Usaid National Governance Program

The USAID National Governance Program was designed as a five-year program to increase government accountability and responsiveness to citizens by enhancing the effectiveness, transparency, and accountability of executive institutions of the Government of Georgia (GOG), the effectiveness and independence of the Parliament of Georgia (Parliament) and other independent oversight institutions, and empowering citizens to hold the government accountable. The Program worked in partnership with the GOG to deliver citizen-responsive governance based on greater accountability, transparency, and institutional independence. It sought to strengthen accountability systems, procedures, and mechanisms within both governing and independent oversight institutions and enhancing their ability to serve and communicate effectively with the public. Program activities included strengthening the “demand-side” of citizen responsive governance, supporting localization efforts, and empowering Georgian civil society and the private sector to demand accountability of Governance institutions. To achieve this goal, the Program was designed to: Increase effectiveness, transparency and accountability of governing institutions Increase effectiveness and independence of oversight institutions; and Increase citizen demand for government accountability. USAID recognized the Program for delivering high-quality, politically informed governance support. It maintained strong partnerships with key institutions, including GeoStat—who formally commended the Program for helping them strengthen their institutional performance. In the first two years, the Program exceeded USAID targets across governance reforms—supporting 4 major policy reforms, 34 oversight actions, 837 civil-service trainees, and 33 policy research products—while earning commendations from government partners and USAID.