Presentation of the renewed public information portal opendata.ge

The renewed opendata.ge has been launched on February 27 – the most voluminous online database in Georgia.

By the initiative of the Open Society Georgia Foundation, opendata.ge has been transformed into a single portal of NGOs working on public information, which will incorporate public information requested and obtained by Institute for Development and Freedom of Information (IDFI), Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA), Transparency International – Georgia (TI-G) and Association “Green Alternative”.

The portal aims to improve the quality of transparency and accountability of the government.

opendata.ge will provide information on how public institutions operate, how they spend state budget, which programs are implemented, as well as the information on public officials’ activities and their income through simple, modern and user friendly navigation system.

The portal was updated by international organization “HURIDOCS”, which provides assistance to organizations working on human rights protection with the implementation of modern information technologies in their activities.

During the presentation, representatives of “HURIDOCS” focused on the new operating principles of the portal and highlighted the ways how to obtain information and how to watch the process of requesting the information.  

Representatives of non-governmental organizations noted that opendata.ge is an important resource for journalists and that it will play a significant role in the development of investigative journalism.

The presentation was attended by Ms. Rusudan Mikelidze, representative of the Ministry of Justice, who noted that the portal is an important resource for government as well.

Opendata.ge was firstly launched in 2010 by the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) with financial support of Open Society Georgia Foundation (OSGF). Since then, the portal has united more than 11 000 requests for public information, while the number of site visitors has exceeded 100 000. Public information published on opendata.ge has frequently become a subject for discussion in civil society and political circles, for example, information on the rule of paying bonuses to state officials has been regularly uploaded on the portal and it actually caused changes in the rule of remuneration and payment of bonuses to political officials.