Constitutional Reform – visit to Georgia
October 2009
The Trust Director, Brian Brivati, visited Georgia between 12-14 October 2009. The purpose of the visit was to promote the 2010 Fellowship Programme and to explore the theme of constitutional reform in the UK and Georgia.
On the day of his arrival, an article by Brian appeared in The Financial, suggesting that there was a great deal of scope for sharing experience in the field of constitutional reform between Georgia and the UK. Meetings were divided during the visit between potential candidates for the 2010 Fellowship, John Smith alumni and media interviews relating to both the Fellowship and the current constitutional situation in Georgia and the UK. Brian also featured in 'Georgia Today'
Chatting to prospective candidates about the Fellowship Programme
Brian met with all three of the 2009 John Smith Fellows from Georgia. With Giorgi Chkheidze he visited the Georgia State constitutional commission. The commission was charged with developing constitutional amendments. There are a number of working groups covering areas in which there is considerable UK experience in developing more effective models of governance, for example devolution and scrutiny of the executive. In a productive meeting it was agreed that the JSMT would explore ways of making available UK expertise in these areas to the relevant working parties. This was followed up with a meeting with the team doing capacity building in governance at UNDP arranged by Giorgi Nanobashvili. Further co-operation was agreed with UNDP. Brian also visited Nana Mzhavanadze at her NGO the International Foundation Women’s Political Resource Centre (WPRC). He met with the founder of the NGO and they had a productive meeting on developing her action plan.
In the evening, Brian and Paul Doubleday, (Director of the British Council in the South Caucasus), hosted a dinner for Fellows which was also attended by representatives from the British Embassy.
Parallel to meetings with Fellows, Brian did a series of television, radio and newspaper interviews (pictured above). The questioning in these sessions was concerned with both the purpose and content of the Fellowship programme and the current moves towards constitutional reform in the UK and Georgia. On Tuesday Brian was a guest at the launch of the national road safety day. This event was organised by 2006 Fellow Gela Kvashilava and was opened by the First Lady of Georgia.
Special thanks to Maka Khurtsidze, Paul Doubleday, and our John Smith Fellows for all their help.