Tbilisi, 20 January 2008 – Transparency International Georgia today announced the launch of a new project aimed at improving the effectiveness of international aid to Georgia. Over the next twelve months, the project “Making Aid Work for Georgia” will increase the transparency, accountability, allocation and implementation of hundreds of millions of dollars in international aid. The project is part of the “Transparent Foreign Aid to Georgia” Coalition1 and is supported with USD 57,964 by the Open Society Georgia Foundation. A further USD 34,300 have been contributed by TI Georgia itself and other sources. “TI Georgia’s past aid monitoring and advocacy efforts have convinced the Ministry of Finance 2 to publish breakdowns of international aid received by Georgia online” said Ms Tamuna Karosanidze, Executive Director of the Tbilisi-based organization. “The ministry’s decision represented a big step forwards towards making aid more transparent and accountable. Our follow-on project will try to encourage donors, United Nations bodies and international NGOs to follow the ministry’s positive example and improve their own transparency.” The project will:

• Work with aid providers to improve their transparency, accountability and responsiveness
• Establish a toll-free telephone complaints hotline for aid beneficiaries in the ‘adjacent area’
• Publish transparency rankings of individual donors, UN bodies and NGOs active in Georgia on a quarterly basis, and track their progress over time
• Analyze the provision of aid to IDPs and to people living in the ‘adjacent area’ north of Gori
• Map international aid flows and analyze governmental oversight mechanisms

“The government has decided to provide durable housing to both new and old IDPs in Georgia,” continued Ms Karosanidze. “TI Georgia welcomes this decision and wishes to support the government’s efforts to improve the lives of its displaced citizens by acting as a link between the government, beneficiaries, aid organizations and other stakeholders.” The new project will support the formulation and implementation of IDP housing policy by:

• Communicating beneficiary and stakeholder perspectives to policy makers
• Heightening beneficiary and stakeholder awareness of government policy
• Producing actionable policy papers on issues related to IDP resettlement
• Conducting monitoring visits to new and refurbished IDP accommodation

The full proposal of the project “Making Aid Work for Georgia” is available online at: http://www.transparency.ge [1] To read publications from TI Georgia’s previous aid monitoring work, please visit: http://www.transparency.ge [1]