“Georgian Development Platform” (GeoDP) held a working meeting with representatives of civil society in Oni, within the framework of the project – “Support partner municipalities to effectively conduct participatory budgeting by FY2024”.

The civil sector was informed about the goals and objectives of the project. Also, the interim document of the communication strategy of the project was discussed in the working format. Interesting ideas were expressed about which communication channels would work better and why. The planned face-to-face communication component with the population was positively evaluated. In addition, their attention was focused on the effectiveness of printed information materials and the need to use them.

The civil sector welcomes the implementation of similar projects in the municipality of Oni and expressed full readiness for cooperation. In addition, according to them, it is especially important to implement such activities that will increase the motivation of local youth to get involved and present projects. They name migration of the population as the biggest problem and believe that the involvement of the population in participatory budgeting projects may help to slow down the migration processes. 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”.