'There is no good or bad Russia in politics. Russia is one and it will never be a friend of Georgia politically.

Obtaining state grant funding for a civil society organization means cooperating with public institutions, mainly government agencies, at the central or municipal level. There is no necessity for those agreed on cooperation on a particular issue to have the same position in everything, however, it is specifically the cooperation with the Government that makes some CSOs doubt about feasibility of obtaining state grant funding.

One of the most important issues that civil society organizations address in the context of state grants are topics selected for grant funding. They say at public agencies that grant funding topics are selected as a result of exploring relevant areas.

In 2019 and 2020 years, the Civil Society Institute (CSI) released small grants within the frameworks of the “Civil Society Sustainability Initiative” project, funded by the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, in order to monitor state grants. The purpose of this project is to strengthen civil society organizations (CSOs) and improve their working environment in Georgia, while one of the objectives is to facilitate improvement of the state grant funding system for CSOs and develop relevant recommendations.

The inclusion of local self-government into the state grant system is one of the issues that the “Concept of State Grant Funding Reform of Civil Society Organizations” considers among necessary changes. Levan Paniashvili, a member of the Concept working group and Chief Lawyer of the Civil Society Institute, will tell us why this is important for the development of civil society.

Before giving up the vaccine, think about what information you have. Do not trust inaccurate and misleading information, learn more about vaccines.

Myths about Russian-Georgian friendship are passed from generation to generation.  Do not trust unverified information, learn history.

The main problem that civil society organizations observe in terms of awarding state grants is the lack of respective uniform, even minimal, standards, and a low degree of transparency as well as accountability. Public institutions have had the right to issue state grants since 2010, while they release grants to civil society organizations since 2012, however, during this time there have been developed no uniform standards that would create a common framework for issuing this type of grant.

As Wikipedia can also say, “budget” is such an old word that it appears even in Latin and, like in both French and English, means a leather pouch, wallet, or bag. In the modern understanding, budget is a system of revenue distribution and exists all over, where the need for financial management occurs.

Public institutions have been issuing state grants in Georgia since 2009. Over the years, both grant-issuing structures and grant funding directions, as well as the total amount of released grants increase.

There are 1289 active civil society organizations in Georgia. Their work covers actually all aspect of life.

What does defamation mean and how to distinguish it from freedom of speech? How to defend ourselves from defamation? How we should fight against it so that freedom of speech is not harmed? Marine Kapanadze, Director of the Civil and Political Rights Program at Georgian Democracy Initiative (GDI), will tell us about it.  Interviewed by Maka Jaiani Read more (GEO) .