Tbilisi. Representatives of the ''Open Society Georgia Foundation'', ''Transparency International – Georgia'', ''International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy'' and ''Atlantic Council'' are visiting Washington. There are planned up to 20 meetings within the framework of the four-day visit. Topics of discussions are going to be: implemented reforms, their monitoring, evaluations and recommendations; fight against corruption, reforms of the security sector, election environment, freedom of media and justice related issues. Read more… Source:The website of the organization

Tbilisi. ''Transparency International - Georgia'' (TI) responds to the reorganization process in Zugdidi municipal legal entities. ''The reorganization process in Zugdidi municipal legal entities, which started in January of the current year, has not been completed yet. ''Transparency International - Georgia'' presents recommendations for optimal and efficient completion of the process to the working group and individuals interested in the issue'', - is stated in the information released by TI. Read more… Source:The website of the organization

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia publishes annual report of 2018. ''We are striving for an environment in which transparency and openness will be the key principles of the public and private sectors. We are driven by the desire to promote the country’s democratic development and are making our modest contribution to rendering this process irreversible. Developing and strengthening state institutions free of corruption, introducing the principles of good governance and transparency standards, promoting a fair election environment, independence and improvement of the justice system, supporting media freedom and pluralism, encouraging citizen engagement and ensuring central and local government’s accountability to them – this is an incomplete list of directions we are actively working in'', is noted in the introduction. Read more… Source: www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. ''Transparency International - Georgia'' appraises institutionalization of a Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) in legislation. ''Institutionalization of RIA should be appraised positively, however, the initiative, as presented, does not respond to challenges of the legislative process, extensive exceptional cases provide possibility of adoption of important laws without RIA'', - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source:www.transparency.ge

According to the Transparency International Georgia’s information - the public opinion poll has demonstrated that a large part of the Georgian population supports holding the next parliamentary elections based fully on the proportional system. Read more… Source: www.transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) conducted legal and sociological research of the labor mediation mechanism. The video gathers key findings of sociological research, systemic challenges hindering effective functioning of the mediation mechanism. Read more... Source:The website of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. On March 29, 2019 Rondeli Foundation hosted a public discussion ''The U.S. Policy Towards the Region'' featuring Dr. Celeste Wallander, President and CEO of The U.S. Russia Foundation, a former Special Assistant to the US President and Senior Director for Russia/Eurasia on the National Security Council (2013-2017). The speaker discussed the U.S.-Russia relations in a new era, the White House policy towards the region as well as the NATO-Georgia relations, challenges and perspectives. Read more… Source: The Organization’s webpage in a social network

Tbilisi. ''Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center'' (EMC) studied the practice of handing financial and property resources by the state over to the Patriarchate beyond annual budgetary subsidy in 2016-2018 years. According to information released by EMC, extent of property, transferred to the Patriarchate in 2018 increases in comparison with 2016-2017 years, which fact is supposedly connected with ongoing political processes, including the pre-election context. Read more... Source:The website of the organization

Tbilisi. Georgia's Public Defender Nino Lomjaria was awarded at the Annual Conference on Women's Role in Economic Growth and Development of Reforms as Woman Leader of the Year in Government. Nino Lomjaria has been selected by a special committee, members of which are representatives of 70 research and non-governmental organizations supporting business. The event was jointly organized by the Governing for Growth in Georgia (G4G) project of the United States Agency for International Development Agency and the Women Business Council in Georgia (WBCG) with the support of the European Bank of Development and Reconstruction, Tbilisi City Hall and Bank of Georgia. Read more…  Source: The webpage of the organization

Tbilisi. The Public Defender makes a statement about the World Down Syndrome Day. "The message of the World Down Syndrome Day 2019 is "Leave no one behind", which implies equal opportunities for all people with Down syndrome in the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for 2030, their right to live in an equal environment, enjoy continuous personal development, equal opportunities for education, healthcare, working and living environment, and engagement in public life”, - Public Defender mentions, - "Providing the above-mentioned opportunities for people with Down syndrome remains a problem in Georgia. Even through certain steps have been taken, the absence of services tailored to these people’s individual needs, promotion of their personal development, deficiencies in the realization of their fundamental human rights and freedoms ramain to be problematic in the country”. Read more…  Source: The web-page of the organizations

Tbilisi. ''Coalition for Equality'' critically appraises a legislative initiative of Irakli Sesiashvili, Chairman of the Defense and Security Committee of the Parliament of Georgia. According to the appraisal of the Coalition, the initiative entails obvious deterioration of legislation in the field of freedom of religion and deprivation of the right to postponement of a mandatory military service of clergymen of all other religions, except those of the Orthodox Church. Read more... Source:gyla.ge

The web portal www.csogeorgia.org releases a weekly newsletter of grants competition, contests, vacancies, fellowships and tenders for civil society organizations and for any interested person. Newsletter... 

Chairwoman of the Georgian Farmer's Association Nino Zambakhidze attended the Women's Global Development and Prosperity initiative launch at The White House where she spoke about how Millennium Challenge Corporation - MCC grant changed her life. Read more… Source: U.S. Embassy Tbilisi, Georgia

Zemo Svaneti. Transparency International Georgia always tries to help locals living in a remote area and offer help in various aspects. This time, on January 30-31, within the framework of the Mobile Legal Clinic we visited villages of Mestia municipality - Khaishi, Tchuberi and Nakra, our lawyers provided individual assistance to residents who met obstacles in the land registration process. ''The meetings confirmed that the problem of land registration in Zemo Svaneti is acute. The most upsetting and distressful of the problems are connected to the recognition of ownership of land that had been passed down from generation to generation - lands for which they hold no documentation to attest their legal ownership rights. The lawyers of our organization continue to try to solve this problem at the legislative level'', is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: The webpage of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. GYLA publishes the opinions on the draft law ''Social Entrepreneurship'' to Parliament of Georgia. ''GYLA welcomes the proposal of the members of Parliament of Georgia on the necessity to provide a uniform legislative regulation for social entrepreneurship issues, which should provide legal and financial guarantees for social enterprises, support social enterprises in the country and promote new enterprises with social goals. GYLA considers that the initiated bill needs substantial improvement in order to ensure the compliance of a legislative regulation with international and EU standards in the field of social entrepreneurship'', is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Professional development of civil servants in Georgia and the role of educational institutions in this process were the focus of a discussion on 24 January 2019 attended by the international experts and representatives of the Georgian ministries, training centers and civil society. ''Saba Buadze, Head of the Anti-Corruption Direction at IDFI, presented some key findings of a research conducted in 2018 to examine different factors that affect a system of professional development of civil servants, such as the capacities and experience of the state and private educational institutions, existing legislative framework in Georgia and the situation in the ministries'', is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. Placement of a hotel and any other type of building in Vake Park is unacceptable for the majority of city population. ''Such an approach to the issue will cause irreparable harm to the ecological environment that is in a critical condition even without this, as well as neglect the demand of the society and create a damaging precedent for protection and development processes of ecosystem services in the future. Besides, we underline that the disputed area is within the borders of Vake Park, represents a recreation zone and allowing construction on it contradicts both law and public interest'', - is noted in the joint statement. Read more… Source:The website of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. The Human Rights Center extends its condolences to the families of those deceased due to explosion in a residential building on January 16 in Didi Digomi. The organization expresses its readiness to provide free legal assistance to those affected by the explosion. Read more... Source:The website of the organization in a social network

The National Association of Local Authorities of Georgia (NALAG) started consultation meetings regarding a draft National Strategy for Decentralization in Regions of Georgia. ''Meetings were opened by Executive Director of the National Association of Local Authorities of Georgia. David Melua talked about importance of the project and stated that these meetings aim at conducting a dialogue between central and local governments regarding decentralization issues and considering interests of a local government in the new strategy for decentralization'', - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more... Source:nala.ge

The web-page of Civil Society Organizations wishes you happy holidays. At the same time we hereby inform you that CsoGeorgia.org will resume its work from January 8.

Tbilisi. From January 15, 2019, Open Society Georgia Foundation (OSGF) will start receiving online grant applications. According to the new rule, online applications should be filled out and submitted through the Apply section of the Foundation’s website. Under the new rule, the Foundation chooses direct contact with references rather than recommendations provided in a written form attached to the project. The recommendation should refer to both a project and an applicant. In full  Source: The organization’s webpage

Tbilisi. Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies releases a publication: Russian Footprint in Georgian Elections. ''Informational confrontation (''Информационное Противоборство''), the main effect of which is the formation of perceptions and actions of the target audiences, is one of the ways for the Kremlin to dominate the international arena. One of the important directions of informational confrontation is attacks on the institutions and systems of foreign states, discrediting democratic forms of governance and key political figures. Starting from the 2014 cyber-attacks against Ukrainian election system, cyber operations have been used with more-or-less success against the US and French Presidential elections, as well as the German Bundestag elections'', is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: www.gfsis.org