Improved Public Policy Discourse

PMCG together with the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA) implemented the USAID supported project aimed at improving dialog between public and the Government.

The principal strategic focus of the project’s activity is to increase the quality and quantity of the discourse of public policy alternatives in Georgia and to foster a more pluralistic and higher quality exchange of ideas and to promote more active engagement of Georgian citizens in public policy discussions. Projects may need to address capacity-enhancing measures, but the main focus was designed to be on tangible and measurable accomplishments consistent with the purpose of this program – quality discourse on public policy issues in a manner that minimizes politicization.

The goal of these interventions is to engage the Government of Georgia, think tanks, and research or civil society institutions in public policy discussions based on unbiased, fact-based information obtained through high quality research and analysis, and to communicate this information to the public. The end result would be to maximize the involvement and expertise of Georgian organizations and institutions, and to foster relationships and partnerships among these entities in the process of public policy discourse.

Objectives:

• Increase interaction between policy researchers/analysts and policy-makers;
• Build working partnerships among think tanks, media, government, and civil society organizations;
• Produce fact-based content that examines, explains, debates and informs public policy discussion;
• Utilize policy experts and analytical studies in content creation;
• Create user-friendly interpretations of research data;
• Organize moderated policy discussions for policy-makers and the public;
• Link research institutions and media outlets to jointly produce and disseminate information.

PMCG provided the following services:

• Developing a quality assurance system for Policy Products (Policy Papers and/or Policy Briefs);
• Developing a system of policy dissemination by utilizing traditional (TV, radio, newspaper) as well as modern technologies (internet forum);
• Enhancing the existing Policy Forum practice (already set up within the “Public Policy Discussion Panel and the Internet Forum” program framework) through expanding discussed policy issues and target audience;
• Fostering partnership among Georgian state and non-governmental actors while being engaged in public policy discourse;