Welcoming Our New Senior Consultant in Public Financial Management

Oct, 2016

We are pleased to announce that Mikheil Kukava, a high profile professional with about 10 years’ experience in Public Financial Management (PFM), has joined our team.A warm welcome is extended to Mikheil, whose areas of expertise include program budgeting, public procurement, internal audit, the wider PFM, a wide range of economic policies, and healthcare.Prior to joining PMCG’s team, he worked as a Senior Analyst at Transparency International Georgia, responsible for examining systemic flaws and risks in the PFM, economic/financial regulation and healthcare sectors to develop evidence-based recommendations for government. Mikheil has been working closely with the Parliament of Georgia in his capacities as trainer and needs assessor in his areas of expertise since 2010.Indeed, Mikheil’s credentials give us confidence that he will greatly contribute to the progress being made by PMCG and its clients.

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Assisting Parliament of Georgia to Enhance Budgetary Controls

Oct, 2016

In recent years a number of steps have been taken to improve the budget oversight mechanisms of the Parliament of Georgia, such as reforming the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) and efforts to improve coordination with the State Audit Office. However, the absence of effective and organized budget oversight systems within the parliamentary committees, as well as a lack of capacity among members of parliament and staff, remain as challenges and will likely persist when the new Parliament assumes office in late 2016.In order to overcome these challenges, PMCG has set two objectives: to produce a user-friendly handbook on the budgetary process and oversight for newly elected MPs, and to support three sectoral parliamentary committees (Budget and Finance, Sectoral Economy and Healthcare) in creating and introducing an effective and realistic budget oversight system or plan that would potentially serve as a model for budget oversight activity in other committees.The project is being implemented as part of the USAID-funded program “Good Governance Initiative (GGI)”, by a consortium led by Tetra Tech ARD.Please kindly follow the link below for detailed information about the project:Assisting Parliament of Georgia to Develop Budgetary Process and Oversight Handbook for newly elected Members of Parliament and Budget Oversight System for Parliamentary CommitteesGood Governance Initiative (GGI)    

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Developing 2017 Program Budget of Kutaisi City Municipality and Citizens’ Guide

Oct, 2016

PMCG continues to actively work with its partner Kutaisi City Municipality to improve its program budgeting capacity and to ensure effective, efficient, transparent and priority-based use of public resources.More specifically, PMCG supports Kutaisi City Municipality to define mid-term priorities, directions and programs for 2017 and to formulate and implement a needs-oriented 2017 program budget for the municipality.Furthermore, PMCG will develop an evaluation and monitoring framework for budgetary processes, to institutionalize monitoring and evaluation processes with regards to the implementation of programs and sub-programs.In addition, PMCG will assist Kutaisi City Municipality to develop a Citizens’ Guide to enable the city of Kutaisi’s residents to better understand the local budget for 2017.As a result, the transparency of the local government will be improved and the citizens of Kutaisi will have better access to independent, reliable and balanced information relevant to the city’s governance.Please kindly follow the link below for detailed information about the project:Developing 2017 Program Budget of Kutaisi City Municipality and Citizens’ Guide

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PMCG’s Vano Tavadze Becomes Certified Performance Technologist

Oct, 2016

We would like to congratulate Mr. Vano Tavadze, senior consultant in the fields of institutional capacity building, and monitoring and evaluation and an outstanding member of our team, on becoming confirmed as a Certified Performance Technologist (CPT) by the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI). We are pleased to have a team comprised of individuals sharing our values, who are devoted to continuous development and delivering progress to our clients. Vano’s achievement is testament to the quality and dedication of our team. ISPI’s certification is based not only on theoretical knowledge, but it also acknowledges the value of experience and how a team member’s assistance has led to beneficiaries achieving further success.Mr. Tavadze has accumulated more than 15 years of sound experience in the area of management consulting. He joined our team in 2012 and since then has implemented a number of projects, supporting public and private institutions to overcome challenges, and to streamline and enhance management systems in the pursuit and realization of sustainable development.      

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Opportunities of High Mountainous Regions of Georgia Discussed with Local Municipalities

Oct, 2016

Across September 15-30, PMCG held meetings with representatives of the mountainous regions of Georgia, under the UNDP project Fostering Regional Development in Georgia.The meetings were held in Adjara, Guria, Samtskhe-Javakheti, Kakheti, Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti, Racha-Lechkhumi, Shida Qartli, Qvemo Qartli and Mtskheta-Mtianeti regions, with the idea to discuss major challenges and opportunities faced by specific regions in their further development. The results of the discussions will contribute to the identification of the vision and mission of high mountainous settlements of each region, and will be reflected in the strategy of the regions’ development, as well as the action plan, and monitoring and evaluation framework. It was revealed that mountainous populations need to be empowered and their livelihoods must be improved, to support them to take responsibility for the preservation of natural resources and economic development. The project is being implemented as part of a project funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), prompted by the desire of the Government of Georgia to raise the standards of living, to promote employment and to improve the economic and social standards of citizens living in high mountainous areas.Please kindly follow the link below for detailed information about the project:Developing the Strategy and Action Plan for High Mountainous Regions of Georgia    

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PMCG Continuing to Support Regional Development and Local Governance

Sep, 2016

PMCG, as part of the USAID Good Governance Initiative (GGI) program, is continuing to work with local governances to facilitate regional development.At present, PMCG is working with the cities of Batumi and Akhaltsikhe to design their respective city development strategies and spatial urban development plans. Despite being of great economic importance to Georgia, the self-governing cities both lack a proper planning framework to guide and manage sustainable urban development. PMCG is collaborating with working groups, specially created by their mayors. The groups are comprised of representatives of various segments of society, local administration, field experts, youth, academia, and CSOs.PMCG and the groups are also actively working with the local populations to clarify and enhance the cities’ profiles, visions, missions and priorities. Please kindly follow the link below for detailed information about the project:Good Governance Initiative (GGI)Assisting Batumi City Municipality to Elaborate City Development Strategy & Spatial Urban Development PlanAssisting Akhaltsikhe City Municipality to Elaborate City Development Strategy and Spatial Urban Development Plan    

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Supporting SMEs in Georgia for Sustainable Economic Development

Sep, 2016

Recently, PMCG concluded its collaboration with Chventan Ltd., a company which supplies fresh fruits and vegetables to wholesale and retail markets in Georgia.Chventan has intentions to expand its operations and, to more effectively manage the business, the company required ongoing advisory support and coaching in organizational structure and human resource development, as well as elaboration of an operations manual and financial management.After a number of interviews, in close cooperation with the company’s high-level management, our consultants defined and flowcharted the company’s organizational structure, defined the main units within the organization, described relevant functions for those units, classified relevant positions into categories, and developed detailed job descriptions.The project team also developed an operations manual, outlining the core processes within the company and identified responsible positions. For the financial management element, our consultants reviewed existing financial statements, made financial projections for the next five years using the purchase and sales plan of the client, and analyzed the financial ratios to monitor the development of the company.The project was implemented within the project “Management System Development for SMEs”, co-financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).Please kindly follow the link below for detailed information about the project:Management System Development for SMEs  

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Sharing Experience of Implementing Structural Economic Reforms in Georgia at Public Lecture at JVI, Austria

Sep, 2016

On September 7, Aleksi Aleksishvili, Chairman and CEO of PMCG, gave a public lecture at the Joint Vienna Institute (JVI) in Vienna, Austria. Before and after the presentation, Aleksishvili met invited public sector officials from Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia, as well as representatives of academia. The lecture was dedicated to these regions and described historic and recent challenges and how these could be overcome. The lecture was given within the framework of a training course about structural reforms organized by the JVI, which aimed to present the rationale behind implementing structural reforms, to introduce a framework for identifying reform priorities, and to improve participants’ abilities to formulate reform agendas and implementation strategies. Special attention was paid to the lessons learnt, specifically the barriers and challenges encountered in the process of implementing social and economic reforms.Aleksishvili has more than 15 years of working experience in public finance and economic development policy as a high-level government official and government adviser. While working as Minister of Finance of Georgia between 2005 and2007, he successfully introduced complex economic reforms, resulting in economic deregulation and liberalization. Notably, Georgia was ranked the world’s top reformer country by the World Bank (WB) “Doing Business” survey for 2005-2010, and the country rose from 132nd place to 18th in the ranking of “Ease of Doing Business” by the WB from 2004 to 2007. Therefore, those attending the lecture gained valuable insight from Aleksishvili’s first-hand accounts of economic reform. The JVI is a cooperative venture of six international organizations and Austrian authorities (Oesterreichische Nationalbank and Ministry of Finance). In 2002, the IMF and Austria decided to turn the JVI into a permanent training institution to support and supplement the national efforts of JVI-eligible countries.Follow the link for the lecture brief: http://www.jvi.org/public-lectures/2016/implementing-structural-reforms-the-experience-of-georgia.html

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Supporting Albania to Improve Business Regulatory Environment and Fiscal Efficiency

Sep, 2016

Recently, PMCG launched the World Bank project in Albania, designed to facilitate the business enabling environment reform process, to improve public service delivery, business regulatory environment, and to streamline procedural and bureaucratic issues. The project team is working towards enhancements in three main areas, namely the business enabling environment, licensing and permitting, and administration in tax and customs agencies. Preliminary meetings with the Deputy Minister of Finance and with the Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Entrepreneurship of Albania have already been held to discuss fiscal policy administration, business enabling environment, licensing and registration issues. The team is closely collaborating with representatives of government and all key stakeholders to analyze the existing situation and provide relevant technical assistance and recommendations to improve the economic development policy and enhance the business enabling environment.At the same time, the project team will conduct an assessment of the legal and institutional framework of the tax and customs administrations. They will identify key stakeholders, including high level managers, middle management and key actors in the relevant agencies to conduct workshops, discussions and face-to-face interviews for information collection and analysis.The team will review the legal and institutional framework of the National Business Center (NBC) to improve the system’s efficiency and increase performance. Via face-to-face interviews, workshops and workgroup discussions with the key stakeholders, the project team will identify the performance gaps and areas for improvement and provide recommendations to increase efficiey. Please kindly follow the link below for detailed information about the project:Improving Deregulation and Fiscal Efficiency in Albania  

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Assisting Georgia to Educate Investors on DCFTA Benefits

Aug, 2016

PwC and PMCG are supporting the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia (MoESD) to effectively communicate to foreign investors the competitive advantages of Georgia’s Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA).The project is being implemented within the framework of the Good Governance Fund (GGF), in consortium with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Georgia and targets foreign investors and use the DCFTA to attract new export-oriented investments. The strategy will outline clear messages on the advantages of the DCFTA for foreign investors in Georgia. It will include targeted sectors, targeted countries and recommend tools and channels for communicating the benefits of the DCFTA to potential EU and other international investors (e.g. printed and electronic materials, special events, media and social media channels, etc.).The GGF aims to support a series of governance and economic reform initiatives in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Georgia, Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine and is funded by the UK government. It will provide flexible technical assistance in order to make a significant contribution to the following three GGF outcomes: More informed and active populations that can hold their governments to account Demonstrable and perceived open, accountable and responsive governments Higher rates of investment and job creation to support inclusive growth Please kindly follow the link below for detailed information about the project:Good Governance Fund  

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