Tbilisi. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) publishes an article of Mariam Shalvashvili: Muslim women of highland Adjara. “The purpose of this two-part article is, on the one hand, to emphasize that Islam is an integral part of daily life in Adjara and to show its importance. While on the other hand, to prevent conversion of all aspects of life to and their explanation by religion, therefore, dominant discourse challenge, prevalent in the West, is the main line of articles. These articles are an attempt to provide a little more knowledge about the Adjara region and Muslim Adjarians - to describe conditions, in which highland Adjara resident women live: unequal economic situation, tough working conditions, inaccessibility to health and education, as well as isolation characteristic of a geographic and cultural periphery, besides, to show how agency of Muslim women is manifested”. Read more… Source:emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. As Myth Detector informs, on October 3, one of the Armenian-language Facebook pages posted a video spreading news as if the Borjomi railway station is used to deliver military equipment to Azerbaijan. The video contains shots taken from a vehicle displaying buildings, railway, trucks and several tanks. “The publicized video does not evidence that there takes place transportation of military equipment from the territory of Georgia to Azerbaijan. Furthermore, it is also difficult to identify where and when the video was taken. Both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Armenian Embassy in Georgia deny the disseminated news”. Read more… Source:www.mythdetector.ge

Tbilisi. USAID/Georgia announced the Georgia Information Integrity Program, a new five-year initiative designed to help Georgia build societal resilience against disinformation. Through 2025, USAID is partnering with the Government of Georgia and others to develop a comprehensive, “whole-of-society” approach to protecting Georgia’s information space. Read more… Source: The organization’s page in the social network

Tbilisi. The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) publishes a blog post: Disinformation spread in Armenian and Azerbaijani media in regard to the position of Georgia on the Karabakh conflict.  Despite the fact that Georgia maintains neutrality over the military conflict taking place between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh, there is misinformation in regard to the position of Georgia actively spread in Armenian and Azerbaijani media.  Disseminated disinformation includes news about Georgia providing a path to military equipment sent from Turkey to Azerbaijan. There periodically appear Georgian and Russian-language posts, in which Georgia is accused of the above-mentioned action. Following to spread of similar disinformation, the situation in Javakheti has become tense several times. ”While on September 30, Karen Ohanjanyan, an Armenian politician and Leader of the “Republican Party of Nagorno-Karabakh”, posted disinformation of the same content on his Facebook page accusing Georgia of providing a path to military supplies sent from Turkey to Azerbaijan and stated that Javakheti should declare independence from Georgia. The statement of Ohanjanyan is a clear example of the extent of disinformation in regard to Georgia in the Armenian information space”. In the circumstances of an information war, the organization calls on the government to enhance communication with the local population, international partners, make sure they are informed about developments taking place in the region, declare the official position of Georgia on neutrality and steps taken by the country.  Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. The Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies publishes a blog post: Overview of the Russian Armed Forces: Edition 55, September 21-27, 2020. “Overview of the Russian Armed Forces is a weekly digest, which provides readers with information regarding key activities of the military forces of the Russian Federation and changes taking place there. The overview will be useful for researchers, public servants and all others interested in what is going on in the military forces of this one of the most aggressive states in the world”. Read more… Source: www.gfsis.org

Tbilisi. Myth Detector publishes material of Medea Sulamanidze: Does there exist a secret UN document in regard to the New World Order? “On October 1, 2020, Nina Marji, a Facebook user, posted a video in a public group “Corona Afiora” in the Russian language, in which an animated character talks about the New World Order, a program developed by the UN. The video asserts that the UN has set goals for world governance, among which are abolition of family and state sovereignty, implantation of chips into human bodies, installation of 5G technologies, introduction of a digital world currency, establishment of a world army, etc. A Georgian translation of the video text is provided in posts of Georgian users as a description. The assertion of both posts of Georgian users and the Russian-language video that there exists a UN program intending to establish the New World Order for 2021-2030 years, lacks evidences and is a conspiracy. A document with such name or content cannot be searched through open sources”. Read more… Source: www.mythdetector.ge

Adjara. On September, 30 within the joint project “Young Volunteer”, the Georgia Red Cross Society and the Youth Regional Center trained 15 volunteers. They will be involved in the project from October 1 and will be located at various places. Read more... Source: The organization's page in the social network

Tbilisi. Online meetings to discuss the mission and charter of the Committee for the Support of Strengthening the Services for the Persons with Disability are underway by the Education Development and Employment Center (EDEC). On October 1, the meeting was held with representatives from the Guria and Kvemo Kartli regions. The meeting aimed to determine the mission and organizational structure of the Committee and to work on the draft document. Read more... Source: The organization's page in the social network

Tbilisi. On September 30, 2020, IDFI and GYLA, in cooperation with the Administration of the Government of Georgia, conducted online training for regional NGOs on Public Administration Reform (PAR) issues. The training participants were introduced to the issues of Public Administration Reform, PAR Action Plan and its monitoring methodology. The electronic monitoring platform for Public Administration Reform (PAR Tracker), which ensures the involvement of external users in the monitoring process, was also discussed during the training. Read more... Source: The organization's page in the social network

Tbilisi. Online meetings to discuss the mission and charter of the Committee for the Support of Strengthening the Services for the Persons with Disability are underway by the Education Development and Employment Center (EDEC). On September 29, the meeting was held with representatives from the Samtskhe-Javakheti region. Read more... Source: The organization's page in the social network

Tbilisi. Part of the civil society organizations of Georgia responds to the adoption of the labor reform by the Parliament of Georgia in the third reading. “We are unequivocally positive about improved labor guarantees created for workers through the adopted reform, however, unfortunately, the changes only fragmentarily respond to tough labor conditions existing in the country and are still far from the real balancing of interests of employers and those employed. Despite the efforts, the legislation should also address such important issues as low and inadequate remuneration, unregulated working hours, overtime work and its improper compensation, inadequate reimbursement of pregnancy, delivery and maternity leave, lack of possibility of solidarity strike and definement of exhaustive grounds for termination of the employment contract”, - is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. EU Ambassador Carl Hartzell has issued a statement on the adoption of new legislation to amend the Labour Code of Georgia: "Congratulations to the Parliament of Georgia for a milestone approval of amendments of the Labour Code and approval of the Law on the Labour Inspectorate. This represents a significant step forward for labour conditions in Georgia and sends a strong message in terms of Georgia delivering on its Association Agreement commitments". Read more... source: eeas.europa.eu

Tbilisi. If you are 17 years old or older and think you can change the lives of others for the better, or even are willing to spend your free time productively - this project is for you. “The “Mestumre” project aims to provide elderly people living in elderly/care homes an opportunity of having regular, social interactions with young people and engaging in enjoyable activities once a week, for one hour. Selected volunteers will be trained by a MAC Georgia team and equipped with necessary knowledge and skills, which they can practice for 6 months while visiting elderly people”. In case you get interested - go to the link and register...  Source: The website of the project in a social network

Tbilisi. The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) publishes analytical material in regard to a Russian information war carried out against Lugar Laboratory. “Although the Ministry of Internal Affairs has not yet named the country from which the cyber-attack on the Ministry of Health of Georgia was conducted, Paata Imnadze, Deputy Director of the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health, supposes that it is the Russian Federation from where the attack was carried out. Russia was also mentioned by Salome Zurabishvili, President of Georgia, in her statement made in regard to the cyber-attack. This assumption is further supported by the fact that the Russian Federation has been carrying out attacks on Lugar Laboratory for years, which mostly carries the character of an information war”, - is stated in the material. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. European Commission invites researchers and other stakeholders from EaP countries to participate in Virtual Trainings on the upcoming Horizon 2020 Green Deal Call. The first virtual Training is scheduled for 18 September 2020. Find out more here… Source: EU’s page in the social network

Tbilisi. Social entrepreneurship, how does it functions in practice in Georgia, howdo social enterprises themselves and their ecosystem look like? If you are interested in these issues - you have the opportunity to get acquainted with them in latest 2 studies of the Civil Society Institute. Georgian practice reviews current state of social entrepreneurship and includes an analysis of operating environment. Social enterprises, operating in Georgia, are analyzed in the review in terms of type of activity, goals, legal form, and etc. Study: Social entrepreneurship in Georgia (Practice review, author -EkaDatuashvili), 2020 ... The subject of the second study was familiarization with European experience on social entrepreneurship, characteristics of social enterprises and favorable environment for them. It is noteworthy that an ecosystem, necessary for social enterprises, consists of four main components. These are: opportunities for self-organization; visibility and recognition; access to resources; research, education and skills. Study: Social entrepreneurship, social enterprises and their ecosystem, 2020 (authors - Ekaterine Danelia, Mariam Latsabidze, Nino Samsonidze) ... The studies have been carried out on the order of the Civil Society Institute in collaboration with the Social Enterprise Alliance Georgia and with the support of the International Center for Non-for-Profit Law (ICNL).

Tbilisi. Myth Detector publishes material: Who is behind the conspiracy, as if Americans use bodies of babies to beautify themselves? “In the August 31-September 6 edition of the Alia newspaper, Elizbar Diakonidze, a clergyman, talked about restriction of surrogacy and stated as if people in America use fluid taken from bodies of babies to rejuvenate and beautify themselves. He noted that there were also Hollywood actors involved in that case. The statement of Elizbar Diakonidze, the clergyman, as if in America they use fluid taken from bodies of babies to rejuvenate and beautify themselves, is a conspiracy. This theory is disseminated by QAnon, supporters of which have been declared as a domestic terrorist threat by the FBI”, - is stated on the website of Myth Detector. Read more… Source: www.mythdetector.ge

Tbilisi. The Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies publishes a blog post by Valeri Chechelashvili, a senior researcher at the organization: “Some thoughts on the use of a term “post-Soviet space””. “What was the USSR as such? After its disappearance, why do phantom pains still bother residents of Kremlin? And how does the term “post-Soviet space” serve their interests? How does it enhance illusions about the collapsed empire? To begin with, the USSR was neither Union of nor Soviet, nor Socialist, nor Republics. It was a totalitarian state of classic form, where power was owned by a group of people united within the Communist Party. More precisely, by several individuals who were members of the Politburo”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: www.gfsis.org

Tbilisi. According to information released by Myth Detector, an online program of the Facebook page “Alt-Info” on September 2 was about an issue of Russian funding of the “Alliance of Patriots” party. Shota Martinenko, a host of “Alt-Info” stated that pro-Western political parties in Georgia are financed from abroad while “European Georgia” and other parties receive funds from the “Open Society Georgia Foundation” (the so-called Soros Foundation). “The declaration, whether political parties in Georgia are financed by the “Open Society Georgia Foundation”, is disinformation. The Foundation, according to its internal policy, never finances political parties or their pro-/anti-campaigns. Besides, it is also noted in the project funding online application that the project should not envisage activities in support of a political party/person”. Read more… Source: www.mythdetector.ge

Tbilisi. The Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies publishes material of Mamuka Komakhia, ananalyst: Review of Russian policy in post-Soviet space, edition 15. “Russia considers post-Soviet space to be its sphere of influence and sees enhancement of Western positions in the region as a threat to its national interests. The purpose of our review is to provide readers with information regarding important developments related to Russian policy in post-Soviet space. The review is published once every two weeks and tends to be useful for everyone, decision makers, public servants, media representatives or others who are interested in ongoing processes in post-Soviet countries”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source:www.gfsis.org

Tbilisi. The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) publishes analytical material: Cyber-attack on the Ministry of Health and a Russian trace. “It can be said that cyber-threats coming from the Russian Federation are somewhat predictable. Besides, although the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia does not name a specific country, from where the cyber-attack on the Ministry of Health of Georgia was carried out, on the basis of the same report it is possible to assume that the above was in the interest of Russia, because as previous developments also show, it has been long time that Russia considers existence and successful operation of an American laboratory at its border a threat, which is violation of Paragraph 14 of a military doctrine of Russia”. Read more… Source: idfi.ge