Human and Institutional Capacity Development (HICD) Activity

In 2021, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) launched the “Human and Institutional Capacity Development (HICD) Activity in Georgia” seeking to achieve sustainable results in the human and institutional capacity development of key strategic partner institutions in Georgia that play an important role in the process of strengthening the country’s self-reliance.

We, as subcontractors to Kaizen (prime contractor), have been working on the various activities to contribute to the Activity’s success in meeting the set objectives. Moreover, we supported a number of organizations that play a vital role in the country’s development, including:

• Civil Service Bureau (CSB) of Georgia – One of the key institutions engaged in the cycle of formulating and implementing public policy. The Bureau’s effectiveness directly affects Georgian government, the Parliament, and other administrative bodies. With this in mind, we conducted a performance assessment of the CSB and prepared the Performance Solutions Package, consisting of 10 solutions oriented toward various aspects relative to improving performance.
• Georgian National Intellectual Property Center “Sakpatenti” – Intellectual property protection is an essential part of any knowledge-based economy and raising awareness about its importance is a key focus of Sakpatenti. Accordingly, we have worked with the Center to strengthen PR practices through developing a three-year communications strategy and a one-year action plan. To facilitate the process, we have supported Sakpatenti to build its public outreach capacity, developed a brand book, and designed public awareness campaigns.
• Georgian Association for Public Opinion Research (GAPOR) – We have worked with the management of GAPOR and supported them to develop sound and viable strategic and operating plans. Moreover, we have assisted the team to outline and conceptualize the operating procedures for the Association’s most important activities and services.
• Public Defender of Georgia (PDO) – A constitutional institution that supervises the protection of human rights and freedoms in Georgia. Within the framework of the HICD Activity, we had the opportunity to work with the institution on several important areas. We also assisted the PDO to develop the 2020-2022 Human Resource (HR) Strategy and corresponding action plans. Furthermore, we helped to devise human resource management procedures and an employee performance appraisal framework that were subsequently adopted by the PDO.

We also assisted the PDO to assess and improve its IT infrastructure. Within the project framework, PMCG’s team of consultants conducted a comprehensive assessment of the PDO’s IT infrastructure, including its hardware and software, and established a unified vision for an acceptable IT design for the agency. We also developed the PDO’s security standards and guidelines, remaining compatible with the PDO’s mandate and operations, and established IT hardware and services procurement parameters and guidelines.

The project “Pre-award Risk Assessment for a Government to Government (G2G) Development activity with Public Defender’s Office of Georgia” was designed to identify, analyze/evaluate, and propose measures to mitigate all identified entity-level risks at the PDO, associated with the potential G2G development activity. The results of the assessment inform the proposed G2G activity design process and recommend mitigating measures to address the risks identified. The identified risks may be addressed as conditions precedent prior to providing initial disbursements and/or as covenants to implement during the life of the activity. The following areas were identified for assessment within the project’s framework: entity feature; budget; procurement; cash management and treasury; accounting and reporting; internal control; information technology; audit and compliance; and fraud.