Tbilisi. The Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies publishes a blog post of Zurab Batiashvili, Research Fellow of the organization: Escalation of the Karabakh conflict: Threats and challenges to Georgia. “It is clear to everyone that the Karabakh conflict cannot be resolved easily. Even if the parties reach an agreement on a ceasefire in the near future, it will still be temporary and there will always exist a probability of its violation (as the history of this conflict has already shown us); Respectively, threats and challenges that Georgia might face in regard to the Karabakh conflict are going to be relevant for a long time to come...” Read more... Source:www.gfsis.org

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

Adjara. The Georgia Red Cross Society Batumi branch delivered food and hygiene parcels to the charity house “Savane”. The Georgia Red Cross Society provides the community with the support of the USAID - US Agency for International Development and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Read more… Source: The organization’s page in the social network

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

Tbilisi. Civil society organizations publish a manifesto in regard to processes that take place in Nagorno-Karabakh. “We, the peoples living in the Caucasus region, have the severest experience of brutal wars, conflicts and exile. We have all realized from our own historical experience that wars are heavy burdens on shoulders of people, carry the power to destroy and impoverish them, and bring only pain, suffering and frustration. No nation or ethnos in our region has gained victory and development as a result of war. That is specifically why we believe that only a policy of peace, negotiations and cooperation will bring stability and development to our region”, - is stated in the Manifesto.  Read more… Source: humanrights.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. Civil society organization call on investigative and security agencies of Georgia, as well as the Audit Office to respond adequately to information regarding the “Alliance of Patriots” publicized by “Dossier”. “”Dossier”, a platform for investigative journalism, which aims at exposing criminal groups of the Kremlin, published two reports on August 24 and 31. The reports emphasize links, as well as financial relations between the “Alliance of Patriots of Georgia” and the Kremlin. As “Dossier” affirms, the reports are based on documents obtained from the secretariat of Vladimir Chernov, Head of the Directorate for Inter-Regional Relations and Cultural Contacts with Foreign Countries at the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation, and reveal a network that is close to the Kremlin and oversees relations with the “Alliance of Patriots”, - is noted in the statement. Read more… Source:gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Georgian public organizations including the citizens of Georgia, ethnic Azerbaijani Armenian activists, as well as activists from other ethnic communities release peace manifesto related to armed confrontation between Azerbaijan and Armenia in Nagorno-Karabakh. "We, the peoples living in the Caucasus region, have the severest experience of brutal wars, conflicts and exile. We have all realized from our own historical experiences that wars are heavy burdens of people’s backs, has the power to destroy and impoverish them, and only brings pain, suffering and frustration. None of the ethnic group or nation in our region has gained victory and development as a result of war. Therefore, we believe, that only cooperation politics, negotiations and peace can bring stability and development to our region. The diversity has always been a feature of the region". Read more... Source: gyla.ge

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

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

Tbilisi. Human Rights Center in the frame of the project “Monitoring 2020 Parliamentary Elections in Georgia” publishes an article: Donations from Business MP Candidates - Investing in Future Tenders. "There is a significant trend evident in 2020 elections. Most of the majoritarian candidates nominated by the parties are big businessmen or the donors of the parties. According to a survey published by Transparency International Georgia on September 11, 2020, more than half of the majoritarian candidates nominated by Georgian Dream 19 out of 30 are engaged in entrepreneurial activities. These candidates, in turn, are in some way connected with 186 companies. Major donors are also the family members and partners of the majoritarian candidates. Fourteen out of 30 majoritarian candidates were personally donating to Georgian Dream", is note din the article. Read more... Source: humanrights.ge

Tbilisi. International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) presented its I interim report on pre-election monitoring of social media in the context of the 2020 parliamentary elections. “Within the reporting period, ISFED has revealed 10 fake media sites that disseminate pro-government and anti-opposition messages. As a result of observation, it has been found that fake media sites do intensively sponsor their own posts, however, they do not properly declare costs of political advertisements and attempt to circumvent Facebook regulations. Openly discrediting Facebook groups act mainly against two political parties – “Georgian Dream” and “United National Movement””, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: isfed.ge

Today is the International Day of Older Persons. Support people who are older or isolated during COVID-19 by staying in touch through phone calls, social media and messaging. Stay socially connected while practicing physical distancing. Read more... Source: The organization's page in the social network

Tbilisi. PMMG is highly concerned with the incidents as well as the facts of violence taken place in Marneuli and Sadakhlo on 28 and 29 September. On 28 September, in the village of Sadakhlo, Marneuli municipality, the activist of political party “European Georgia” was attacked. According to PMMG, interference in the works of media is unacceptable and consequently it calls upon the respective governmental institutions, to timely, impartially and effectively investigate the underlined incidents and display the respective stance regarding the identification and legal treatment of any individuals involved in the incidents. Read more... Source: The organization's page in the social network

Kakheti. The volunteers of the Georgia Red Cross Sighnaghi branch has delivered the COVID-19-related recommendations to the older people living in Tsnori. The volunteers spread the information about the virus prevention measures to the community and asked to avoid any social gathering. 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

Imereti. Local Democracy Agency Georgia held informational meeting for youth in Adult Education Center in Khoni municipality, about these following issues: The importance of civic engagement; civil society organizations; International volunteering platform "Time Bank"; Meeting held within the framework of the project, „Georgian Civil Society Sustainability Initiative”. The project „Georgian Civil Society Sustainability Initiative” is implemented by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) in cooperation with the Civil Society Institute (CSI), the Consultation and Training Center (CTC), the Center for Strategic Research and Development of Georgia (CSRDG), and the Education Development and Employment Center (EDEC). The project is funded by the European Union (EU) and co-funded by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS). 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

The US Agency for International Development publishes the CSO Sustainability Index every year. Most recently the 2019 index has been released. Picture of sustainable development of CSOs, operating in Georgia, can be seen here...

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. According to the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI), the Global Innovation Index (GII) provides a ranking of up to 130 countries by their capacities for innovation. Through up to 80 indicators grouped into 7 categories, GII aims at performing a comprehensive innovation ranking in innovation input and innovation output indices. “The 2020 GII ranking turned to be positive in terms of an innovation development tendency in Georgia as a whole, however, there was also revealed a slowdown in progress. In particular, results deteriorated in 5 categories, if compared to the last year, which fact eventually had a negative impact on the overall rating of the country. The 2020 Global Innovation Index results make it obvious that there is a stagnation in specific areas in terms of economic and innovation development”. Read more… Source: idfi.ge