Giorgi Vashadze

Giorgi Vashadze გიორგი ვაშაძე
File:Giorgi Vashadze.jpg
A Member of the Parliament of Georgia
In office 21 October 2012 – Till Now
Personal details
Born	(1981-07-08) 8 July 1981
Political party	United National Movement
Alma mater	Tbilisi State University Georgian Technical University Harvard Business School

Giorgi Vashadze (Georgian: გიორგი ვაშაძე) (born July 8, 1981) is a Georgian politician and a member of the Parliament of Georgia elected on a party list of the United National Movement in October, 2012. He is also a member of the United National Movement fraction, deputy chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee, member of the Education, Science and Culture Committee, member of the Commission on Implementation of Quality and Internal Control Procedures of Audit, Financial and Economic, Legal and Organizational Activities of the State Audit Service.

Education

Studied at Harvard Business School and has degrees in public administration from Georgian Technical University and a law degree at Tbilisi State University.

Career (Summary)

Giorgi Vashadze has an outstanding track record in initiation, planning and management of fundamental reforms. Since 2005 he was actively involved in the programs of Ministry of Justice of Georgia and successfully implemented number of projects. As the head of the Civil Registry Agency (Georgia, 2006-2010) Giorgi Vashadze initiated and accomplished implementation of biometric passports, ID cards, digital signature, personal portal www.my.gov.ge, development of the Unified Demographic Registry, visual recognition, accelerated services, remote services (online, call at home), Baby Book project etc. All these programs and projects were crucial for improvement of the services, as well as effectively eliminating corruption and raising Georgia’s international standing.

Giorgi Vashadze being the deputy minister of Justice was in charge of establishment of Public Service Hall (2011). The concept was based on the principle of ,,Everything in One Place. The project of Public Service Halls was recognized as the most successful Georgian reform of 2011. Over the past years, Georgia took the leading places in rankings of theWorld Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Transparency International (TI).

There are several outstanding initiatives of Giorgi Vashadze that were or are being successfully implemented. eHealth project (2011) aimed to develop a system that would facilitate easy and comfortable delivery of healthcare services. eLocal Governance (2011) initiative aimed to develop a solution that would pilot the electronic governance system in the local government authorities. The goal of the Village House program (2012) was to develop a solution that would facilitate easy and comfortable delivery of healthcare services. Establishment of the Computer Literacy Foundation was one of the most successful activities of Giorgi Vashadze. The project aimed to establish centers equipped with basic technological infrastructure and lead by trained staff in order to ensure educational and cultural environment for the rural population of Georgia.

Projects and Initiatives

Anti-corruption Reforms in Ukraine(2014 - ongoing)

Within the framework of the Innovation and Development Foundation activities, Giorgi Vashadze is actively involved in the anti-corruption reforms taking place in Ukraine. The overall goal of the reforms is to support development of Ukraine as citizen-oriented, democratic and independent country, integrated in the European Union. The objectives are the following: modernization of state services, development of eTenders system, creation of model anti-corruption departments at the law enforcement authorities, and modernization of the tax services. One of the projects aiming to develop Smart state services in Ukraine has been approved and entered its initial phase of implementation. As a result a model Public Service Hall will be created, based on the Georgian best practice (for the details see below Public Service Hall). The overall goal of the Innovation and Development Foundation is to support empowerment of the innovative potential, sustainable development of the countries and their integration into the global knowledge society; initiation of innovative projects and support of knowledge economy startups and support of bottom-up civil and eDemocracy projects.

Public Service Hall (2011)

The concept of the Public Service Hall was based on the principle of “Everything in One Place”. The project aimed to develop smart state services in Georgia. It implied creation of a space, which would unite all the state services and thus enable any citizen of Georgia to get all the necessary documents and related services instantly in one place. As a result of the project within a period of 1.5 years 12 Public Service Halls were opened in various regions of the country. All the Public Service Halls unite 300 types of services. It’s atmosphere is oriented exclusively at ease and comfort. Public Service Hall operates JUSTcafe, which is a comfortable cafe enabling customers to enjoy drinks and food while using the services. Service operators assist customers in any issue (ID cards, passports, photos etc.) Development of Just Drive has also been planned in the Tbilisi Public Service Hall.The idea is that a consumer can get a passport, birth certificate and other documents as a drive-through service, without visiting the building, moreover, staying within the car, at the adjacent to the Public Service Hall territory, by the window of Just Drive. The project of Public Service Halls was recognized as the most successful Georgian reform of 2011. Over the past years, Georgia took the leading places in rankings of the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Transparency International (TI). The reports place Georgia at the following rankings: #1 Reformer for the Last 8 Years (World Bank, 2014), 1st Place in Property Registration (World Bank, 2014), 8th Place in Ease of Starting Business (World Bank, 2014), 8th Place in Ease of Doing Business (World Bank, 2014), 1st Place in Official Documents Issuance (Life in Transition Survey, EBRD), 2nd Place in Effective Service Delivery (Life in Transition Survey, EBRD) etc.

Computer Literacy Foundation (2012)

Giorgi Vashadze is one of the primary initiators of establishment of the Computer Literacy Foundation, which was founded in May, 2012. Among the founders were various government institutions, business companies, universities and non-government organizations. Global objective of the foundations is to ensure social and economic welfare via increased access to high tech and e-services. The first major project of the Computer Literacy Foundation was “Knowledge Centers in 300 Georgian Villages”. The project aimed to establish centers equipped with basic technological infrastructure and led by trained staff in order to ensure educational and cultural environment for the rural population of Georgia. For that purpose 300 major villages were selected, 600 people were recruited and trained, basic technological equipment was purchased and distributed through the centers. The project proved to be sustainable — 250 Knowledge Centers currently operate in various parts of Georgia, with no external financial support, independently and effectively.

Digital Signature (2012)

Initiative aimed at developing and implementing digital signatures in Georgia. As a result, highly reliable, flexible and technologically sophisticated system was introduced, enabling any ID Card holder to remotely sign documents electronically and securely. The digital signature utilizes industry standard encryption algorithm, consisting of three primary components: Private Key (recorded on the personal ID Card), Public Key (can be acquired by any citizen) and digital certificate (includes personal data, Public Key and technical information).

ID Cards (2011)

The project aimed to implement ID card system in Georgia. The objective was to introduce a card with high reliability and technological features. ID card not only enables identification of an identity remotely via Internet and electronic signature of documents but also includes features to integrate various other types of cards and thus its usage available for various purposes (e.g. financial transactions). The project was completed in 2011. The related services were also modernized — the process of acquisition of ID card is easy and comfortable (time framework is from 1 to 10 days).

Village Houses (2012)

The program aimed to open access to the state services for the rural population of Georgia. For that purpose Village Houses were established in various parts of the country. Village Houses united local government offices, branches of Ministry of Justice, Civil and Public Registry representatives, notarial and bank services.

Personal Portal - MY.GOV.GE (2011)

The project of my.gov.ge implied development of an online platform, which would enable customers to have all the state services in one virtual space. It provides access to more than 70 services including those related to personal documents (passport, certificates etc.), property, social service, health care and business, as well as utility bills, penalties etc. The access to the portal is possible through ID card and credentials that can be acquired at the Public Service Hall.

eHealth System (2011)

The project aimed to develop solution that would facilitate easy and comfortable delivery of healthcare services. The objectives were development of the interoperable information systems of medical records and creation of the most efficient and effective business processes. The final goal of the project was to enable every citizen to get easy private, secure access to hospital, laboratory and other types of medical services via ID Card.

eLocal Governance (2011)

The project implied piloting of the electronic governance system in the local government authorities. The system supports effective communication between local territorial offices and government institutions by providing access to the data that are securely stored in the central government databases. Thus the decision-making process and, subsequently, delivery of the service to the citizens became more effective and efficient. Among the main achievements are introduction of service quality enhancement mechanisms, minimization of service delivery time framework, and decrease of operational and human resource expenses. The final goal of the project is to support transparency and standardization of the processes at local government institutions, and their harmonization with the legislative framework of the country.

Implementation of Biometric Passports (2010)

The project aiming to implement biometric passports in Georgia was initiated and managed by Giorgi Vashadze, deputy minister of Justice of Georgia and the head of the Civil Registry, in 2009-2010. The implementation of biometric passport system was one of the primary issues recommended for the Agreement between the European Union and Georgia on the facilitation of the issuance of visas (25.02.2011, 22011A0225(02)). As a result of the project, Georgian passport system was completely modernized on the bases of the European standards that subsequently simplified travel throughout the Europe for the citizens of Georgia. The biometric passport is a European type identification document, which stores the primary personal data including electronic photo and fingerprints. It is valid and reliable document with no possibility to be forged. The project implied modernization of the related services as well — the entire process of passport acquisition was simplified enabling citizens of Georgia to acquire passport in any suitable period of time (from 1 to 10 days).

Reform of the Civil Registry System (since 2005)

The Civil Registry Agency of the Ministry of Justice of Georgia, headed by Giorgi Vashadze, successfully accomplished several significant reforms. As a result, citizens of Georgia enjoyed simplified, rapid and high quality services, as well as friendly atmosphere and new products in the CRA offices. Civil Registry united all the information data of citizens of Georgia both residing in and outside the country and thus created unified demographic registry. Among the main crucial achievements of the Civil Registry is modernization of business processes, elimination of corruption, introduction of biometric passports (see above), ID cards (see above), digital signature (see above), visual recognition, accelerated services etc. The access to the services was enhanced and simplified — for citizens outside the country it is possible to acquire various documents (passport, apostil, legalization etc.) remotely, via internet (e.g. Skype), the service is also provided directly at home, and those who are limited in time can get any service in a very short period of time (e.g. 15 minutes, few hours, one day etc.). CRA initiated Baby Book project, which was aimed at informing parents about the child development by reminding about the most important stages regularly via SMS.