¾ Monitoring the World Bank/Georgia Education Decentralization Reforms through local
community monitoring and information. The Unit holds education-linked NGO coordination
meetings to assess reform progress. The Unit also evaluates the reform process, and
monitored the 9th Form exams in 2003, to see how the process can be improved in
transparency and efficiency. Local citizens’ groups actively participated in this monitoring.

SPU 2004

Dolidze 2, 6th Floor, Tbilisi, tel. 995 32 33 42 87

 ¾ Inclusive education working group, regular meetings for exchange and an expert group
concept paper presented to the Parliamentary subgroup on education, to initiate legislation on
the rights of disabled children to education and other issues. A publication on the Rights of the
Child will be published with UNICEF input. The WHO guidelines for classification of disabilities
will be translated to Georgian.
¾ Social Policy Working Groups established and developed in eight regions of Georgia, are
made up of mobilized citizen’s organizations from previous training and GCMI projects. See
description below. These SPWGs will hold a nation-wide conference to compare best
practices and plan a forward-looking advocacy strategy and their integration into Georgia’s
local community political and social institutions.
¾ Primary Health Reform information campaign and development of advocacy tools for local
community health rights, within the World Bank Health Reform program. A guidebook for
mobilizing communities around health issues was published in 2003 by the SPU in English
and Georgian.

The quarterly journal, Social Policy in Georgia is published in English, Georgian and Russian
languages, in both hard copy and internet format. It is aimed at local, community-level, foreign and
government readership for those working for the initiation of new social policy, and distributed by Mercy
Corps and CARE as well as by Horizonti Foundation.

Who are members of the SPU?

In Tbilisi: Mary Ellen Chatwin, PhD, Social Policy Advisor (Management Systems International);
Vano Tavadze, Cross Sectoral Partnership Program Director, (Horizonti Foundation) and his
team: David Gugushvili, Policy Analyst (Health); Marina Kuchukhidze, Policy Analyst (Education);
Nino Zhvania, Social Welfare Programs Advisor; Manana Dumbadze, Editor SPG, Khatuna
Javakhadze, Manager School Boards Program

Social Policy Working Groups

The SPWGs are composed of up to 15 concerned citizens in each region where GCMI has
mobilized communities through grants and other projects. Members of local institutions
are encouraged to participate, such as government representatives, journalists, and
teachers. One of their goals is to integrate rehabilitation and infrastructure projects into
long-term social policy change at the local level, working with the Social Policy Unit.
Isani-Samgori, Gori, Telavi, Akhalsikhe, Kutaisi, Ozurgeti, Zugdidi SPWGs are actively working
today, and it is possible that some additional groups will be formed in 4 or 5 more regions in the
months to come. These groups have had in-depth information training in organizational
development, then advocacy training at basic and higher levels, to help them train and inform
local communities in their areas and to carry out projects that will further social policy
development all over the country.
The SPU has distinguished three phases and a key event for the SPWG development cycle:

¾ Phase I: Community Information and Advocacy training basics – 2000-2002

¾ Phase II: Project Development and Advocacy (advanced) - February 2003-September
2003
¾ National level SPWG Conference to be held in Spring 2004
¾ Phase III: Advanced Community Advocacy Projects –2004

Creating sustainable community and regional citizen’s initiative groups such as the SPWGs is a
main goal of the Social Policy Unit. We are seeking ways to support these organizations in
future, which are a unique network all over the country, at the community level, made up of
capable, informed and trained citizens who have expressed the desire to continue working to
improve conditions in their regions.

SPU 2004

Dolidze 2, 6th Floor, Tbilisi, tel. 995 32 33 42 87