Kakheti. The summary meeting of the civic education teachers' training program was held on October 20 in Telavi as part of the Civic Education and Teachers' Training Program. The meeting was led by the consultant of the civic education teachers' forum and was attended by 18 teachers from the Kakheti Region.The meeting aimed to evaluate the practical activities of the delivered training program, share the experience and receive recommendations that will improve and foster the teachers' activities.Field: civil; education. For full text.

Samtskhe-Javakheti. Another online conference was held on October 25 on the official Facebook page of the Akhaltsikhe Municipality Gamgeoba. This time the Sakrebulo’s chief specialist in legal affairs Irina Kurmashvili has answered the population’s questions.Announcement on the conference was released few days earlier. The population’s questions concerned mainly the completion of the city’s gasification, municipal improvement of streets and residential buildings, and the improvement of infrastructure.Online conferences on the Akhaltsikhe Municipality’s Facebook page are held since August 30, as part of the project "Transparent Self-Government”, which is implemented by NGO "Union of Democrat Meskhetians”. The Akhaltsikhe Municipality Gamgebeli and other representatives have already answered the citizens’ questions. The project aims to facilitate cooperation between the self-government representatives and the population.

Tbilisi. The Media Legal Protection Center of the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association echoes the developments around the television company "Pik” (peak). The activities of TV Company "Pik” were undermined since October 12, and today the journalists of television company are unable to carry out professional activities. According to the Media Legal Center, the documents released around this issue raise too many questions as towards the Public Broadcaster, as well as towards the management of television company "Pik”. For full text. Source: gyla.ge

Imereti. On October25, the coordinator of civic clubs held a working meeting with the club members in the Public School of village Shorapani of the Zestaponi Municipality, within the framework of the Civic Education and Teachers’ Training Program. The civic club unites 27 members. The civic club members were briefed about the principles of club work and the regulations of the club, while the club members drafted the action plan for the next three months.The Civic Education and Teachers’ Training Program is implemented by PH-International with the financial support of USAID. For full text. Source: kedec.ge

Tbilisi. The Institute for the Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) has carried out the study, under which the official web pages of 16 courts within the Georgian judicial system were monitored and the degree of their information transparency and technical order was evaluated. According to the study, only 16 out of 41 judicial authorities of Georgia run official web pages. The study carried out by IDFI has demonstrated that the majority of web pages of the Georgian judicial authorities is less informative for the users in terms of online transparency, while in respect of the technical order index, is absolutely inconsistent with the contemporary web-standards. For full text. The study  "Online Transparency of Judicial System in Georgia”. Source: idfi.ge

Adjara. As part of the project "Saturnalia”, on October23 the foreign artists organized the exhibition of their works.Visitors to this exhibition could see the video documentations of performances by Aliona Treshko and Piotr Kriusha. These movies show how the author becomes a victim of traditions.Visitors to the exhibition space saw Irina Korina’s "Bugaboo”, which represented the unity of phobias in the Russian society. Presented at the exhibition was the work by two young artists – skating on the arena made of soap, the idea of which lied in the parody of the utopian human aspirations.

Kvemo Kartli. On October 19, the active members of the school-cased civic clubs of the Kvemo Kartli Region met with the invited guest, the Director of organization "Leli” Nana Nersezashvili. At the meeting the guest told the students about her activities. She also called on youngsters to come up with and carry out the initiatives.The meeting was held in the Marneuli Civic Engagement Center, attended by 63 schoolchildren from 13 public schools involved in the program.Field: For full text. Source: civics.ge

Guria. The presentation was held in the assembly hall of the Young Teachers’ Club on October24, at which the members of this organization presented the results of monitoring carried out by them.The process of sanitary-hygiene monitoring of the water and junctures in the Guria-based public schools took place from 1 May 2011 to 30 July 2012, and along with the "Union of Young Teachers” of Ozurgeti, the representative of the US Peace Corps has participated in its implementation.The monitoring aimed to establish the degree of consistency of wet junctures (water taps and toilets) in the public schools of the Guria Region with the recommended education norms and standards of Georgia.Representatives of the Ozurgeti-based NGOs, local media, local self-government, public schools and the Education Resource Centers have attended the presentation of monitoring results.

Imereti. The Imereti branch of the Young Economists’ Association has presented the publications developed as part of the project "Get Involved in the Management of Your City”. The city’s budgetary calendar and the information brochure were presented, and particularly the powers of local self-government authorities and the budgetary process in self-government.The project "Get Involved in the Management of Your City” aims to enhance civic activities of the Kutaisi population, as well as to inform the citizens about the functions of self-government and the local budget, and to increase the accountability of local authorities through the intense civic monitoring.The representatives of NGO sector, local media outlets and authorities have participated in the meeting.

Tbilisi. The Women’s Fund in Georgia organizes the exhibition-sale of natural products produced by its grantees.The event aims to inform the general public about key results and achievements of the project of the Women’s Fund "Empowering Women’s Economic Capabilities in the Post-Conflict Zone and Remote Regions”. The project is implemented with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).Exhibition-sale will be attended by the project participants, who will present the products produced within the project framework (cheese, honey, yogurt, milk, onion, garlic, potato, tomato, accessories, felt, etc.), while the visitors will be able to get acquainted with them and purchase the products on the ground.The exhibition-sale will be held on October 29. For full text.

Samtskhe-Javakheti. As part of the small grants program, the internal school radio was activated on October 24 in the Public School #2 of the borough Vale. Through the radio network the members of civic clubs and the school’s self-government will disseminate information on the club work.The school administration as well as the teachers and students believe that the radio will promote active participation of schoolchildren in the club and school life.The small grants program in Samtskhe-Javakheti is implemented by the Akhaltsikhe Youth Center.

Adjara. On October23, the Batumi Civic Engagement Center has organized the public discussion on the "Head of the Adjara Government: appointed or elected position?!”Representatives of the coalition "Georgian Dream”, "United National Movement”, various political parties, CSOs, students and media, as well as the Head of the Adjara Branch of the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association have participated in the discussion. The meeting participants have discussed the rule and procedures for appointing the Head of the Adjara Government.A part of political parties and the public believes that the nomination of the Head of Government by the President undermines self-development of the autonomy, while the other part believes that this position must be elective, or just like in case of Prime-Minister, it must be nominated by the political entity that won the majority of votes in the elections.

Kvemo Kartli. The Georgian library was presented on October 23 in the Azerbaijani school of the old Kveshi. The library was created as part of the grant project under the ACETT program. 34 non-Georgian schools from the Kvemo Kartli Region are involved in the program. Representatives of the local authorities, the village deputy, and the schoolchildren and teachers of neighboring Azerbaijani schools have attended the meeting. For full text. Source: http://www.facebook.com/SIQA.Main

Tbilisi. The civil society organizations and unions once again address the Parliament with the proposal to nominate for the position of the Public Defender of Georgia and accordingly elect Tamar Gurchiani. CSOs have approached the Parliament with this recommendation earlier on October 11 as well, when 39 organizations signed the petition, while at the moment their number has increased to 98. The appeal. Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. The exhibition titled "Translation" will open in the "Open Gallery" on October 25 at 7 pm. Presented at the exhibition will be the copies of medieval miniatures on the parchment and paper, as well as the documentary on the frescos of the Davit Gareji monk cabins and the installation with natural pigments and paints. The project "Translation" is the artistic research of cultural heritage. The research was commenced in Matenadaran, the MesropMashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts in Erevan, continued at the next stage in Tbilisi in the National Manuscript Center. By means of exhibition and painters' chats, the project conveys a dialogue between the medieval and contemporary art/artists.A meeting with the painters will be organized on October 26 at 2 pm, who will talk about their personal artistic experience. For full text. Source: osgf.ge

Samtskhe-Javakheti. The CSO "Women’s Hope” has organized the discussion titled "Step towards Democracy”. The meeting was attended by the school children, students and teachers, who have discussed the topics of concern. The discussion evolved about the degree of women’s involvement in public life and the problems within the education system.The position has been agreed at the meeting that a woman’s role in public should be increased, which will facilitate the development of democratic processes. Problems should be identified and petitions should be elaborated, which will be discussed at a local level. It was decided to have the similar meeting in the future as well. Concrete problems will be examined at the initial stage, while the initiative groups will be set up later that will work on the pending problems.

Tbilisi. The illustrated album "Gudiashvili Square” was published at the initiative of "Tiflis Hamkar”, which chronologically depicts the development of the Gudiashvili Square from the end of XIX Century until present.The album "Gudiashvili Square” was published as part of the project "Discover Your Tbilisi” with the support of the Eurasia Partnership Foundation and funding from the Swedish International Cooperation Development Agency (SIDA)."Tiflis Hamkar” is the union of persons caring about the city, which aims at protecting the urban-cultural heritage of Tbilisi.The album "Gudiashvili Square".Tbilisi. The illustrated album "Gudiashvili Square” was published at the initiative of "Tiflis Hamkar”, which chronologically depicts the development of the Gudiashvili Square from the end of XIX Century until present.The album "Gudiashvili Square” was published as part of the project "Discover Your Tbilisi” with the support of the Eurasia Partnership Foundation and funding from the Swedish International Cooperation Development Agency (SIDA)."Tiflis Hamkar” is the union of persons caring about the city, which aims at protecting the urban-cultural heritage of Tbilisi. The album "Gudiashvili Square".

Imereti. The social media training was delivered on October 23 in the Tskaltubo Public School #1 for the pupils of the 9th, 10th, and 11th grades. The training aimed to inform the schoolchildren about the role of social media in the mobilization of the society or advocating of various issues.Meeting participants were informed about dissemination of informaiton and receiving feedback through social media, as well as the registration and management of blogs.28 pupils have attended the training. The meeting was held as part of the Civic Education and Teachers’ Training Program, which is implemented by PH-International with the financial support of USAID. For full text. Source: kedec.ge

Samegrelo-upper svaneti. CENN conducted workshops in the following villages of the Mestia Municipality: Nakra, Zemo Luha and Tvibri. The aim of the meetings was the identification of natural disaster risks and risk reduction measures together with the local population, preparation of letters addressed to the central government and collection of signatures. Moreover, meetings with the heads of the municipality were held and information on the current and planned preventive activities was obtained. The representatives of the local population and authorities received informational brochures developed within the framework of the project. The residents of the village of Tvibri received iron and wood construction materials for the implementation of preventive work. In the opinion of the local residents,  the government needs to allocate more fund for the implementation of preventive measures in order to guarantee the safety of their living conditions.  Meeting at the Municipality of Mestia was held within the framework of the project ,,Prevention and Preparedness at Local Level (Phase I) – Domain Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)”, which is financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).  source: CENN

Samtskhe-Javakheti. The event took place on October 22 in the Akhaltsikhe Public School #1 as part of the project "Democracy Starts with You”.The EU-funded project "Democracy Starts with You” was launched on 1 November 2009 and is implemented by the Konrad Adenauer and Eduardo Frei Foundations, as well as by the Baku, Tbilisi and Erevan schools of political science. The project promotes civic engagement of the youth residing in the South Caucasus regions and the minority-settled districts.20 schools are selected from each country. Three schools are involved in the project from Samtskhe-Javakheti: the Akhaltsikhe Public Schools #1 and #3 and the Aspindza Public School #1. During four days the schoolchildren will attend trainings that include discussions on various important topics, demonstration of video films, and the simulated games. Upon the completion of the project the winner schoolchildren of the Georgian, Armenian and Azerbaijani schools will gather in Tbilisi. Finally, 5 participants will travel to Belgium.

Imereti. As part of the Civic Education and Teachers’ Training Program, the coordinator of civic clubs held a working meeting with the club members on October 23 in the Tskaltubo Public School #4. The civic club unites 30 members. At the meeting the participants got familiar with the principles of club work, and the civic club members were divided into four groups: information, education, sociology and advocacy. They were briefed in detail about the function and mission of each group. During the working meeting each group has identified the action plan for the next three months. Stationery items were presented to the club for implementing the further activities.The Civic Education and Teachers’ Training Program is implemented by PH-International with the financial support of USAID. For full text. Source: kedec.ge

Samtskhe-Javakheti. On October 20, the award ceremony of participants of the project "Speak Up” was held in the Akhaltsikhe State Education University."Speak Up” is an international project in English, which aims to improve the proficiency in the English language and develop the leadership skills. The project is well-known in many countries world-wide and was also held for the first time in Georgia this year.The project was carried out in all big cities of Georgia and within its framework the students and schoolchildren undertook two-month training courses.There were around 90 project participants in Akhaltsikhe and each of them was awarded a certificate.