Article

"The local people always know their needs best"

05.10.2020, International cooperation

Patricia Danzi took over as head of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) on 1 May, succeeding an FDFA diplomat who had reached the end of his career. In an interview, she lays out some initial priorities.

Kristina Lanz

Expert on international cooperation

"The local people always know their needs best"

Patricia Danzi in the interview on September 8, 2020.
© Daniel Rihs / Alliance Sud

Meinung

Persistence pays off

05.10.2020, International cooperation

In 2019, Alliance Sud reported in its magazine “global” on the Swiss agricultural firm GADCO in Ghana. Those in charge rejected the portrayal. Guest author Holy Kofi Ahiabu, the Ghanaian employee of Alliance Suds Kristina Lanz, faced intimidation.

Holy Kofi Ahiabu

Meinung

The “Shadow Pandemic” and its Effects on the SDGs

10.12.2020, International cooperation

The increase in gender-based violence during lockdowns, labelled the “shadow pandemic” by the UN, threatens the lives and livelihoods of women and girls in Nigeria. There is a need for collective action, writes Oladosu Adenike Titilope.

The “Shadow Pandemic” and its Effects on the SDGs

Article, Global

Private sector engagement: a perilous path

22.03.2021, International cooperation, Financing for development

In implementing the International Cooperation Strategy 2021-2024, the SDC plans to scale up its cooperation with the private sector and strike up new partnerships. How is this impacting developing countries?

Laurent Matile

Expert on Enterprises and Development

Private sector engagement: a perilous path

Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis visits a tourism education institute during his trip to Africa in February 2021.
© Foto: YEP Gambia

Working with the private sector is nothing new in the framework of Switzerland’s international cooperation, whether in the activities of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) or the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).[1] In accordance with Sustainable Development Goal No. 17 enshrined in the 2030 Agenda, that of entering into partnerships in pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Swiss international cooperation had already increased involvement with the private sector during the period 2017-2020.[2] So far, however, that cooperation had never been framed within an SDC strategy. This will now change, at least in part.

Published in January 2021, the “General Guidance on the Private Sector in the context of the International Cooperation Strategy 2021–24” lays out the basic principles governing SDC activities in connection with the private sector and outlines various forms of cooperation with private sector players, as well as the associated challenges and opportunities.

Considering that the private sector makes “the largest contribution to global poverty reduction and sustainable development” – especially as pertains to jobs, taxes and “innovative products that increase living standards in developing countries”[3] – the document states that the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) as well as the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (EAER) plan to step up cooperation with the private sector under the International Cooperation Strategy 2021-2024 and the Federal Council’s new 2030 Sustainable Development Strategy.

In this connection, the SDC points out that in addition to official development assistance (ODA) and domestic tax revenues, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals can only be achieved if “private sector investments are successfully mobilised.” The private sector is therefore considered by SDC as “part of the solution” for reaching the global development and climate protection goals.

Four areas of activity

For the SDC, private sector involvement in sustainable development is focused on the following four areas of activity: (1) Economic policy frameworks: this includes promoting the rule of law as well as responsible business conduct and sustainable investment. (2) Promotion of local companies in the priority countries for Swiss international cooperation, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). (3) Private Sector Engagement (PSE): this entails engaging in partnerships with private sector players from Switzerland and other countries. And last but not least, (4) Public procurement. This area of activity encompasses SDC contracts awarded to private sector players (at home and abroad), which must meet more stringent sustainable development criteria in the future.

PSE – did you say PSE?

According to the SDC, the third area of activity, private sector engagement (PSE) encompasses ways in which Swiss international cooperation can engage with “established" private sector players that “consistently promote” sustainable development. The SDC states that such private sector players – in both the real economy and the financial sector – can contribute to poverty reduction and therefore make interesting partners for international cooperation. They include large companies and multinational enterprises, SMEs, social enterprises, impact investors and grant-making foundations. Each of these categories has its own “specific strengths”. In this connection, the SDC also mentions, for example, NGOs and academic institutions as possible implementation partners.

As stated in the “SDC Handbook on Private Sector Engagement”, the SDC plans, over the medium term, in other words during the implementation of the International Cooperation Strategy 2021-2024, to increase engagement with the private sector as well as the financial volume of its PSE portfolio. In addition to “traditional” PSE approaches, “new financial instruments” are to be developed, whereby the volume of public-private cooperation can be increased also in least developed countries (LDCs) and in fragile contexts.

500 million per year?

Although the document mentions that the setting of a quantitative growth objective is not meaningful, it does note that currently some 8 per cent of all SDC-funded projects (bilateral activities and global programmes) entail partnerships with the private sector. Based on a combination of various factors, it is estimated that over the long run, some 20-25% of all SDC operations could be implemented in collaboration with the private sector, in both the bilateral and multilateral spheres. If we take as a baseline value the 2020 volume of spending of CHF 165 million for the roughly 125 existing partnerships, the volume could rise to almost half a billion in annual spending over the long term.

It should be recalled that the International Cooperation Strategy 2021-2024 makes no provision for the increase of the respective credit lines for the funding of these partnerships, but provides for them to be paid for with funds already earmarked for bilateral development cooperation.[4] This means that the increase in partnerships with the private sector will take place at the expense of other forms of cooperation that have been shown to hold implications for poverty alleviation, more particularly programmes in support of essential public services including education and health. It could also negatively impact other forms of private sector support in developing countries, including the promotion of local SMEs.

What are the impacts?

It is therefore necessary to ensure the developmental impacts of these partnerships and the relevance of the goals being pursued through this kind of cooperation with the private sector. On this point, the “General Guidance on the Private Sector” nevertheless remains vague, or as it stands, fails to convey any clear idea of how SDC plans to guarantee, under such partnerships, the effective fulfilment of its primary mandate, that of combating poverty in priority countries.

The SDC internal handbook lays out various criteria and modalities for cooperation as well as a complex risk analysis procedure. But as always, the devil is in the detail. The SDC will have to ensure that in creating the partnerships, these criteria and processes are effectively observed by all players and not merely ticked off on a list.

Given the clear trend among the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) and bilateral donors, the SDC could find itself under pressure to “boost” its PSE portfolio without being able to guarantee that these partnerships are consistent with the core objective of the 2030 Agenda, that of “leaving no one behind”.

[1] See external audit report 2005-2014 on the promotion of employment.

[2] See “Switzerland’s international cooperation is working. Final report on the implementation of the Dispatch 2017–20”, p. 7.

[3] This statement must be qualified in many respects. More on this later.

[4] “In the event that the SDC establishes new forms of cooperation with the private sector, a new budgetary credit line could be created and the requisite funding will be drawn from the ‘Development cooperation (bilateral)’ credit.” IC Strategy 2021-2024, p. 35.

global

The Alliance Sud magazine analyses and comments on Switzerland's foreign and development policies. "global" is published four times a year (in german and french) and can be subscribed to free of charge.

Article, Global

Greater effectiveness through modesty

03.10.2023, International cooperation

Fragile statehood is one of the biggest obstacles to effective and sustainable poverty alleviation. Alliance Sud has discussed the opportunities and limits of international cooperation in fragile contexts with Professor Christoph Zürcher.

Laura Ebneter

Expert on international cooperation

Marco Fähndrich

Responsible for communications and media

Christoph Zuercher is a professor at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa. As a political scientist, he conducts research and lectures on peacebuilding, international relations and international cooperation, with a regional focus on the former Soviet Union, especially Russia, the Caucasus and Central Asia. In his most recent work he focused mainly on assessing the impact of international cooperation in fragile contexts.
© Daniel Rihs

global

Opinion

"I will keep fighting for justice"

02.10.2023,

The war in Darfur has destroyed his hometown of Nyala. But not the call for justice and peace, writes Sudanese journalist and human rights observer Ahmed Gouja.

In 2021, many of the internally displaced people in Nyala began to resettle in neighbouring villages. But the bloody conflict in Sudan in recent months forced these women to flee again.
© Ala Kheir

Opinion

Poor army and fragile facts

03.10.2023, International cooperation

In fragile contexts, does only a strong army help? Solid research shows that development cooperation can play an important role even in an exceptionally difficult environment, writes Alliance Sud Director Andreas Missbach.

Andreas Missbach

Director

Article

« How can property own property? »

22.06.2021, International cooperation

Between 2016 and 2019, I had the opportunity to take part in the WOLTS project, an action-oriented research project on mining, pastoralism, and women’s land rights in two Maasai villages in the Arusha and Manyara regions of northern Tanzania.

Kristina Lanz

Expert on international cooperation

Mundarara, a little village with less than 5000 inhabitants, is nestled in green hills, accessible only by a long, bumpy dirt road, passing giraffes, antelopes and ostriches, Maasai men in flowing red robes, in one hand a stick to herd the cows, in the other a cell phone. We also see ornately-dressed women balancing firewood on their heads while other women are digging through rubble on the tailings of a ruby mine, looking for small gemstones to sell.

On my first visit to Mundarara, our team is met by the village leader, a tall, portly middle-aged man. In his office, a small mud house with a few broken chairs, a table and some yellowed papers on the wall, he greets us with a handshake and a twinkle in his eye. After explaining our mission, we ask him and the other village elders present a few initial questions about mining and land rights in the village. When I ask if women are allowed to own land, one of them responds indignantly, "How can a property own a property?"

This sentence was commonly heard during our research and succinctly summarizes the situation of many Maasai women: women and girls are considered the property of men - first of their father, and then, after marriage, their husband. Women’s ownership of anything (cattle, houses or land) is out of the question.

The Maasai are considered one of the most patriarchal tribes in Africa . Both female genital mutilation and child marriage are still widespread practices, despite legal prohibitions. The stories of many of the women we talk to are similar: hardly any of them have finished elementary school, their working days are long and filled with hard work (fetching water and firewood, milking cows, etc.). The money they earn by selling jewellery, firewood or, more recently, waste products from the mines is often barely enough to survive, especially since many men do not adequately provide for their families.

Hard work starts with marriage

One group discussion I took part in with a group of second wives was particularly memorable. I expected a group of older women, but instead we were greeted by 3 girls, between 14 and 16 years old, two of them heavily pregnant. The girls tell us that they are happy to be second wives because:

"…We feel sorry for those women who don’t have co-wives because they have even more work to do…Heavy responsibility starts with marriage. When you are at home you can tell your mother you are tired and she will tell you to go and rest. When you are married all the power is with your husband and you dare not even tell him that you are tired, otherwise you will be beaten…” (cited in Daley, E., et al (2018). Gender, Land and Mining in Pastoralist Tanzania, p.43).

Violence is also part of many women's daily lives. In many ways, mining has exacerbated this violence, as outsiders now come to the villages to search for gems. In both villages we heard again and again of rapes and even murders that go unpunished. Many women feel abandoned by their husbands and not infrequently women themselves are blamed for having been raped.

Gender roles are changing

As bad as these stories are, we also hear positive stories, stories of change. These come to the fore, especially later in our work. Based on community feedback on our initial research, we offered a structured training programme over the following year. The individual training sessions consisted of information on land rights, mining legislation and gender equality, as well as interactive discussions and role-plays on these topics.

Initially, women sit in one corner, men in the other. Women hardly ever speak, and if they do dare to say something, they are rebuked by the men in the room. Only when we divide the groups by gender do they start talking. I am often asked by the men about my situation. Do I make all the decisions in my house? These discussions are interesting, because not everything is perfect in Switzerland either: I tell them how women were not allowed to vote until 50 years ago, how they needed permission from their husbands to work and how it is still difficult today to reconcile work and family. Sexism and violence are furthermore still part of everyday life for many women here.

In the discussions, we realize that gender roles are changing among the Maasai. While many older people got married through so-called “bookings” (a man gives a pregnant woman a ring, thus booking the unborn child - if it is a girl – for marriage), many younger Maasai talk about an increase in "love marriages". These marriages often remain monogamous and are characterized by much greater cooperation between the couples. The division of labour is also changing due to mining, climate change, and other factors - women are increasingly performing "traditionally" male tasks, like herding cows, but without relinquishing the "traditionally" female tasks, like fetching water and firewood. Here, too, there are parallels with Switzerland, where women are increasingly entering "traditional" male domains both in the professional as well as in the political field, but still often earn much less than men and continue to perform a large part of unpaid care work.

Even the village leaders want to participate

In the training sessions, we discuss concrete examples to show up the difference between "sex" - the male or female body we are born in and "gender" - the roles and tasks a woman or man should perform or the specific attributes considered feminine or masculine. While our body is given to us by birth, gender roles vary from culture to culture and they also change over time. The point of the WOLTS training programme is not to change Maasai culture, or to impose our Western culture, but to show that gender roles and relations are changing – among the Maasai, as well as in the West - and that it is up to all of us to shape and contribute to that change. As one male participant aptly noted, "We can still be Maasai and carry on our traditions, but some traditions are harmful, we have to change them" (quoted from unpublished WOLTS team data).

The findings of the project are now emerging and it is clear that it has had an impact. It certainly provoked discussion and many women felt empowered just by knowing that they have rights and that gender roles are not natural but can change. Even the village leader, who at the beginning had asked: "How can a property own a property", asked if he could be part of the next round of training.

For more information

The Women’s Land Tenure Security Project (WOLTS) started in Tanzania and in Mongolia. For more information see: Mokoro . The full Tanzania research paper (Daley, E. et al (2018). Gender, Land and Mining in Pastoralist Tanzania) can be found here. This article is based on my personal impressions and experience, but draws heavily on WOLTS research findings and all quotes are cited with permission of the project.

Article, Global

«We still have a far way to go»

24.06.2021, International cooperation

Mark Herkenrath is an adjunct Professor of Sociology at the University of Zurich and has conducted research, among other things, on the development implications of economic globalisation and on civil society opposition in Latin America and the USA to the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). Prior to taking over the directorship of Alliance Sud in 2015, he had already been a member of its team since 2008, with responsibility for the area of international finance and tax policy.

Marco Fähndrich

Responsible for communications and media

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted in 2015 and was hailed internationally at the time as a major milestone. So far, however, the Federal Council has hardly implemented anything and the general public knows very little about the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Why is this so?

The Federal Council’s support of the 2030 Agenda is woefully insufficient. It is reluctant to approve new funds for implementing the Agenda and merely wants to incorporate global sustainable development into already existing policy. It is also doing too little to familiarise the general public with the 2030 Agenda. That task falls to the non-governmental organisations even though, at the behest of Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis, they are now no longer allowed to use federal funds for educational and awareness-raising work in Switzerland.

Yet Federal Councillor Cassis has taken up the cause of sustainability in the new foreign policy strategy…

In 2018, one year after assuming office, Federal Councillor Cassis distanced himself from the 2030 Agenda! In an interview with the “Basler Zeitung”, he vented his annoyance at never having been consulted about the 2030 Agenda in his previous role as a Member of Parliament. As with the UN Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, he also poured scorn on the Agenda as a concoction of diplomacy that was at odds with domestic policy decisions. In the meantime, however, he seems to have better grasped the fact that an equitable and sustainable world is also in Switzerland’s interests.

The Responsible Business Initiative represented a respectable achievement by Swiss civil society at the polls. In the wake of the referendum, conservative politicians are now keen to limit the leeway available to NGOs (see global #81). Have NGOs become too powerful?

(Chuckles.) That sounds as though NGOs had marched with whole hosts of people to the polls on the Sunday of the referendum to cast their votes. The fact is that in Swiss democracy it is still the voters who ultimately decide. And they certainly make up their own minds. In the referendum on the Responsible Business Initiative, 50.7 per cent of voters came out in favour of an open-minded Switzerland that displays solidarity. The public has legitimate faith in the very well documented cases researched by NGOs; in contrast, their trust in the private sector’s business associations is wavering. No-one still believes the assertion that the interests of the business sector are also invariably good for Switzerland. Naturally, this poses a problem for conservative political circles.

In international cooperation, Switzerland is relying ever more on partnerships with the private sector. Alliance Sud has repeatedly cautioned about the risks entailed, but are there also opportunities?

Of course there are also opportunities, such as new jobs, investments and environment-friendly technologies. But that should not mislead us into ignoring the risks. In developing countries, foreign corporations often displace local companies from the market only to then shift their profits untaxed to low-tax jurisdictions like Switzerland. Moreover, there are human rights violations and environmental problems. This is why partnerships with the private sector in international cooperation should conform to selection criteria and specifications at least as stringent as those applied to partnerships with NGOs. The SDC and SECO are still a long way from this.

The climate movement and the pandemic are prompting ever more scholars to speak out in an endeavour to influence policymakers – is this a positive development?

Yes, this is a good development. In a functioning democracy, the population and their political representatives are expected to make well-informed decisions. This calls for expertise. Besides the expertise of academia, this also means the specialised know-how of NGOs and the ethical expertise of churches. When I still worked full-time in academia, commenting on current political affairs was roundly frowned upon in those circles; op-ed articles in the “NZZ” or in “le Temps” elicited raised eyebrows. Fortunately, things have improved in that regard.

Alliance Sud marks its 50th anniversary this year. What direction is development policy now taking and will it still be needed in 50 years’ time?

Development policy will always be with us: it is in fact global domestic policy. The 2030 Agenda underscores that the making of every policy decision must include gauging the way it will impact the entire world population as well as the future of the planet. We still have a far way to go, however, until the precept of global sustainable development is put into practice. Once again the powerful countries of the North are displaying a strong tendency to prioritise short-term national self-interest over the well-being of nature and humanity. International cooperation too is again increasingly being used to further economic and migration-related interests. This is why, even in the future, there will be the need for an Alliance Sud that pursues policy for the sake of an equitable world.

global

Article, Global

Caucasus: the way out of chaos

06.12.2021, International cooperation

Switzerland’s new cooperation strategy in South Caucasus – Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan – focuses on developing depopulated regions and integrating ethnic minorities and migrants.

Isolda Agazzi

Expert on trade and investment policy / Media relations French-speaking part of Switzerland

It is still dark at six in the morning as Aleksander, a cigarette in the corner of his mouth, set off from home at a brisk pace to milk his cows. "This is really women's work, but I'm doing it today", says Aleksander, who studied mathematics at Tbilisi University then returned to his native village in South Georgia to care for his elderly mother. Together with his wife, who is just preparing breakfast, he has installed a couple of guest rooms to supplement his modest farmer’s income. Is the milking done by machine? "No it is done by hand", he replies in broken English, which he is learning from his daughter who attends primary school in the village. The abundance of fruit, vegetables and flowers growing in his garden can be found all over Georgia. In summer, they submerge this village, at an altitude of 1,300 metres, in a veritable sea of colour. But winters are tough: the house is heated with a wood stove, as the gas supply, recognisable elsewhere from the pipelines that can be seen all over the country, does not reach this remote region close to the border with Turkey and Armenia.

Low-yield farming

"Switzerland has a strong presence in Georgia, where it supports agriculture and livestock farming", says Danielle Meuwly, head of Swiss development cooperation in South Caucasus, as she receives us in her Tbilisi office. There is an enormous urban-rural divide: 40 per cent of the people work in agriculture, which nonetheless produces very low yields and makes up just eight per cent of GDP."

There is great inequality in the country: in 2021, the Gini coefficient[i] was 36.4, which places it 89th in the US World Population Review country rankings.

To promote agricultural expertise, Switzerland has mounted a vocational training project in conjunction with the Plantahof Institute. A programme has been launched jointly with the NGO Swisscontact to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in rural areas, and is expected to help boost farmers' incomes. Switzerland is also committed to preserving forests within the meaning of the new Forestry Law, which tightly regulates logging. The law still lacks popular acceptance, however, and for the most part, people like Aleksander need to be offered an alternative to wood-fired cooking and heating.

Switzerland as representative of Russian interests in Georgia and vice versa

This remit is part of the new 2022-2025 Swiss Cooperation Strategy in South Caucasus, to be published in early December. "It is a regional strategy that also encompasses Armenia and Azerbaijan and is being implemented jointly by the SDC, Seco and the Peace and Human Rights Division of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs", Danielle Meuwly continues. "For practical reasons, and because the country receives the biggest budget, we maintain our office in Georgia. The Confederation's involvement in this region is significant – more specifically, its role here is a protective one." In the wake of the war in August 2008 and Russia’s recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Georgia severed diplomatic ties with Moscow. Since 2009, Switzerland has been representing Russia's interests in Georgia and Georgia's interests in Russia.

In the extremely impoverished Abkhazia region, where international humanitarian aid is needed, projects have been launched, as part of Swiss cooperation, to upgrade sanitary facilities in schools and train women in cheese-making under hygienic conditions.

Integrating ethnic and religious minorities

Beyond diplomatic concerns, we endeavour to build a bridge and foster cooperation between the civil societies on both sides", says Medea Turashvili, who is responsible for human safety matters. "We endeavour to safeguard the rights of religious minorities and ethnic groups." This cannot be taken for granted in a country that has continuously been besieged by Mongols, Turks, Arabs, Persians and Russians. Embodied by the powerful Georgian Orthodox Church, religion has always been a refuge and today remains a key element of the national identity.

Although Orthodox Christians are in the majority, there are also Georgian Muslims, Azeris, Chechens, Armenians and other minorities, who are hardly integrated. "Members of ethnic and religious minorities often do not speak the Georgian language, as the education system is such that they are unable to learn it properly", says Danielle Meuwly. "They have much stronger ties with their communities of origin than with their immediate surroundings. Our goal is to reduce this alienation so that the various communities can live together in peace. In the south of the country where there is a large Azerbaijani community, service centres have been opened to provide information to the population in the Azerbaijani language. We sat down with the political parties ahead of the 2018 and 2020 elections to work out a code of conduct."

Helping migrants to integrate

There are numerous orchards and vineyards in the Kakheti region in the east of the country. The region is famous for its wine. Georgia is reputed to be where winegrowing originated and to this day, families still produce their own wine in their cellars. The image of the villages is nevertheless dominated by countless abandoned houses with their finely-worked wooden balconies falling to pieces. Most of the residents, and especially the young generation, are going abroad. In a country where the average monthly wage is 300-400 euros, they are seeking greener pastures in Western Europe – the men often as construction industry workers and the women as domestic helpers. Georgia has a population of almost four million, of which 1.7 million are migrant workers.

Their money remittances are an indispensable source of income for families back home. In Switzerland, Georgia occupies fifth place among the countries of origin of asylum seekers, as the Schengen Visa requirement was waived for its nationals in 2018. They have no chance of being recognised as refugees, however, and are systematically turned down. There are Swiss cooperation projects being run in Kakheti and other provinces for the reintegration of former migrants and for the revitalisation of communities.

Alliance Sud welcomes the fact that Switzerland supports the social and economic reintegration of returnees, but nonetheless urges the country not to make its aid dependent on the readmission of rejected asylum seekers, as it committed itself to do. Given the labour shortages in so many professional fields, Alliance Sud calls on the Federal Council to adopt a sustainable migration policy that allows migrants to find work in Switzerland, apart from clandestine employment.

[i] This coefficient is used to measure income inequality in a country. The Gini coefficient is a number between 0 and 1 (often also expressed as a percentage), where 0 means absolute inequality.

Independent but closely monitored civil society

Civil society is a key player in Georgia. It is funded mostly by Western donors, including Switzerland, and its relations with the government are marked by highs and lows.

“We can largely carry out our activities without obstructions, but in recent years the ruling party tends to discredit critical CSOs with baseless accusations of lacking the competency or working in line with opposition parties and this tendency seems to become persistent. Such harsh statements and hostile attitudes complicate advocating our recommendations with different branches of government”, says Vakhtang Menabde, Director of the Programme for the Support of Democratic Institutions of the Georgian Young Lawyers Association (Gyla).

Georgia has been ruled since 2012 by the Georgian Dream Party, which succeeded the United National Movement. The latter had severely curtailed the independence of the justice system and civil society freedoms, according to the activist. Some liberalisation processes began in the wake of the 2012 elections. “Sadly, even though several waves of reforms were launched, most of them improved only some flaws in the system and superficially decorated its façade but did not change the real institutional characteristics. Therefore, unfortunately, today independence of the judiciary in Georgia is sternly restrained”, he continues.

As regards the role of civil society, for years now the Gyla NGO has been militating for reforms to the justice system, local government and voting rights. Vakhtang Menabde does indeed welcome the fact that many of his recommendations have found their way into law, but the key proposals that would lead to genuine changes in the power structure have been ignored. “To sum up, civil societies in Georgia operate mostly in a free, but very polarized and tense environment”, Vakhtang Menabde concludes.

That apart, several recent scandals have revealed that civil society activists, journalists and political associations have been under close surveillance by State security services. In an open letter published in August, a dozen NGOs denounced the disproportionate powers of the State Security Service and its attacks on privacy.

global

Subscribe to Development cooperation