Democratization: Civil Society and Democratic Governance ment between the ODIHR, the OSCE Mission to Georgia, and the Georgian parliament. The innovation resides in the fact that the Centre for Parliamentary Reform is to be created within the parliament. It will answer to the Speaker’s Office while being supported and monitored by the OSCE Mission and the ODIHR. The two Georgian staff recruited for the Centre have a background in parliamentary practice, law, and public administration and have also received further training in parliamentary reform. Their main task will be to advise the speaker and parliamentary leadership on parliamentary reform strategy and donor co-ordination. They will monitor the ongoing reform process and individual activities to see if objectives and deadlines are being met. In terms of fostering internal discussions on the identity and position of the parliament, the Centre’s staff will closely engage members of parliament and parliamentary staff in the whole reform process. Work on the Centre for Parliamentary Reform started in the second half of 2005 and culminated with its opening in January 2006. pating States; at the same time, the ODIHR provides NGOs with a platform to engage partners in their respective issues. In addition, OSCE Human Dimension Meetings often provide a key opportunity for NGOs to inform their respective governments directly about the results of their activities, as well as to advocate more widely with regard to their individual issues and priorities. In 2005, the ODIHR provided assistance to NGOs to take part in three Supplementary Human Dimension Meetings and the Human Dimension Seminar, as well as the two-week Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw. In total, the Office facilitated the participation of some 753 participants from 542 NGOs in these events. Thanks to voluntary contributions of OSCE participating States, the ODIHR was in a position to finance the participation of such a large number of relevant civil society representatives in human dimension events throughout the year that otherwise would not have been able to attend and contribute. III. NGO participation in OSCE events The ODIHR is dedicated to maintaining close relations with non-governmental organizations. The relationships formed are valuable for both sides: the ODIHR needs the expertise and information from NGOs on the ground in order to provide a more complete picture of the implementation of OSCE commitments by partici- Programmes and Projects Programmes Region/Country Democratic Governance OSCE Region Joint EC-ODIHR Programme on Advancing Human Rights and Democratization in Central Asia and Developing Guidelines for Media Monitoring in Elections Kyrgyzstan Components Civic Dialogue Projects Fund for NGO Participation in Human Dimension Events ANNUAL REPORT 2005 OSCE Region 33