Tbilisi. Jumpstart Georgia has published a new visualization -"My repression is your regression".  "Georgia's current drug policy is punishment oriented and does not work. What's more, it increases the harm and implies disproportionate punishment.What's more, punishment is more expensive than treatment; a repressive drug policy increases the risk and spread of infections, and it does not comply with the EU's drug policy.The infographic is created within the framework of the Drug Policy Liberalization Campaign". The visualization Source:feradi.info

Adjara. Youth CSO "Changes for Equal Rights" has presented a new project on March 11 in the Batumi Civic Engagement Center. The project "First Step of Integration of Persons with Disabilities into the Society" aims to raise the schoolchildren's awareness on persons with disabilities and promote the integration of persons with disabilities into the society. The project runs for two months and includes delivery of informative lessons by persons with disabilities to schoolchildren of 10th, 11th and 12th grades in ten public schools of  Batumi. The project is financially supported by the Adjarian Department for Sport and Youth Affairs.

Tbilisi. The "National Center for Democratic Development" and partner CSOs "Young Diplomats' League" and the "Coalition Public Initiative" have released a statement. "... Georgia is unprepared for threats that our country may face as a result of Russian intervention in Ukraine and an attempt to annex territories of a sovereign state. Georgia does not express readiness to cope with number of challenges associated with the mobilization of military forces by the occupant state in the region. The Government of Georgia dodges away from the responsibility to express support to the ally states," says the statement. For the full text (geo) Source: ncdd.ge

On March 10 in Stuttgart (Germany) an exhibition of "50 Women From Georgia” project was opened in Heinrich Boll Foundation South Caucasus Bureau. Source: Web-page of Heinrich Boll Foundation in the social network.

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia released a blog post - "Microfinance to farmers threatened by agricultural land ban". "A recent change in the law, initiated by the Ministry of Economy, is anti-competitive, discriminates against microfinance lenders ("MFIs”) with foreign shareholders – and makes it substantially more difficult for Georgian farmers to have access to foreign credit for agricultural loans", says they blog post. For the full text  Source:transparency.ge

Mtskheta-Mtianeti. A signing ceremony was organized on March 11 between the EU and four CSOs, which will receive funding as part of the ENPARD Program to support the small farming cooperatives. The EU will allocate 15 million Euros for setting up and enhancing the cooperatives. Within the program, up to 160 small farming cooperatives will be set up in Georgia. To this end, the agreement was executed in Tsinamdzghvriantkari between the EU and the consortium of four organizations– Oxfam, Mercy Corps, Care and People in Need.

Kakheti. With the financial support of Open Society Foundations a training was held in Democratic Participation Centre in Telavi. "The aim of the project is strengthen the youth so that they may independently influence on society. The topic of the training was modern information technologies” – stated a trainer Nino Todua. The youth received information on what is social media, blog, social network, and how should they be used for resolving local problems.

Samtskhe-Javakheti. On March 11 in Akhaltsikhe the members of the NGO "Orqisi” held a presentation of a new project. The project "Let us clean Georgia” involves raising civil conscience on various eco-system issues. The project is held by the consortium of NGOs – The Greens of Georgia, Friends of the World – and the Union of Sustainable Development – "EcoView” with the financial help of "Sida”.

Tbilisi. First Step Georgia will organize an information meeting at 13:00 on March 22, at which interested persons can learn more about the Sensory Integration Program to be presented by the leading specialist. Attendance is free, but places are limited. Interested persons should contact the organization in advance. Deadline for registration is March 21. Contact person: Taka Nozadze; mob: (568) 48 00 15; e-mail: takanozadze@gmail.com Office: 2 603 604. For the full text (geo) Source: page of First Step Georgia in the social network.

Tbilisi. Non-governmental organization the "Young Barristers” address the Parliament of Georgia "on behalf of amendments in the statute of "Georgian Citizenship” and ask to reject discussion of the bill, according to which citizens of foreign countries who received a Georgian citizenship since January 1st 2013 face deprivation of citizenship". For the full text Source:barristers.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia released a blog post - "Georgian Public Broadcaster – new court cases exacerbate Board crisis". "The GPB Board has been non-operational due to the lack of a quorum since September. It requires at least two thirds of its members to be able to vote on and approve key decisions. Without a functional Board, the GPB is unable to address its financial troubles and programming challenges", says the blog post. For the full text Transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Fair Elections, GYLA and Transparency International released the statement, in which they welcomed the approval of the Tbilisi budget. They focus on certain procedural violations and express hope that "in the future the Sakrebulo and the City Hall will treat the issue with more responsibility and it will be possible to avoid procedural violations," the statement says. For the full text (geo) Source: isfed.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia released a blog post - "The Financial Monitoring Service should not be Transferred to the Ministry of Finance". "A legislative amendment proposed by to transfer Georgia’s Financial Monitoring Service from under the management of the National Bank of Georgia to the Ministry of Finance has been registered at the Parliament. This amendment to the Law on Legalisation of Illicit Income was proposed by Davit The Financial Monitoring Service should not be Transferred to the Ministry of Finance, Head of the Parliamentary Budget Committee, parliamentary majority. TI Georgia believes that this initiative is a step backwards, and should not be passed into law". For the full text Source:transparency.ge

Tbilisi. On March 10, in Radisson Hotel a round-table meeting about women involvement in political processes. During the meeting were discussed women’s involvement in the previous elections, as well as the strategies and plans for encouraging women’s participation in political processes and in local municipal elections. The meeting was organized by MIND, IFES, and OSCE/ODIHR. Source: Web-page of EEDC in social network.

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Economists' Association has released a statement on the beneficial procedure of import taxation. They react to possible invalidation of a special procedure for VAT taxation of import. "We consider that invalidation of this procedure is important for improving a competitive environment. Existing procedure places importers and local manufacturers in unequal conditions. Further, it offers benefits to large importers only, which has an adverse effect on the small and medium business," says the organization's web page in the social network. For the full text (geo) Source: the organization's web page in the social network.

Imereti. On March 10 a training "Protection of civil interests and the campaign planning” was held for the members of Kutaisi Youth Centre. The training was devoted to the youth participation in the civil society and their role in democracy development. 4 four projects were drafted as to how to implement them in civil interests protection campaign. The training was held within the framework of ANI project. Source: Web-page of Kutaisi Youth Centre in social network.

Tbilisi. Young Greens remind public about a tragedy that took place in Japan three years ago - the earthquake, disorder of the Fukushima nuclear plant and the casualties. "After Chernobyl, three years after the second large-scale catastrophe, we live in the seismic region with an active nuclear plant. Against this background, very few residents of the South Caucasus realize the threats of an ecological catastrophe. Young Greens once again express our clearly negative attitude towards nuclear energy!", says the organization's web page in the social network. Source: the organization's web page in the social network.

Tbilisi. The Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center has released video materials "Projection on the police cordon". As the organization's web page in the social network notes, "law-enforcers have opposed to screening of video material depicting the problems of workers from Kazreti on the building of the Government's Chancellery. The police has mounted a human wall in front of a projector, following which video projection continued on their bodies." Video projection.   Source: the organization's web page in the social network.

Samtskhe-Javakheti. On March 10, in CCE of Akhaltsikhe, a presentation of Georgia’s agricultural development project was held by USAID. Five-year-long project had a budget of 19 million dollars and aims at the development of agribusinesses, employment possibilities etc. The presentation was attended by the representatives of the organization which work on agriculture. The presentation was followed by question-answer format.

Adjara. On March 9 a media-tour was organized by CENN and the organization "Borjghalo” in the mountainous regions of Adjara. The participants were the members of all the media-bodies in Adjara.

Samtskhe-Javakheti. The organization "Meskhetian Democrats” held a presentation "Women, which should be known”. During the meeting the discussion was held around those Georgian and foreigners who generally influenced human kind. The organizers dedicated this event to the 8th of March. The presentation was followed by discussion about various issues. The event was held within the framework of "Strengthening of National Integration” project, implemented by UNAG, with the financial support USAID.

Tbilisi. Institute for Development of freedom of information has translated the research of Dr. Thomas hart - "Access to Government Information".  Topic of the research is the request of public information and the ways of its publication channels. The research covers issues regarding legal wording analysis, institutional design and publication schemes.  Based on the examples of best international practice, the benefits of a comprehensive information disclosure policy and Practice of proactive information dissemination Strategy are discussed.  The Author writes about the existing challenges in this field, significance of qualified citizen input and importance of the dialogue with potential information recipients. He demonstrates the advantage of two-way accessibility of Information both for the governments and citizens. The research  Source:idfi.ge