Samtskhe-Javakheti. The event took place on October 22 in the Akhaltsikhe Public School #1 as part of the project "Democracy Starts with You”.The EU-funded project "Democracy Starts with You” was launched on 1 November 2009 and is implemented by the Konrad Adenauer and Eduardo Frei Foundations, as well as by the Baku, Tbilisi and Erevan schools of political science. The project promotes civic engagement of the youth residing in the South Caucasus regions and the minority-settled districts.20 schools are selected from each country. Three schools are involved in the project from Samtskhe-Javakheti: the Akhaltsikhe Public Schools #1 and #3 and the Aspindza Public School #1. During four days the schoolchildren will attend trainings that include discussions on various important topics, demonstration of video films, and the simulated games. Upon the completion of the project the winner schoolchildren of the Georgian, Armenian and Azerbaijani schools will gather in Tbilisi. Finally, 5 participants will travel to Belgium.

Imereti. As part of the Civic Education and Teachers’ Training Program, the coordinator of civic clubs held a working meeting with the club members on October 23 in the Tskaltubo Public School #4. The civic club unites 30 members. At the meeting the participants got familiar with the principles of club work, and the civic club members were divided into four groups: information, education, sociology and advocacy. They were briefed in detail about the function and mission of each group. During the working meeting each group has identified the action plan for the next three months. Stationery items were presented to the club for implementing the further activities.The Civic Education and Teachers’ Training Program is implemented by PH-International with the financial support of USAID. For full text. Source: kedec.ge

Guria. On October 21, a civic club was established with the initiative group functioning in the Ascention Public School of the Chokhatauri Municipality, as part of the Civic Education and Teachers' Training Program. Pupil of the same school was elected as the club leader. The club unites 15 schoolchildren. Further, a civic club uniting 17 pupils was established on October 22 with the initiative group functioning in the Public School of village Lesi of the Lanchkhuti Municipality. At their meetings the newly established clubs have developed working plans for the current education year and the time-table of weekly meetings. The Civic Education and Teachers' Training Program is implemented through funding from the USAID. The Guria Youth Resource Center is the partner of the program in Guria.

Adjara. ShidaKartli. With the support of the ShidaKartli regional partner organization and the Adjara partner organization, the civic club of the Surami Public School #3 "We" has visited the Batumi Public School #25 on October 19-21, where the activities of the Batumi and ShidaKartli civic clubs were presented. In addition, the club leaders have signed the memorandum of cooperation, including joint initiatives, projects and the exchange events. On their way back the club members visited the Batumi Museums of Regional Ethnography and Art.

Guria. On October 17, as part of the Civic Education and Teachers' Training Program, the representatives of 19 civic clubs from Guria have invited as guests ZviadTeneishvili, Chairman of the Ozurgeti District Election Commission #60 and the lawyer Giorgi Khuroshvili. The meeting took place in the Guria Youth Resource Center and the main topic of discussion concerned the polling procedures and general issues related to managing the election process. The USAID-funded program is implemented by PH International. The Guria Youth Resource Center is the program partner in Guria.

Tbilisi. The civil society organizations react to the nomination of Davit Darakhvelidze as the Minister for Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Accommodation and Refugees of Georgia. They express their concerns on the fact that the nominee for the Minister has used the language of hatred and racist statements during the pre-election campaign in the Ambrolauri District, as well as the aggressive tone when communicating with media. CSOs ask the Prime-Ministerial nominee to be more cautious when selecting the candidates, while they urge public officials to be more responsible when making public statements and to refrain from the language of hatred and racist statements. For full text. Source:osgf.ge

Tbilisi. The event hall of the Tbilisi Public School #77 hosted the presentation of the "Dream" magazine printed at the initiative of members of the civic club "Dream Club”. The magazine aims to popularize civic education and the Club's activities. At the meeting the Club leaders have informed the invited guests about the civic activities and initiatives of the Club, such as the "Safe street" and "No to vandalism". The Club has also presented the blog and Facebook pages created within the program framework. The meeting was attended by the Director of the Center for Crime Prevention and Innovation Programs under the Ministry of Justice of Georgia, representative of the foundation Tbilisi Youth House, administration of the School #77, teachers, pupils and the civic club members from various schools. Online version of the magazine will be published on a monthly basis and it will cover the Club’s activities, achievements and various interesting issues. For full text. Source:civics.ge 

Tbilisi. On October 19 the Coalition "For Media Advocacy” has addressed the future Parliament and Government of Georgia with the proposals for improvement of media environment. Coalition members stressed the topics, reforming of which in their opinion is crucial for improving the media environment.Proposals of the Coalition "For Media Advocacy” to the future Government and Parliament Source:osgf.ge

Imereti. The civic education students’ forum was held in the I. Otskheli Kutaisi Public School #2. The civic club members of the Kutaisi-based public schools and the civic education teachers have participated in the forum. Main objective of the forum is to identify and advocate the problems within the community and schools, and to involve the business sector and the authorities in the community affairs. The Director of the Kutaisi Education, Development and Employment Center Ilia Kiladze hopes that the forum will result in 10 initiatives planned by the schoolchildren, which will be implemented at a later stage and will focus on concrete decision-making with participation of the self-government, business and community representatives. The program strives to improve the quality of the civic education curriculum and enhance youth participation in the process of building the democratic society. The program is implemented with the support of the Ministry of Education and Science. 125 public schools are involved in this program Imereti-wide. There are 44 civic clubs founded in Imereti. The forum participants split up in groups to identify the communities and the school curricula.

Shida Kartli. The society "Biliki” (path) implements the "Civic Education and Teachers’ Training Program” (USAID/PH International), within the framework of which it cooperates with 55 public schools of the Shida Kartli Region. Out of these, civic clubs are established in 32 schools, which implement various interesting initiatives and projects for the benefit of the school and the community. On October 17, to commemorate the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, the civic club "We” of the Surami Public School #3 decided to organize a charity event. The club leaders have addressed the supervisory council of the school in writing and requested to organize in school the exhibition and sale of culinary products prepared by the schoolchildren. The school administration has supported the exhibition and sale, in parallel of which a film was shown in the event hall, where the audience bought tickets for a symbolic price. With the amount raised from the event the club members bought the gifts: balls and badmintons for the IDP children and the stationery items for the family-type children’s home.

Tbilisi. In the Resource Center of the Caucasian Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development the interested persons can get familiar with Thomas Magshtadt’s book "Understanding Politics: Ideas, Institutes and Problems”. The book consists of 18 chapters. It discusses issues such as democracy, dictatorship, elections, leadership, ideology, war, revolution, international and public policy. The Resource Center for Regional Development and Local Self-Government of the Caucasian Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development was established and is functioning as part of the Social Transition Program (MATRA) of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. For full text. Source:participate.ge

Tbilisi. A final workshop with the representatives of regional NGOs was held on October 11-12 in the office of "Open Society – Georgia” Foundation. Training participants got familiar with the advocacy campaigns recognized by the civil society as success stories: the campaign "This Affects You Too” ("Open Society – Georgia” Foundation), campaign for the protection of consumers’ rights (Center for Strategic Development and Research), campaign against the construction of the Khudoni Hydro Power Station (Green Alternative), advocacy of the Chiatura environmental issues (association "Union of the Chiatura Residents”). The participants have discussed pros and cons of the presented campaigns, and finally they have developed concrete action plans for their projects. The final meeting is a part of the series of trainings delivered from July to October 2012 for the representatives of regional CSOs with the support of "Open Society – Georgia” Foundation and the networking program "East-East without Borders”. 12 participants of NGO representatives participating in the training will go on a study tour to the Czech Republic, where they will have the opportunity to share the experience of the Czech colleagues in the advocacy issues. For full text. Source: osgf.ge

Tbilisi. The Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD) has published the documentary on the democracy schools. At the initiative of NIMD Georgia, the democracy schools were opened up in Telavi, Gori, Kutaisi and Batumi. Democracy schools are a five-month education program. The learning course includes modern skills and the key aspects of democratic society and governance, as well as leadership. The documentary. Source: Field:nimd.ge

Imereti. The Kutaisi Education, Development and Employment Center has organized a workshop on October 13-17 with the civic clubs of the Kutaisi-based target schools. Leaders of the clubs, new members and the civic education teachers have attended the workshop. They got familiar with the events planned as part of the "Civic Education and Teachers’ Training Program”, and discussed the advocacy activities of club initiatives and clubs to be jointly implemented. The "Civic Education and Teachers’ Training Program” is implemented by PH-International, with the financial support of USAID. For full text. Source:kedec.ge

ShidaKartli.On October 13, at the initiative of the civic club of the Surami Public School #2 the "Initiator", the charity event "Hand to Hand" was held, which aimed to participate and assist in the building of the temple in village Baintkhevi. The temple is being built with internal costs, and therefore the civic club members decided to assist as a workforce. 7 members of the club travelled to Baintkhevi and spent the entire day with the builders. Representatives of "Initiator" decided for this to be a multiple initiative.

ShidaKartli.The training in "Advocacy - Basis for Social Changes" was delivered on October 10 and 11 in association "Biliki" as part of the "Civic Education and Teachers' Training Program" for the pupils of the Gori-based and Gori District schools. The first day of the training was dedicated to the theory, where the participants discussed topics such as the notion and objectives of advocacy, effective advocacy campaign and its phases, types of advocacy, and management and monitoring of advocacy results. On the second day of the training a workshop was organized, during which the participants chose problems of concern to them and discussed ways of their solution, as well as the problems of the school and community. 22 youngsters from various schools have participated in the training. The organization plans to organize the same training for the students of public schools of the Khashuri and Kaspi Municipalities. For full text. Source: civics.ge

Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti. On October 14, CSO "Atinati" has organized a workshop in Mestia with the teachers, as part of the project "Civic Education and Teachers' Training Program".Project Coordinator Gia Khasia talked about the importance of boosting civic clubs for strengthening the civil society. The teachers were consulted about the small grants competition. The project is implemented with financial support of the United States Agency for International Development and aims to develop civic clubs, small grants and the social media.

Kakheti. As part of the project "Civil activation of Kakhetian ethnic minority women in the electoral process", NGO "Vezhini" delivered seminars for women representing various ethnic minorities living in the Kakheti Region in the electoral issues.According to the Head of "Vezhini" Laura Kharitonashvili, active women representing the Azerbaijanis, Armenians, Ossetians, Leks, Kists and Udins were the target group of the project:"We organized meetings in 29 villages of Kakheti, where we talked about the polling procedures and staged the elections. Now we plan to print posters emphasizing the importance of their involvement in the electoral processes."Kharitonashvili said that the project in addition aims to enhance civil activities of women representing ethnic minorities and to integrate them into the society.

Tbilisi.An open discussion will be held as part of the G-PAC program of the East-West Management Institute on October17, where the participants will discuss how can the joint work of the students, civil society and donors solve the challenges facing the Georgian society. At the beginning of discussion the representatives of EWMI G-PAC will inform the attendees about the activities implemented so far and provide information on problems they encounter while protecting the public interests (advocacy), as well as in the process of selecting the priority areas and issues, new ideas and organizations. The discussion will be held in the Ilia State University (Ilia Chavchavadze Avenue #32, Room 101), from 15:00 until 18:30. The discussion will be led by FronNahzi, Head of EWMI G-PAC and his Deputy TamunaKarosanidze. "Your Right to Know!" – is the part of EWMI G-PAC's information campaign. It aims to inform the public on the activities planned and implemented as part of EWMI G-PAC and to obtain from them new ideas and remarks. In the coming four weeks similar discussions will be held in other five higher education institutions. For full text Source: ewmi-gpac.org

Samegrelo. NGO "Saunje" organized the show of Dennis Gansel's movie the "Wave" for the youth on October 12 in the Zugdidi Civic Engagement Center. In the film the history teacher at school offers his students an experiment: throughout one week senior students live by the rules of a totalitarian state. At their own example the students are convinced how easy it is to manipulate people and turn them into obedient masses. According to the organization's representative IagoPasandze, the youngsters have rightly identified the parallels between the film and the current reality. He also mentioned that with the support of OSGF the film was also shown a while ago in the IDP settlements of Potskhoetseri and Tskaltubo.

Kakheti.The meeting was held on October 12 in the Telavi Civic Engagement Center as part of the advocacy program, with financial support of the East-West Management Institute. The meeting was organized by the Civil Society Research and Development Center. The event aimed at informing the Telavi Municipality population about the advocacy process. "It was a very good meeting, I liked it. We got familiar with the elements of advocacy process, which I will use in the future. It will be useful to have another meeting on this topic, this time with a larger audience", – says Telavi resident NanuliMazniashvili.

Tbilisi. The civil society organization "Caucasian House" launched the course "Religion, Poetry, Life". Attendance is free and the course is led by the Head of the "Caucasian House" Naira Gelashvili. For full text (Geo) Source: the organization's page in the social network.