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PROMISES VS. RESULTS
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Georgia’s smallest region, Guria, is
plagued with failing healthcare and education sectors. With millions
coming into state coffers from both the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline and
the privatization process, observers wonder how much social welfare
reforms will feature in the government’s spending plans. Check out five
of the biggest promises made in these spheres and their results.
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PROMISE: 2004 - An October 11 deal with the owners
of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline stipulates that Georgia will receive
$40 million through 2010, with an additional $1 million each year for
the lifespan of the BTC pipeline. British Petroleum also announced that
it would invest $10 million in a series of projects including education
and healthcare.
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RESULT: 2004 - The Georgian Finance Ministry announced on January 31 that the BTC
Company had given them $9 million as part of its new grant program for
Georgia. However, rather than education and healthcare, the Georgian
government announced that these funds would be used for “various social
programs,” including poverty reduction and increased pensions for
residents of the Samtskhe-Javakheti and Kvemo Kartli regions.
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PROMISE: 2005 - In his February 10 State of the
Nation address, President Mikheil Saakashvili stated that education and
the healthcare system would feature among the top-priority sectors for
government allocation of funds from the privatization process.
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RESULT: 2005 - Out of the 452 million lari ($ 248.3 million) added to the central
budget from privatization as of April, the Ministry of Labor, Health and
Social Affairs ranked third from the bottom in the list of ministries
that benefited from the increase. The ministry received just 24 million
lari ($13.2 million), or five percent, of the total amount available.
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PROMISE: 2005 - In the drive to reform the country’s education sector, the
Ministry of Education and Sciences introduced an ambitious program
called “Jump of the Deer.” The program aims to equip all Georgian
schools with computers and to increase their technological capabilities,
as well as to train educators in modern teaching methodologies. No
timeframe for the reforms has been given.
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RESULT: 2005 - As of late April, progress with Jump of the Deer appeared to be
limited to a one-week workshop held in March in Tbilisi and Kutaisi. In
the workshop, a delegation of Estonian teachers worked with Georgian
instructors to explain how to use and care for school computers, and
provided an overview of the latest computer technologies. Details on the
money spent by the government on the workshop were not available.
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PROMISE: 2004 - The education ministry launched a series of
controversial reforms designed to modernize Georgia’s education system
and root-out corruption in institutes of higher learning. Among the
proposed changes, outlined in 2005, is a plan to transfer state funds
directly to region schools and bypass local government. So-called
resource centers will work with local schools to reform curricula and
teaching methods, according to the ministry.
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RESULT: 2005 - As of mid-spring, the regional resource centers were
still in the planning stage, and plans to provide direct financing for
local schools had not been realized.
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PROMISE: 2005 - In response to Guria’s urgent need for emergency care facilities,
the central government in Tbilisi promised residents several ambulances,
an emergency medical unit and a shipment of basic medical supplies by
May 1. Local authorities in the region estimated that this assistance
would result in the creation of 20-25 new jobs in each of the region’s
three districts.
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RESULT: 2005 - Georgia received more than 130 new ambulances in May. The
ambulances were slotted to be sent to all 10 regions of Georgia,
including Guria, by the beginning of June.
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