For the first time in Georgia, Gori municipality successfully applied Civil Participation in Decision-Making Toolkit  for developing a municipality’s mid-term development plan through an inclusive process.

“Civil Participation in Decision-Making Toolkit” (CP Tool) is a Council of Europe civil participation methodology which aims to guide local authorities in the design and implementation of context-based strategies to support civil participation.

Following the extensive training provided to the representatives of Gori City Hall and the City Council, a formal regulatory framework for the application of the CP Tool was established by a Mayor's order. The order created a local participation working group responsible to implement the methodology.

The working group comprised of representatives from Gori City Hall and civil society organisations, held a series of workshops and meetings to carry out community assessment, stakeholder mapping and assessment. The CP Tool helped the municipality to assess to what extent the local community is ready to be involved in the process of developing the strategic document, to identify stakeholders, evaluate their interest and relevance, and develop a participation strategy including recommended communication forms and mechanisms to ensure their effective engagement in the process.

Applying Council of Europe civil participation methodology allows the municipality to elaborate the municipal plan with a participatory manner.

The Civil Participation in Decision-Making Toolkit was piloted in Gori municipality in the framework of the project “Strengthening Participatory Democracy and Human Rights at Local Level in Georgia”, implemented by the Directorate General of Democracy and Human Dignity, Division of Elections and Participatory Democracy within the Council of Europe Action Plan for Georgia 2020-2023 with the financial contribution of the Austrian Development Cooperation.