Tbilisi. Public Defender assesses refusal of reappointment of school principal as discrimination on political grounds. “The applicant had been working as a principal of one of the public schools in the Mtskheta municipality since 15 October 2014. In October 2020, she was not reappointed as acting principal and was replaced by another person. In the applicant's view, the refusal of the Ministry of Education to reappoint her was conditioned by the political activity of her husband and son, who were supporters of an opposition party. According to the Public Defender, given the increased risks of politicization of the education system and dismissal of persons on discriminatory grounds, the fact that the refusal of reappointment of the applicant coincided with the political activity of her spouse and son raises suspicions. In addition, the respondent failed to present a justification that would have refuted the suspicion of discrimination”. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. On August 3, in cooperation with the State Inspector's Service, the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) held the opening event of the joint summer school on personal data protection. “The 3rd and 4th year students, as well as the Master's students of the Law School students of the universities authorized in Georgia participate in the summer school. Within the scope of the summer school, participants will learn about current issues related to personal data protection”. Learn more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) sums up the second year of the Educational Certification Program in Fighting Corruption. “In 2021, the second academic year of the Educational Certification Program in Fighting Corruption has finished. The Program was implemented as part of the Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree Programs at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences of the Ilia State University. Within the scopes of the Certification Program two academic courses were offered on the Bachelor’s Degree, and two academic courses were offered on the Master’s Degree for students and the program participants who were selected via competition from other universities, different public, non-governmental and private sectors”. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. The Institute for the Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) publishes a study: COVID-19 and the Georgian education sector. According to the assessment made by the organization: “Current value of losses caused by disruption of the learning process to the economy of Georgia is about GEL 55 billion. In 2020, 11% of teachers and students did not benefit from TEAMS, a distance learning program, at all. Despite risks of the COVID pandemic, 75% of students living in rural areas, while just 46% of those residing in cities returned to classrooms. According to our estimates, up to GEL 100 million is needed to provide computers and internet to socially vulnerable families in order to make sure they have access to the distance learning platform”... Read more... Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. People in Need is starting an online educational course: "Digital transformation Media School" on Moodle educational platform. “The program will enhance the adoption of digital technologies for fighting against disinformation and advance their media literacy skills. The training program offers participants training videos and interesting reading materials”. Find out more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Samtxkhe-Javakheti. A two day seminar was conducted for Georgian media representatives in Borjomi. “The seminar was attended by 20 journalists. Participants reviewed the gender statistics and indicators produced and disseminated by Geostat. They also discussed how to use such tools in practice. At the same time, Geostat representatives listened to the journalists’ feedback, which can be used to improve accessability of gender statistics in the future”. Read more… Source: georgia.unwomen.org

Tbilisi. Reading this informational blog post will let you find out how the EU facilitates Georgia in development of digital direction. “Transition to digital services has further increased a digital barrier and made it clear that despite development of digital infrastructure and skills, there are still a lot of underprivileged people within public who are unable to engage in digital economy and society. Therefore, both the EU and the Eastern Partnership countries need to pay more attention to support and empowerment of these people”. Read more… Source: eufordigital.eu

Tbilisi. The Georgian Center for Strategy and Development has obtained rights to official translation of the Chatham House publication “Myths and misconceptions in the debate on Russia”. “The process started in May of 2021 and at this stage the translation of the publication is nearing completion. GCSD will make the Georgian version of the publication available for a wide range of stakeholders, including academia and the media”.                                                             Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Tbilisi. With USAID/PROLoG support a survey on implementation of the new Law Benchmark document in the accreditation process of academic programs was solicited. „The survey identified challenges in different directions, including uniform application of the Law Benchmark document and composition of the accreditation board“. Survey…                                                            Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Shida Kartli. Society Biliki is starting a campaign to diversify the library for Society Biliki's Mother and Their Children's Shelter. “If you would like to join the campaign and contribute doing good business, please donate at least one book (fiction and children's literature). Address: Gori, Rustaveli St. N 19 A; Society Biliki's office. Khashuri, Imereti St. N20; Mother and Their Children's Shelter”.                                            Source: The Organization’s page on the social network

Tbilisi. Rights Georgia publishes a blog post of Nana Mchedlidze, an expert in international law and a board member of the organization: Hate speech and dangers it poses. The blog post contains a review of “hate speech, its forms of expression, who the hate speech is directed against, and best practices of combating it in conformity with European standards of human rights, as well as dangers that might be posed by lack of response to hate speech”. Read more… Source: rights.ge

Tbilisi. USAID/PROLoG supported publication of a new Textbook on Violence against Women and Children and Domestic Violence. “The textbook provides definitions of legal acts with regard to violence against women and children and domestic violence. It also discusses Court decisions, which makes the textbook more practical. Mr. Goga Khatiashvili, LLM candidate and HR expert is the author of the Textbook”. The textbook can be downloaded here… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Kakheti. Based on a quiz conducted by the Rondeli Foundation, an award ceremony was held on July 1, 2021, in Village Jokolo, Akhmeta Municipality. “Winners received awards such as laptops, tabs and smartphones. The project - Community Youth Engagement in Pankisi and Khulo - is implemented by the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies with the support of the US Embassy in Georgia and aims to raise civic awareness and informal education among young people (14-18-year-olds) in Pankisi Gorge and Khulo Municipality”. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Tbilisi. On June 29 graduation ceremony for the class of 2020 and welcoming reception for the new group of the program Capacity Building of the Georgian Leadership Community (CBGL) was held. “The Series of Policy Documents 2020 were distributed among the participants and guests at the ceremony. Throughout a seven-month-program the participants in parallel to attending lectures individually developed policy documents. Like in preceding years, selected best 9 policy documents were published separately.  The Rondeli Foundation has been implementing CBGL program since 2009, with the support of the Swedish International Development Agency (#Sida)”. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Tbilisi. On 30 June, the representatives of the Czech non-governmental organization, Posy Bellum held an online training for the representatives of the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) and the other interested researchers about the methodology, structure and other details of the online archive – Memory of Nations of the organization. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. UNICEF supports universities in incorporating child rights into educational programmes and curricula. On June 28-29, under the professional development programme, UNICEF organized seminars on the learning-teaching methodology of child rights for the academic staff of Akaki Tsereteli State University and Shota Meskhia State Teaching University of Zugdidi. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Adjara. On June 15, the young volunteers, the members of the Youth Center established at the Independent Journalists’ House (IJH) participated in arrangement and implementation of the large-scale Job Fair in Batumi. “The volunteers successfully managed the flow of the job seekers, ensured that all Covid-19 regulations were followed and informed the participants about the fair. We would like to express our appreciation toward each volunteer for their contribution and wish them success in all of their future endeavors”. Read more… Source: edec.ge

Guria. In October 2020, a 36-month project called “Skills development and innovative employment opportunities for regional development of Georgia” was launched with the support of the European Union. "Within the framework of the project, there was opened a Training and Employment Support Center at the base of the Young Pedagogues Union in Ozurgeti and Chokhatauri of the Guria region. The Center provides beneficiaries with a unique opportunity to meet the best trainers and field specialists, obtain skills and necessary knowledge required for employment. Services of the Training and Employment Support Center can be enjoyed by anyone above the age of 16 who would like to develop skills, study and get a job”, - is stated on the website of the Young Pedagogues Union on a social network. Read more… Source: The website of the organization on a social network

Tbilisi. On June 11, 2021, the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI), in its capacity as the regional hub for the Global Data Barometer (GDB), held a training session for national researchers.  "IDFI joined the Global Data Barometer project and its regional hubs in the fall of 2020. IDFI became the regional hub for Eastern Europe and Central Asia and is responsible for coordinating the assessments of 12 countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. The goal of the training was to introduce national researchers to the GDB methodology. In the coming months, they will assess the accessibility of open data in their respective countries based on this methodology. Specifically, the data collection stage will begin in mid-June and last until the end of August". Read more... Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. This year U.S. Embassy Tbilisi invites every child in Georgia to join the Embassy’s Summer Reading Challenge. “The program is simple: find any book written in Georgian or English, read it, complete a book report form, and return that form to an American Space in Georgia by September 10. Children can find books in American Spaces, public libraries, school libraries, and book shops, or they borrow books from friends or family. They are encouraged to read any type of book that interests them, either fiction or nonfiction. Every child who reads at least 100 pages will receive a silver-level certificate of achievement signed by Ambassador Kelly Degnan. Every child who reads at least 500 pages will receive a gold-level certificate. All pages read in English will count for double”, is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: The U.S. Embassy’s page on the social network

Gori. Representatives of the Gori office of the CSI, together with the head of the youth department of Gori City Hall, visited the youth space in the village of Kordi and presented materials prepared within the framework of the “This Country is Yours” campaign. The Civil Society Institute (CSI) actively works to develop capacity of young people in the region and is ready to contribute to the process of building a youth ecosystem using available resources. The need of youth spaces in regions was identified while working on a youth strategy document and Gori Municipality, together with the Youth Agency, facilitated establishment of a model space in the village of Kordi. At this stage, young people work on painting the center and, with the help of various organizations, equipping it. The Kordi youth space will soon be officially opened and young people, living in the conflict zone, will have the opportunity to enjoy the place that can be used for acquiring non-formal education as well as for a variety of activities.

Tbilisi. On June 10, 2021, a Memorandum of Cooperation was signed between the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) and the University of Georgia. The memorandum aims to establish a partnership between the parties, to jointly develop academic courses on studying and combating disinformation and propaganda, and to offer them within the University of Georgia, School of Social Sciences. The memorandum envisions expansion and continuous development of this direction. The aim of the academic courses developed through the partnership is to help students develop/deepen anti-disinformation and anti-propaganda skills. The academic courses developed and offered within the framework of the Memorandum will be led and/or visited by local and international researchers in the field of disinformation research. Read more… Source: idfi.ge