On 3-7 February, 2014 a group of ISET-PI researchers were trained in Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA). The main goal of implementing RIA is to ensure that the benefits of a regulation exceed its costs for society as a whole.
Good RIA allows policy-makers to learn about the potential impact a new regulation may have in a detailed and systematic way, thus enabling them to make better informed decisions. The Economic Prosperity Initiative (EPI) organized the training, which was delivered by international leaders in regulatory reform Scott Jacobs and Cesar Cordova, directors of Jacobs, Cordova & Associates. Representatives of other NGOs and ministries were trained alongside the ISET-PI researchers.
On January 31, 2014, ISET hosted the third of a series of events concerning inclusive growth. The topic of the event was Vocational education and training (VET) in Georgia.
A short introductory presentation on the challenges of VET in Georgia was followed up by a video prepared specially for the dialogue, depicting a successful case of business-college collaboration.
Moderated by Giorgi Bakradze (senior research advisor at the ISET Policy Institute), the panel included representatives of business; the Ministry of Education and Science; the Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Affairs; the Georgian Employer Association; ISET Policy Institute and “Spektri” college. The central question addressed by the various stakeholders was how to collect and analyze relevant labor market data; how to involve the private sector in VET; how to keep VET colleges up-to-date and able to adapt to changing skills requirements; and how to use rigorous evaluations to monitor quality and inform policy design and implementation.
On December 18, 2013, ISET hosted the second event in a series of discussions on the topic of inclusive growth. The topic of the event was Modernization of Vocational Education and Training (VET) and Extension Systems related to agriculture in Georgia.
The event opened with a short presentation of the main lessons learned from previous donor-financed VET initiatives in other countries. Later UNDP representative Sophie Kemkhadze presented the SDC- financed project on VET in agriculture, which started this year in Georgia. She talked about the innovative development and delivery of high quality training and extension services to ordinary farmers; the establishment and strengthening of an institutional setup that will be capable of taking over responsibility for the delivery of these services; and setting up a system that ensures the availability of a high quality workforce to deliver these services to farmers.