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Governance

Improving public procurement in Georgia – what’s the magic recipe?

Sandro Nozadze's picture
Procurement Georgia

What exactly is procurement, you may ask? If you google the word, you’ll likely find several different definitions.
 
Essentially, procurement is about buying things. That sounds quite simple, of course, but it becomes much more complicated at the level of government buying, especially when complex risks and variables must also be considered. So, is there a way to simplify government procurement?

Ljudi dobijaju veću moć pred srpskim sudovima

Georgia Harley's picture
Also available in: English


Šta se dešava ako imate pravni problem, a ne možete da priuštite advokata?
 
U Srbiji smo sada korak bliže da odgovorimo baš na to pitanje. Izradili smo vodič kojim se običnim građanima i privrednicima pomaže da se snađu u sudskom sistemu u Srbiji.

Giving people more power in Serbian courts

Georgia Harley's picture
Also available in: Српски


What happens if you have a legal problem but you can’t afford a lawyer?

In Serbia, we are one step closer to answering that very question. We’ve developed a guide to help ordinary citizens and businesses navigate the court system in Serbia.

Judging it smart, Azerbaijan’s courts go digital

Tako Kobakhidze's picture
Baku


















I was back in Baku recently, after a 9 year gap, and guess what I recognized first? Yes, those famous pounding winds – immortalized in the city’s ancient Persian name of Bādkube – or “city of winds”. But as I went about rediscovering this thriving city along the Caspian Sea, I soon realized that I would also be witness to “winds of change”.

Indeed, so much had changed here since my last visit. Most visibly, the urban skyline is now speckled with construction cranes, reflecting a city busy growing upward – its physical outline seeming to transform before my eyes. But infrastructure is just one aspect of Baku’s modern story. Beyond the hectic expansion of concrete and metal, I was also able to observe exciting changes in technology and innovation that are helping to transform an integral part of this city’s life – its judicial services!

Court budgeting – ways to improve performance and do more with less

Georgia Harley's picture
Also available in: Русский


The European Summer is over. We’ve traded our sunscreen for spreadsheets and it’s budget time. Across Europe, Ministries of Justice, Courts, and Judicial Councils are preparing their budget plans for the upcoming year. With fiscal constraint still the order of the day, staff in these offices are sharpening their scalpels, trying to figure out how to do more with less.

So in the spirit of sharing, here is a Top 10 list of how to improve court performance without spending more money.

On digital revolution, skills and the future of communications

Tako Kobakhidze's picture
Also available in: Georgian

WDR2016

We find ourselves in the midst of the greatest information and communications revolution in human history. I’m not the author of this phrase, but I fully agree with it. This particular sentence made me read the entire overview of the World Development Report 2016: Digital Dividends.

I have always been wondering what does the Digital Revolution actually mean. Who, but the Co-Director of the report could have answered my question best?! Yes, I had the opportunity to interview Uwe Deichmann last week in Tbilisi. He visited Georgia as part of the ‘road-show’ to present this work of the World Bank Group team to the government, business, academia, students, and other interested audience attending the Business Forum: Innovation and Digital Economy.

How can Russia grow out of recession?

Birgit Hansl's picture
Also available in: Русский

Russia’s economic woes continue: the recession deepened in the first half of 2015, severely impacting households, while the economy continued to adjust to the 2014 terms-of-trade shock, which saw oil prices being halved within a few months. In addition, investment demand has contracted for a third consecutive year.

Economic policy uncertainty, arising from an unpredictable geopolitical situation and the ongoing sanctions, caused private investment to decline rapidly as capital costs rose and consumer demand evaporated.

The record drop in consumer demand was driven by a sharp contraction in real wages, which fell by an average of 8.5% in the first six months of 2015 - illustrating the severity of the recession. The erosion of real incomes significantly increased the poverty rate and exacerbated the vulnerability of households in the lower 40% of the income distribution.

So, if oil prices remain low, how can Russia grow out of its recession?

How long is too long? When justice delayed is justice denied

Georgia Harley's picture
As the saying goes, ‘justice delayed is justice denied.’ Yet, across the world, court users complain that the courts take too long. For your regular court user facing endless talk from lawyers, reams of paper, and mounting legal bills, a court case can feel like it goes on…FOR….EV….ER.
 
But how long is too long? The question has arisen on each of my last four missions in as many months – from Kenya to Croatia to Serbia and back.
 
And it’s not a rhetorical question. Answers can assist client countries in analyzing their efficiency and devising reforms that improve both timeliness and user satisfaction. It also enables potential court users to better estimate how long it might take to resolve their dispute – allowing them to then adjust their expectations accordingly.
 
After all, better enabling people and businesses to resolve their disputes contributes to poverty reduction and shared prosperity.