Personal Democracy Forum CEE 2019 April 4-5 | Gdańsk, Poland #PDFCEE19

1. What works when nothing does?
Applying theory of “Bright Spots” to civic engagement
Tamar Gzirishvili
PDF CEE 2019

2. The views expressed during the presentation are mine and do not reflect the position of the
National Democratic Institute (NDI), or any organization I am or have been affiliated with.
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Where do I work?

3. 3
What is civic
engagement
anyway?

4. “
The process through which citizens
influence decision-making at the
national or local level.
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5. 5
What type of civic engagement
mechanisms are you familiar with?

6. ◉ Petitions
◉ Budget discussions
◉ City Council public meetings
◉ Citizen advisory board
◉ Mayor’s and majoritarians’ report to the public
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Civic engagement mechanisms in Georgia

7. Why don’t they work?
◉ 2 sticky notes on your chair
◉ Think of 2 challenges to civic engagement
◉ List each challenge on a sticky note
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8. “
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“If you know someone [in the government] , you might be able to raise
your issue and have it solved, but these are rare cases where the issue is
important to the government as well.” –Female, 50, Zugdidi
“Public is neither engaged, nor
informed. 80-90% of the public
has no idea what the
government is doing.”- Male,
24, Ozurgeti
Focus groups, October 2018

9. Main challenges to civic engagement
Awareness
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Attitudes
Skills Opportunities Focus groups, October 2018

10. Bright Spots
“Switch: How to Change Things When change is Hard”
Chip and Dan Heath
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11. “
“Knowledge does not change behavior,” he said. “We
have all encountered crazy shrinks and obese doctors
and divorces marriage counselors.”
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12. Jerry’s approach:
◉ Identify a bright spot
◉ Duplicate good practices
◉ Tweak the old practices
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◉ But most importantly…

13. Budgetmonitor.ge
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14. Budgetmonitor.ge
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15. Budgetmonitor.ge
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16. Budgetmonitor.ge
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17. Budgetmonitor.ge
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18. Ozurgeti City Council meetings
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19. Live transmission of City Council meetings
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Enter personal information
Ask questions/make comments

20. Group exercise
◉ Break into groups
◉ Choose 1 engagement mechanism as a group
◉ It can be a success or a failure
◉ Select a presenter of your team
◉ Share!
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21. Any questions ?
You can find me at
◉ Twitter: @tgzirishvili1
◉ LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/tama/
◉ tgzirishvili@gmail.com
Thanks!
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