The Case of Georgia, Back Office Agencies Ineffectiveness; Remain Major Players in the Service Production • Discussions, Consultation, Making Decisions Chain
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This case study was commissioned under the initiative of the Regional Hub of Civil Service in Astana as a result of its Peer learning alliance on public service delivery among practitioners of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Kazakhstan. It describes the public service delivery reform in Georgia and is the outcome of several months of research in public administration reform in Georgia. Many individuals have helped to develop the case study and the author is grateful to all of them. The author is particularly grateful to those respondents who kindly and tirelessly contributed to the study by generously responding to interview questions and providing material. The Deputy Head of the National Agency of Public Registry of Georgia Mr. Chachkhunashvili, as well as Ms. Dzagnidze, a project manager at the Service Development Agency of Georgia have made invaluable contributions to the study. The Deputy Head of the Civil Service Bureau of Georgia, Ms. Dvalishvili has kindly helped to set interviews with respondents and Ms. Tsulaia from the Public Service Hall in Tbilisi has provided technical support to enrich the study. Special thanks go to Ms. Ketevan Gomelauri and Ms. Susanne Gentz for their continuous support during the research. This study would not have been written without the support from the Regional Hub of Civil Service in Astana (ACSH), and the author extends his gratitude to UNDP Kazakhstan which is the main implementing partner of the Government of Kazakhstan in supporting the ACSH institutionally. Sincere appreciation is extended to Mr. Alikhan Baimenov, Chairman of the Steering Committee of the ACSH, under the overall vision of whom the Research Team of the ACSH contributed greatly to the entire process of this case study development and the peer-to-peer learning journey. In particular, words of gratitude are extended to Mr. Yernar Zharkeshov, Portfolio Manager / Team leader of the Regional Hub of Civil Service in Astana, as well as the members of the Research Team of the ACSH, namely Mr. Dilzhan Yergaliyev and Mr. Artur Akhmetov, Project Experts who made this endeavour a success. The author is deeply grateful to them for their work and cooperation. 1 Executive Summary The failure of administrative reform of the public in terms of knowledge and experience. It has ac- sector was one of the most important causes of quired strong expertise while designing and es- the political crisis in the fall of 2003 in Georgia. tablishing the Public Service Halls and Communi- Therefore, it was considered critical by the new ty Centres One-Stop-Shop public service delivery government to introduce administrative chang- structures. es that resulted in a considerable rationalization of the administrative structure. However, these International organisations such as Transparen- changes also raised questions regarding coordi- cy International continuously commended the nation in redefining administrative responsibil- Georgian government for maintaining a low level ities. There were and still are a number of struc- of corruption in the public sector (TI, CPI, report tural and procedural challenges that the Govern- 2015). Customer satisfaction surveys conducted ment of Georgia continues to confront. by local research organisations seem to indicate that citizens are satisfied with the quality and Prior to launching a substantial public adminis- effectiveness of the services delivered and are tration reform within its own administrative sys- ready to use them repeatedly. They are particular- tem, the Ministry of Justice recognized the need ly satisfied by having the possibility to use public for a sustained plan for coordinating the actions services in their immediate vicinity, thus, reduc- of policy implementers in the process of reform. ing transportation costs and time for using the By reforming the Civil and Public registry systems services (ACT, survey 2013). the ministry has initiated two major reforms to improve public service delivery that eventually However, the establishment of the existing changed the culture and nature of communica- One-Stop-Shop model was neither an easy nor tion between the administration and citizens. straightforward process. For it to operate effec- These reforms triggered the creation of Public tively, governments must develop an adequate Service Halls and Community Centres. Designed public service delivery ecosystem, including the according to the One-Stop-Shop public service elaboration of a legal framework, human resource delivery model, they aimed at simplifying the in- management, ICT and physical infrastructure as teraction between the government and citizens. well as the digitization of civil acts and a sound financial management system. It is a highly inter- A distinctive feature of the One-Stop-Shop (OSS) connected system of state agencies which serve model in Georgia is its clear separation of Back as service producers in the back office while de- and Front Offices in the public service delivery livery of services rests with those agencies which chain. Public Service Halls and Community Cen- operate front offices. This administrative process tres serve as front offices for those back office requires continuous monitoring, innovation, as- agencies that are responsible for developing pub- sessment and creativity. lic services. They advise on how to improve exist- ing services and design new ones. They represent There are currently 17 regional Public Service the administration vis-à-vis citizens and continu- Halls in Georgia. Each of them is connected to ously monitor citizens’ expectations. The existing the central office and is providing more than 200 model is the result of the thorough and contin- public services to citizens. Their service outreach uous planning of those managers and adminis- is further strengthened by 43 Community Centres trators who initiated the reform in the first place. at the community level. The Government of Geor- Today, the Ministry of Justice with its subordinat- gia plans to inaugurate 11 centres in 2017. ed agencies is undoubtedly in a leading position 2 Abbreviations CC Community Centre CPI Corruption Perception Index CRA Civil Registry Agency DFID UK Department for International Development GoG Government of Georgia IT Information Technology ICT Information and Communication Technology ICAO International Civil Aviation Organization MoJ Ministry of Justice of Georgia MoF Ministry of Finance of Georgia MoLHSA Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia MoA Ministry of Agriculture of Georgia NAPR National Agency of Public Registry OSS One-Stop-Shop (Back Office Front Office) PSH Public Service Hall SLMD Land Management Department of Georgia SSA Social Service Agency TI Transparency International UNDP United Nations Development Program USAID United States Agency for International Development VPN Virtual Private Network 3 Table of Contents Acknowledgments ......................................................................................................................................................1 Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................................................2 Abbreviations................................................................................................................................................................3 1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................................5 2. Historic Background to Public Administration Reform in Georgia ...........................................................6 3. OSS Public Service Delivery Model of Civil Registry under MoJ ................................................................7 3.1 Refining Legal Framework ..............................................................................................................................10 3.2 Designing HR System ........................................................................................................................................11 3.3 Establishing New Services and Refining Old Ones ................................................................................12 3.4 New Generation of Biometric Database ....................................................................................................13 3.5 Integration of New Technologies .................................................................................................................13 3.6 Infrastructure Development ..........................................................................................................................15 3.7 Strengthening Financial Self-Sustainability .............................................................................................16 4. OSS Public Service Delivery Model of National Agency of Public Registry of MoJ ...........................17 4.1 Refining Legislation ...........................................................................................................................................18 4.2 Institutional and Administrative Reforms .................................................................................................19 4.3 Technological Transformation .......................................................................................................................21 5. Public Service Halls also known as Justice Houses of MoJ ........................................................................22