Implementation of Civil Service Legislation and its Impact on Ethnic Minorities

The adoption of a new version of the Law of Georgia on Public Service in 2015 introduced significant changes to the civil service, including the establishment of a new model of Georgian civil service. One of the key changes is the performance appraisal system, which was introduced in public institutions on January 1, 2018. This system aims to promote career development, encourage professional skills, and determine civil servants' professional development needs. The performance appraisal system has been studied in the context of its impact on ethnic minority civil servants. The study focused on the challenges faced by ethnic minority representatives employed in the civil service, including difficulties with the performance appraisal system and the impact of their ethnic minority group affiliation on their career advancement. The research also explored the challenges related to Georgian language proficiency faced by ethnic minority groups employed in civil service. The research involved individual in-depth interviews with ethnic minority representatives employed in the civil service and graduates of the "1+4 Education Program". The study found that ethnic minority representatives face significant challenges in their career advancement, including difficulties with the performance appraisal system and the impact of their ethnic minority group affiliation. The research also highlighted the importance of Georgian language proficiency for ethnic minority representatives seeking employment in the civil service. The study identified several key findings, including the need to improve the performance appraisal system to better support ethnic minority representatives. The research also recommended increasing the involvement of ethnic minorities in public service and facilitating their professional development. The study suggested implementing the "1+4 Internship Program" as a means to increase ethnic minority involvement in public service and to facilitate their professional development. The research was conducted by the Innovations and Reforms Center (IRC) with the support of the USAID Good Governance Initiative (GGI) under the project "External Monitoring of Public Administration Reform". The study was conducted from August 2020 to May 2021 and involved individual in-depth interviews with ethnic minority representatives employed in the civil service and graduates of the "1+4 Education Program". The study's findings and recommendations are relevant to the State Strategy for Equality and Integration Action Plan for 2020, which aims to increase the involvement of ethnic minorities in public service and to facilitate their professional development. The research highlights the need to address the challenges faced by ethnic minority representatives in their career advancement and to improve the performance appraisal system to better support them. The study's recommendations include increasing the involvement of ethnic minorities in public service, facilitating their professional development, and improving the performance appraisal system. The research also suggests implementing the "1+4 Internship Program" as a means to increase ethnic minority involvement in public service and to facilitate their professional development.