From Responsibility to Response: Assessing National - Brookings

Georgia From Solidarity to Solutions: The Government Response to Internal Displacement in Georgia
development of a well-planned, detailed and realistic
action plan” that spells out specific activities and indicators
for implementation, indicates priorities, specifies
the necessary resources, and clarifies the division of
responsibilities among institutional actors. The action
plan not only was significantly delayed in its preparation—having
been adopted only in July 2008, more
than a year after adoption of the strategy—it also was
not comprehensive; instead it focused overwhelmingly
on the long-standing government priority placed on
return. In any case, in early August, within less than two
weeks of the adoption of the action plan, conflict broke
out anew, resulting in significant new internal displacement.
In December 2008, an annex to the State Strategy
conveyed two important decisions of the government:
to formally extend the applicability of the State Strategy
on IDPs to incorporate the new caseload of IDPs; and to
develop a new action plan to reflect more fully the State
Strategy with respect to addressing the goal of return
and also to elaborate activities for realizing the second
goal—improving IDPs’ living conditions in their place
of displacement. 98 The revised State Action Plan for
Implementation of the National Strategy on Internally
Displaced Persons adopted by the government in May
2009 focused on the second goal of the strategy, improving
the living conditions of IDPs while displaced, in
particular through programs to secure durable housing
solutions for IDPs; some attention was given also to the
importance of improving their access to livelihoods. 99
In keeping with a commitment to update the action
plan on a regular basis, an updated plan was adopted
by the government in May 2010, further elaborating the
durable housing strategy and expanding the focus on
livelihoods support (see also Benchmark 10). 100
98 Government of Georgia, Decree No. 854 of 4 December
2008, “On Making Additions to Ordinance No. 47 as of 2
February 2007 on Approving State Strategy for Internally
Displaced Persons,” called on MRA to lead the design,
implementation, and coordination of a revised action plan
to the State Strategy that would focus on resettling IDPs
and supporting their local integration.
99 Government of Georgia, Decree No. 403 of 28 May 2009.
100 Government of Georgia, Decree No. 575 of 11 May 2010.
199
The strategy assigns the “leading role, responsibility and
coordination function for the elaboration of programs
and monitoring outcomes of their implementation”
to the Ministry for Refugees and Accommodation, 101
which is the designated government institutional focal
point on IDPs (see Benchmark 7). To assist MRA in effectively
fulfilling its role, in March 2009 the government
established the Steering Committee on IDPs. Chaired by
the Minister of the MRA, the steering committee brings
together representatives of the Ministry of Justice, the
Ministry of Finance, and the Municipal Development
Fund as well as the UN Resident Coordinator and the
Representative of UNHCR. Also included are representatives
of the European Commission, Swiss Agency
for Development and Cooperation, US Agency for
International Development, Swedish International
Development Cooperation Agency (as of 2011) and
the World Bank as well as one representative of international
NGOs 102 and one representative of Georgian
civil society. 103 There are provisions to invite to steering
committee meetings, on an ad hoc basis, representatives
of the Ministry of Interior Affairs, the Ministry
of Economic Development, the Ministry of Labor,
Healthcare and Social Affairs, and the Ministry of
Regional Development and Infrastructure and other
government entities; the international community; and
101 Government of Georgia, State Strategy for IDPs, Chapter
VII.
102 To date, the Danish Refugee Council has tended to be
the international NGO participating in the steering
committee, doing so on the basis of its role since 2010
of providing technical assistance for the restructuring of
the MRA. However, DRC and others note that this is a de
facto arrangement; the selection of an international NGO
to participate in the steering committee never has been
decided formally by NGOs E-mail correspondence with
NRC Georgia, May 2011, and DRC Georgia, August 2011.
103 To date, Transparency International (TI), a Georgian local
NGO, has participated in this role. While its candidacy was
endorsed by eight local NGOs, as with the international
NGO seat on the steering committee, there has been no
formal selection process. TI does report, however, that
as part of its participation in the steering committee,
it channels related information to some thirty local
NGOs that work actively on IDP issues. Transparency
International, Annual Report 2010 (2011), p. 31.