Samegrelo. On February 9, the State Minister of Georgia in Reintegration Issues PaataZakareishvili has met with the civil sector representatives. He talked about the prospects of Georgian-Abkhazian and Georgian-Ossetian relations and the new state strategy on conflicts in the hands of the new authorities. After delivering the speech on existing situation in terms of regulation of conflicts, the Minister has responded to the questions the civil sector representatives. The meeting with the Minister in Reintegration Issues, held in the Zugdidi Office of the Civic Engagement Center, was organized at the initiative of NGO "Youth for Civil Interests".

Tbilisi. On February 9, Article 42 of the Constitution has released the statement on confrontation that occurred in the territory adjacent to the National Library. The organization calls on the law-enforcement agencies to observe public safety and order, as well as to carry out rapid and effective investigation so that the offenders are identified in time. For the full text. Source: article42.ge

Samegrelo. A public discussion was held in the Civic Engagement Center on February 8 concerning the ongoing staff changes in Ozurgeti. The Ozurgeti Municipality GamgebeliKoteSharashenidze, representative of the Regional Administration PaataManjgaladze and the representative of the Georgian Union for Democratic Development Irakli Papava have talked about the dismissal of persons employed in the structures of the Municipality Sakrebulo and Gamgeoba after the elections. According to KoteSharashidze, the opinion that allegedly public servants and village trustees are persecuted on political grounds is incorrect and unjustified. Meeting participants have also discussed the creation of the competition-attestation commission, which will work on the selection of new staff in a competent manner. Representatives of NGOs and political parties, journalists and citizens have attended the discussion.

Samtskhe-Javakheti. Transparency International – Georgia holds trainings for journalists in Bakuriani focusing on the property rights and the problems around this issue existing in Georgia. Attending journalists working in various regions of Georgia will get familiar with the judicial monitoring results.Media analysts of Transparency International – Georgia MamukaAndghuladze and Mathias Huter will talk about the existing media environment and give to journalists practical tips for the effective discharge of journalistic activities. Source: media.ge 

Samegrelo. NGO representatives have met with the Deputy Minister for IDPs from Occupied Territories and Refugees MamukaTsotniashvili in the Civic Engagement Center on February 8. Representatives of "IDP Women for Their Own Rights" and "IDP Union" have asked questions to the Deputy Minister on identifying alternative space for the IDPs and other issues. According to MamukaTsotniashvili, at the first stage 320 IDP families living in Zugdidi will receive residential spaces. NGO sector representatives operating in Zugdidi and MamukaTsotniashvili have agreed that similar meetings aimed at solving the problems of IDPs from Abkhazia will be held frequently.

Imereti. On February 8, another meeting of the photo-school was held for the schoolchildren of partner schools of the Civic Education and Teacher Training Program. The photo-school was founded in the Kutaisi Education, Development and Employment Center at the initiative of the civic club of Public School #7, which has united schoolchildren from the target schools of the Kutaisi program interested in photography.At the meeting the audience received information about artistic photos, portraits, news and secret recordings. In addition, they got familiar with the history of photography and the life of prominent photographers. Attendees of the photo-school will participate in the photo-contest announced as part of the program of the Kutaisi Education, Development and Employment Center. Source: kedec.ge

Tbilisi. The National Association of Local Authorities of Georgia has released the public statement on the self-government reform and the appeal on the working group set up with the Ministry for developing and coordinating the reforms. For the full text. Source: nala.ge

Tbilisi. The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy, Transparency International – Georgia, Georgian Young Lawyers' Association and the Open Society - Georgia Foundation released the special statement. They condemn the facts of violence taking place during the protest rally held by the National Library. For the full text. Source: gyla.ge

Adjara. On February8, the Chairman of the Government ArchilKhabadze has met with the CSOs operating in the region in the administrative building of the Government of the Adjara Autonomous Republic.At the meeting, the issues related to staffing and terms of office of the Supreme Election Commission of the Adjara Autonomous Republic were discussed.

Imereti. The discussion "Millennium development goals in Georgia" was held for the members of the Kutaisi Youth Center on February 8. At the discussion, the audience was briefed about what should be achieved by 2015 and the 8 goals of the Millennium were discussed, obligation of implementing of which Georgia has undertaken by signing the Millennium Declaration. The discussion was held as part of the "Advancing National Integration in Georgia" project. Source: the organization's page in the social network.

ShidaKartli. On February 7, the President's Trustee in ShidaKartliAndroBarnovi has met with the representatives of local CSO and international organizations in the Gori Civic Engagement Center. Media representatives have also attended the meeting.Throughout the meeting the Governor tried to get familiar with each organization, field of their interests, success stories and existing problems. Discussions were held on issues of special concern, such as gender problems, IDP-related issues, citizens dismissed from work (as during the previous, as well as during the current authorities).According to the Governor, these discussions were triggered by his interest in the resources currently available in Gori, and the intention to link service-providers as with the donor organizaitons, as well as with the beneficiaries of these services.After the meeting the Governor responded to questions of various online and print media representatives.

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers' Association has reacted to developments around the President's annual speech in the Parliament. GYLA explains that on one hand the President of Georgia is obligated to deliver the annual speech before the Parliament, while on the other hand the Parliament is obligated to listen to the speech. "We call on the Parliament of Georgia to take into account the requirements of the Regulations, fulfill the obligation imposed on it and provide timely possibility to the President of Georgia of appearing with an annual speech as stipulated in the Constitution, as this cannot be achieved through other means", says the statement published on the organization's web page. For the full text:  Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi.The newsletter published as part of the Policy, Advocacy and Civil Society Development in Georgia Program of the East-West Management Institute includes the article of the Program Head FronNahzi on the NGO sector."Critique Along with Ways of Solution: What Should NGOs Do Now" is the title of the article, the author of which believes that the new political landscape is a unique opportunity for the non-governmental organizations. For the full text. Source: http://www.ewmi-gpac.org/

Tbilisi. The Institute for the Development of Freedom of Information has released the budget of the project "Georgia without Occupants". Pursuant to the document received from the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection, the project has spent 349,000 GEL on the photo exhibition, editing of the film, business trips, SUV vehicle and other needs. The Ministry noted also that after the completion of the project, non-utilized 81,525 GEL were returned to the state budget. Source: idfi.ge

Imereti. On February6, as part of the project – "Active Civic Club a Prerequisite of Democratic Society", the posters and flyers were prepared in the school of Kveda Gora of the Vani Municipality. Prepared materials reflected the rights and duties of self-governments. The schoolchildren have distributed the flyers and posters to the pupils and the school staff, as well as the community residents. The activity was implemented as part of the Civic Education and Teacher Training Small Grants competition. Source: kedec.ge

Samtskhe-Javakheti. To analyze the problems existing in the Samtskhe-Javakheti forests, the Open Environmental Civic Initiative has met with the employees of the Samtskhe-Javakheti Unit of the Forest and Wildlife Management Department of the Agency of Natural Resources. The meeting was held as part of the "Sustainable Forest Management" project. The project's priority is to examine the problems within the management system of resort forests. To this end, the study and expedition were carried out and the respective report was drafted. Identified problems and the future plans were discussed at the meeting. Source: cenn.org

Imereti. On February7, at the initiative of the civic club of the Kutaisi Public School #40, the screening of short films was organized, during which Chris Nolan's "Doodlebug" and the film produced by the program "Literature Weightlessness" were shown. A discussion has followed after the screening of the films.The event was organized as part of the small grants project "Youth against Inaction". Source: kedec.ge

Tbilisi. The Institute for the Development of Freedom of Information has published the brochure dedicated to the exhibition "Repressions of 1937-1938”. The exhibition organized in 2012 presented the unique documentary and photo materials depicting the tragic events developing in Georgia in 1937-1938, which was exposed to the broad public for the first time. The Institute for the Development of Freedom of Information plans to publish the work as well, which will unite the materials on the victims of the "great terror”. For the full text. Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association has presented two studies on February 7. One of them concerns the legal overview of the project of the Tbilisi City Hall – "City-Wide Trading Booths”. This study aimed on one hand to learn which companies were affected by the launch of this new project of the Tbilisi City Hall, and on the other hand, what was the purpose of launching such project.The second study is the overview of activities of not-for-profit legal entities founded by the local self-governments. It aimed to learn how many not-for-profit (non-commercial) legal entities have been founded by the representative and executive self-government authorities, to monitor their charters and amendments made to them, identify the trends, as well as to analyze the control of their activities and monitor the reports submitted by them. The studies:City-Wide Trading Booths – Legal Overview.Overview of activities of not-for-profit legal entities founded by local self-governments. Source: gyla.ge

Guria. The Lanchkhuti Municipality Sakrebulo has elected the new Chair. 21 deputies have voted for one nominated candidate Amiran Gigineishvili. For last 12 years Amiran Gigineishvili was the Executive Director of NGO "Lanchkhuti Information Center”.

Tbilisi. Interested persons have an opportunity to get familiar with the book of Vaclav Havel "Please, in Short” in the Regional Development and Local Self-Government Resource Center of the Caucasian Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development.The book covers the activities of Vaclav Havel from the velvet revolution (1989) until the expiry of second presidential term (2003), i.e. the democratization of the socialist country and the era of building the open society. The book is written as the authorized biography. The author conveys his opinions on the institute of presidency, relations between the President and the Government, the role of the parties and broad public in the political life, i.e. what should the ideal democracy and the civil society look like.Source: the organization's page in the social network.

Tbilisi. On February 6, GYLA has released on its web site the information on the spending of funds from the Government Reserve Fund after the 2012 elections.Based on the information obtained by the Young Lawyers’ Association, total of 16,585,427 GEL were allocated from the Reserve Fund of the Government of Georgia from 2 October 2012 until 31 December 2012. Allocation of one portion – 4,973,773 GEL is linked to the term of office of the former Prime Minister Ivane Merabishvili, while the remaining 11,611,654 GEL were allocated during the Prime Ministerial period of Bidzina Ivanishvili.Information published by GYLA illustrates the distribution of funds allocated from the Reserve Fund by various areas."GYLA once again points out the problematic nature of legal norm connected with spending of amounts from the President’s and Government’s Reserve Funds, which lies in absence of respective legal regulations required for the allocation of amounts from the Reserve Funds, and expresses readiness to actively cooperate with all relevant agencies to improve the legislative regulations”, says the Association’s web page. For the full text. Source: gyla.ge