“Georgian Development Platform” (GeoDP) held a meeting with the representatives of the local government of Oni municipality within the framework of the project – “Support partner municipalities to effectively conduct participatory budgeting by FY2024”.

GeoDP chairman and project manager, Tengiz Shergelashvili, introduced the project to the representatives of the municipality, the purpose of which is to improve and strengthen the practice of participatory budgeting in municipalities. The conversation touched on the events and activities planned by the project.

The representatives of the municipality spoke about the practical experience they have gained during the implementation of participatory budgeting in the past years. According to them, two projects were implemented in 2022, in which the involvement of the population was particularly high. However, problems were identified during the selection of projects, which were mainly related to the voting process. Accordingly, within the framework of the project, they expect that, along with other challenges, this issue will be resolved, which will ensure that the interests of residents are taken into account.

The representatives of the local government expressed a desire to work actively to overcome all challenges in time, to start an information campaign, and for the population to be able to present projects in time, to enable the full implementation of the winning projects in 2024. The “Georgian Development Platform” (GeoDP) project – “Support partner municipalities to effectively conduct participatory budgeting by FY2024” started in December 2023. The project is implemented within the framework of “USAID Local Governance Program”.