Adjara. At the initiative of the civil development union "Progress", the youth summer internship program in the Batumi self-government was festively launched on August 4 in the conference hall of the Batumi Sakrebulo. This year 27 youngsters from Batumi participate in this program. Youngsters are assigned to 5 field commissions, according to which they will undergo the second month of internship in the relevant services. Certificates will be awarded to youngsters following the completion of the three-month internship.

Tbilisi. As part of the project "Women as Actors for Changes and Empowering", on July 30-31 the "TASO" Foundation has held the coordination-consulting meeting with the community workers acting in 10 villages of Georgia. Community workers have told each other about activities implemented in their villages and have consulted with the "TASO" Foundation. Source: project's web page in the social network.

Shida Kartli. Public Union "Friendship Bridge - Kartlosi" has launched trainings for the participants of the youth local self-government school. During the two-day trainings youngsters residing in the Gori Municipality have learned the rules of identifying problems in local communities, lobbying and advocating them, as well as the self-government's functions and powers.The youth local self-government school was set up as part of the project "Enhancing Youth Participation at Regional Level in Georgia". The project aims to activate the youth and increase their participation in the development of local communities, create favorable environment for acknowledging the importance of the civil society, and promote stronger and deeper education for the youth in leading the advocacy process.

Tbilisi. On July 24 the presentation of textbooks "Community Mobilization", "Participatory Planning” published by "SIDA” was held. The event was attended by academic and student groups of higher education institutions, representatives of civil society, international and donor organizations. The authors present the audience with the main aspects of the guidelines, approaches and practical findings. For the full text Source: www.tavisupali.ge

Shida Kartli. Charity Humanitarian Centre "Abkhazeti” continues working into civil clubs direction in target schools within frames of the project "Youth Participation and Development”. For this purpose activities were planned to connect rural communities. In particular,mini football tournament was held in order to promote healthy lifestyle; parents of target schoolchildren from eight villages of Gori municipality took part in the tournament. The tournamentwas held with the Olympic rules – winner team continued fighting for the Cup, loser one was released from fighting. On July 21 the final match was held in the village Zerti between local team and team of the village Tkviavi. The winner was revealed by penalty shoots. The cup was given to Zerti team. The project "Youth Participation and Development” has been implemented by Charity Humanitarian Centre Abkhazeti” with support of United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), financed by United States Agency for International Development (USAID).           

Tbilisi. "Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center" (EMC) started to make documentary film on a theme of involvement of local female politicians in self-governments. The organization is filmmaking in framework of the project – "Female politicians in support of the local government level”. Source: Organization's page in the social network

Adjara. On July 15 the exhibition of social housing projects was held in Batumi Art Teaching University. Projects were developed by Bern, Batumi and Tbilisi University students. On base of an official agreement with Batumi self-government and Swiss development agency the students prepared up to 40 projects; among them 25 best works were handed to the city government with protection of copyright and rights of make changes. According to the mentioned projects Batumi City Hall is planning to build "cheap houses” and shelter for the elderly. The best project author will go to Switzerland for professional development.

Samtskhe-Javakheti. Representatives of the Gori Office of the Young Lawyers’ Association have delivered a training on July 10 in the Akhaltsikhe Civic Engagement Center on increased citizen participation in the activities of the local self-government authorities. Active representatives of CSOs, local authorities, media and communities have attended the training.The training was organized as part of the project funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic – "Citizen Cooperation in the Decision-Making Process of the Local Self-Government Authorities: Getting to Know the EU Experience”.The project is implemented in two countries – Georgia and Armenia through partnership of the Armenian Young Lawyers’ Association, Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association and CSO "Agora-C".Project implementation started on 1 May 2014 and will be completed on August 31. A summary conference will be organized in Armenia.

Adjara. CSO "Progress” has organized a workshop on July 9 in the Batumi Civic Engagement Center for interns of the 2014 Batumi self-government, at which the attendees were informed about competencies of self-government and the new Self-Government Code.In addition, workshop participants have discussed basic and complementary competencies of the City Hall and the Sakrebulo. In the near future, once the Sakrebulo starts functioning with the new staff, an active phase of internship will be launched and the interns will be allocated to various offices and departments of the City Hall. This internship will be completed in October 2014.

Tbilisi. CSO "Iare Pekhit” addresses the Tbilisi Mayor candidates and demands from them to express clear position for protection of the pedestrians’ rights in the city. For the full text. Source: the organization's web page in the social network.

Imereti. On July 2, CSO representatives have submitted to the Kutaisi Sakrebulo members recommendations on planning the budget for 2015-2016. Non-governmental sector has developed these recommendations based on the interviews of the population. 960 persons were interviewed. Interviewing was carried out as part of the project "Kutaisi: This Works", which provides for the participation of non-governmental sector and population in the Kutaisi budget planning.The project is funded by the EU.

Shida Kartli. Charity Humanitarian Center "Abkhazeti" has delivered a cycle of trainings "Maintenance-Exploitation of Common Property for the Partnerships and Maintenance-Exploitation Groups". The organization has delivered four two-day trainings, attended by 49 members of the IDP partnerships and maintenance-exploitation groups. Training module covered topics such as the safety of a building, minor renovation works, building components, seasonal inspections of common property, etc. For the full text. Source: the organization's page in the social network.

Guria. A meeting was organized on June23 in the Ozurgeti Civic Engagement Center as part of the project of Association of Young Economists "Accountable Self-Government". The project aims to better familiarize public with activities of the Sakrebulo members and is implemented in 7 cities of Georgia. The organization has developed the procedure of reporting by the Sakrebulo member to electorate and the form of activity report of the Sakrebulo member, which will be approved by the Sakrebulo of a relevant city or municipality.

Adjara. A discussion over "Civil activity in the self-government elections" was held on June 20 in the Batumi Civic Engagement Center. Representative of the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy, head of the Independent Journalists' House and the researcher of the Caucasus Research Resources Center have discussed with the audience the importance of local elections, role of citizens and the activities of the candidates. According to them, the role of citizens in the self-government elections is crucial and each of them should exercise their statutory rights.

Tbilisi. The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy has released visualizations on local self-government in the social network. At this point visualizations cover the following topics: balance of political powers in the Sakrebulo, gender balance in the Sakrebulo, party belonging of the Sakrebulo Chairmen and the Mayors, violations reported in the third interim report on the pre-election period of the 2014 local self-government elections, etc. The visualizations (geo) Source: the organization's page in the social network.

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia released a blog post - "Zugdidi Mayoral and district governor candidates’ background and property ownership". For the full text Source: transparency.ge 

Tbilisi. The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy continues releasing social videos. This time the organization has released the video - "When is the second round of elections to be held?". The video. Source: the organization's page in the social network.

Shida Kartli. The Gori Office of the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD) School has hosted a meeting on June 3 with participation of CSOs, media representatives, and four Gori Mayor nominees. The meeting was organized at NIMD's initiative.The event was dedicated to presentation of the web page - www.partiebi.ge, which aims, on one hand, to generate political proposals by election entities and express opinions on them, and on the other hand, for the candidates to provide answers to questions of interest to voters.

Kakheti. CSO "Civil Development Institute" has organized a meeting on June 4 in the Telavi Media Cafe.As part of the project "Informed Youth Electorate", students and interested youngsters have met with the Telavi Mayor nominees. Youngsters have focused on the current problems in the city.

Adjara. At the initiative of the youth CSO "Changes for Equal Rights", persons with disabilities have met with the majority of the Batumi Mayor nominees on June 4 in the Public Defender's office.At the meeting the Mayor nominees have presented their visions on the resolution of problematic issues associated with persons with disabilities Batumi-wide. In addition, they have expressed the desire and willingness to organize periodic meetings with the organizers of this event and organizations working on persons with disabilities.

Tbilisi. "Guerilla Gardening" appeals to the Tbilisi Mayor and Sakrebulo nominees participating in the local self-government elections. "In view of upcoming local self-government elections we would like to draw the attention of the Tbilisi Mayor and Sakrebulo member nominees to the grave ecological situation and problems that we encounter in terms of preserving the Tbilisi vegetation. ... The city's authorities must set as a priority the preservation of vegetation grown in last decades to the maximum extent, and subsequently its spread so that the area of vegetated territory per one resident in Tbilisi comes close to the modern standards," says the released statement. For the full text. Source: the organization's page in the social network.

Kakheti. CSO "International Center for Civic Culture" has organized a informative meeting with persons participating in the self-government elections and representatives of election parties.Meeting participants have discussed various important issues concerning the new self-government law and amendments to the Election Code.