From April 4, 2016, the Center of Electoral Systems Development, Reforms and Training, LEPL (Hereinafter – the Training Center) is announcing a grant competition for the following direction for funding through the grant competition stipulated in the Central Election Commission of Georgia March 31, 2016 Ordinance N 165/2016 – Promote the Enhancement of Electoral Capacity of Political Parties for the future Parliament of Georgia elections.  

Situation analysis           

According to the Election Administration of Georgia 2015-2019 Strategic Plan, effective implementation of the goal of electoral culture development in the country, along with other aspects, is related to the necessity to develop and implement electoral awareness-raising/educational programs for electoral stakeholders, to ensure supporting their electoral capacity development and in general, establishing competitive political environment.

It can be observed according to the registry of elections-related complaints maintained at the Electoral Administration (See the link http://sachivrebi.cec.gov.ge/ Available in Georgian) that the frequency of cases of dismissal of complaints and refusal to grant based on groundlessness of complaints filed by representatives of political parties remains high. Recommendations about necessity to carry out relevant awareness-raising/educational programs for political parties, aimed at supporting the enhancement of their electoral awareness, are also reflected in the reports of observer missions (e.g., OSCE/ODHIR Final Report, Parliament of Georgia Elections, October 1, 2012).

Topic of the competition – support the development of electoral capacity of political parties for the Parliament of Georgia October 2016 elections

Next regular elections in the country are related to holding the Parliament of Georgia elections. Considering this,  it is especially important to implement awareness-raising and educational programs on elections related legal and other general conceptual issues for political parties; since, in conjunction with elections, political parties, pursuant to law, will be empowered to appoint members and/or representatives at district election commission and precinct election commissions.

Based on the goal determined under the competition topic, a project proposal for promoting electoral awareness of political parties submitted by an NGO should envisage a minimum duration of awareness-raising and educational program (not less than 21 hours); considering the results of the study conducted by the Central Election Commission of Georgia, the program should be comprised of the following modules aimed at the enhancement of electoral capacity of political parties:

• electoral stakeholders, their powers and electoral ethics;
• teamwork, time management and accountability;
• conflict management, electoral disputes, standards and best practice;
• Pre-election campaign and administrative resources.

The failure to fulfill the condition to submit the above-mentioned program minimum will serve as a basis for removing competition documentation from competition.

In addition to the above-mentioned, applicants are also welcome to offer other additional training course/modules aimed at the enhancement of electoral capacity.

For the purposes of evaluation, it is important that the training program include the goal of a relevant module, its content, teaching outcome, methodology, duration and background about an instructor.

Note: In coordination with a winning NGO, over the course of project implementation the Training Center will contribute to the program by teaching the following modules to target groups:

• the electoral cycle and legislative updates;
• activities of district and precinct election commissions;
• Polling day procedures.

Considering the above-mentioned, an NGO should additionally envisage 3 hours for conducting the above-mentioned modules by the Training Center, in the presented training program. Work and business trip expenses incurred by employees of the Training Center in relation to the implementation of the training course will be borne by the Training Center.

Target groups of the grant project

To support the development of electoral capacity of human resources of political parties, a project presented by an NGO for the above-mentioned competition topic should comprise the target groups organized according to the categories and requirements specified below:   

a) Category 1 target group:

• Should be made up of representatives of political parties authorized to appoint members at election commissions for elections according to legislation. To ensure the development of competitive political environment, an NGO is required to fulfill set requirements over the course of putting together a target group, specifically:

it should present to the Training Center a document proving that the letter of invitation to participate in the project has been sent to seven qualified political parties, and the consent letter about the participation in the project received from not less than four qualified parties; the latter should be signed by an individual with the powers of party leadership/representation (current information about seven qualified parties authorized to appoint members at election commissions can be viewed by following the link Available in Georgian);

-  letter of invitation sent to parties and consent letters received from parties should be presented to the Training Center no later than within 5 days after the notice about the mentioned requirement is sent to an e-mail of an NGO (letters should be presented in hard copy and electronic format (CD));

-  In case of failure to fulfill the above-mentioned requirements, the Commission will take a decision to refusal to fund an NGO;

• to ensure equitable conditions and proportionality, each party willing to participate in the project should be given the possibility to present representatives of the party for the target group considering the number of district election commissions active in the region, specifically: Tbilisi (10 district election commissions);

 b) Category 2 target group:

• For promoting competitive political environment, in the course of staffing the mentioned target group, an NGO is required to fulfill established requirements, specifically:

- it should submit to the Training Center document proving that a letter of invitation for participating in the project has been sent to eleven qualified political parties, and letter of consent received from not less than six qualified parties about participation in the project, according to the sent invitation letter, signed by a person having the authority for party leadership/representation (for information about current eleven qualified parties, see the link Available in Georgian); 

- It should also submit to the Training Center a document proving that the letter of invitation to participate in the project has been sent to not more than six non-qualified parties that have participated in one of the general elections held over the past four years, and in case consent to participate in the project is received in response to the sent invitation letter, it should submit the mentioned consent letter, signed by a person with powers of leading/representing the party (for information about non-qualified parties that have participated in one of the general elections held over the past four years see the link Available in Georgian);   

- Letter of invitation sent to parties and letters of consent received from parties should be submitted to the Training Center within no later than 5 business days from sending a notice about the mentioned requirement to an e-mail of the NGO (letters should be submitted in hard copy and electronic (CD) format);

-  In case of failure to meet the above-mentioned requirements, the Commission will take a decision to refuse to fund an NGO.

• To ensure equitable conditions and proportionality, each party willing to participate in the project should be given the possibility to present party representatives to the target group, considering the number of district election commissions in a relevant region, specifically: Tbilisi (10 district election commissions);

The scope of funding a grant project  

The scope of funding for a grant project that will be implemented in one of the regions listed below and that, for the purposes of the competition will comprise maximum number of representatives presented by political parties (24 representatives by envisaging each election commission), will be determined as follows: Tbilisi (10 district election commissions) – not to exceed GEL 156,000;

If it can be seen from the letters of consent about participation in the project received from parties that the number of participants in target groups envisaged under the project has decreased, an NGO is required to submit to the Training Center project adjusted budget considering the above-mentioned calculation principle. An NGO should submit an adjusted budget to the Training Center along with the invitation letter sent to the parties and letters of consent received (in hard copy and electronic (CD) format). In case of failure to meet the above-mentioned requirements, the Commission takes a decision to refuse to fund an NGO.

Note:

• For each of the above-mentioned regions a single winning project will be identified.
• For participating in the competition, an NGO is authorized to submit just one grant application under the announced competition.
• In case a project is funded, amount will be disbursed in installments, within the timeframes stipulated under an agreement.

Duration of the grant project

Grant project implementation period may comprise period from June 5, 2016 to no later than September 5, 2016.

Who is entitled to participate in the competition:

Local non-commercial legal entities (hereinafter – NGO) registered according to Georgia legislation prior to the announcement of the competition may participate in the competition.

NGOs whose leaders and/or implementing individuals of a project to be submitted for the competition are one of the following - a member of the Central Election Commission of Georgia; head of a structural unit of the CEC Apparatus; head of the Training Center, deputy Head of the Training Center; head of a structural unit of the Training Center; a member of the Grant Competition commission, commission secretariat and the monitoring team – are not allowed to participate in the competition. Leaders of an NGO imply individuals with powers of leading/representing an NGO according to an extract from the Registry of Enterprises and Non-commercial Legal Entities.

Competition documentation to be submitted for the grant competition:

For participating in grant competition, an NGO should submit the following competition documentation, by observing the indicated rule:

a) Grant application, following the format of Annex N 1 (in print and electronic format (CD) Available in Georgian); 

b) An extract from the Registry of Enterprises and Non-commercial Legal Entities obtained after the announcement of the grant competition (March 4, 2016), the information in which confirms that an NGO does not have the following obligations: attachment/injunction, tax lien, registry of creditors (hard copy);

b) A founding document (statute, charter, etc.) verified according to Georgia legislation (hard copy).

Reviewing body:

Grant competition commission takes a decision about dismissing competition documentation, about funding/refusal to fund an NGO, removal of competition documentation from competition. The grant competition commission takes the mentioned decisions in absentia of a representative of an NGO that has submitted competition documentation.

Grant competition commission members evaluate grant project proposals according to the criteria stipulated in the evaluation sheet of competition documentation (See Annex N2 Available in Georgian).

Publicity of grant competition results:

Grant competition participants will be notified about the results of the competition via a message to their e-mail. Information about NGOs funded at the decision of the grant competition commission will also be posted on the CEC and the Training Center websites.

Schedule:

• Announcing grant competition: April 4, 2016;
• deadline for submitting competition documentation: from April 4,  2016 through April 18, 2016 (except for weekends), from 10:00 am to 18: 00 pm, at the Training Center Address: 13th kilometer, D. Aghmashenebeli Alley (CEC Buildings, 5th floor);
• Informational meetings with regard to the rule of submitting competition documentation: April 14 and 15, 2016, 2:00 pm, at the Training Center address: 13th Kilometer, David Aghmashenebeli Alley, Tbilisi (CEC Building, 5th floor).

See the link for Grant issuance rule (Available in Georgian).

For additional information, contact us at: 261 21 11; 599 95 83 83.