Guria. On October 21, a civic club was established with the initiative group functioning in the Ascention Public School of the Chokhatauri Municipality, as part of the Civic Education and Teachers' Training Program. Pupil of the same school was elected as the club leader. The club unites 15 schoolchildren. Further, a civic club uniting 17 pupils was established on October 22 with the initiative group functioning in the Public School of village Lesi of the Lanchkhuti Municipality. At their meetings the newly established clubs have developed working plans for the current education year and the time-table of weekly meetings. The Civic Education and Teachers' Training Program is implemented through funding from the USAID. The Guria Youth Resource Center is the partner of the program in Guria.

Samegrelo. As part of the week devoted to the climate change, a discussion was held in Zugdidi on October 22 at the initiative of NGO "Green Movement" in the Civic Engagement Center. The speakers talked about cleaning of the city and climate changes. Various events will be held during the week: open lesson on the climate change, field theatrical event in the Zugdidi botanical garden. According to the Project Coordinator Vakhtang Basilaia, "the events aim to raise public awareness and involve it in the improved waste management process". The week, implemented by several NGOs from 21 to 28 October Georgia-wide, is funded by the Swedish International Cooperation Development Agency (SIDA).

Tbilisi. CSO "Internews Georgia" has monitored the evening news of 12 radio stations for the period of 18 September - 15 October 2012. These radios are: Radio Fortuna, Radio Hot Chocolate, Radio Liberty, Radio Imedi, Radio Utsnobi, Radio Hereti, Radio Palitra, Radio Green Wave, Radio Atinati, Radio 1, Radio Old City, Radio Voice of Abkhazeti. Media monitoring was carried out as part of the EU and UNDP funded project "Professional Media for Elections". Main objective of the program is to promote the professioinal, impartial and balanced media coverage during the parliamentary and presidential elections through the monitoring tool. The quantitative and qualitative pre-election monitoring of the Georgian television, radio, print and online media is being carried out by the Georgian CSOs trained by the Slovakian company "Memo 98". The monitoring results are discussed with the invited media experts in the weekly program - "Media Monitor" - aired by the Public Broadcaster. Results of media monitoring of radios – the file. Source:mediamonitor.ge

Adjara. ShidaKartli. With the support of the ShidaKartli regional partner organization and the Adjara partner organization, the civic club of the Surami Public School #3 "We" has visited the Batumi Public School #25 on October 19-21, where the activities of the Batumi and ShidaKartli civic clubs were presented. In addition, the club leaders have signed the memorandum of cooperation, including joint initiatives, projects and the exchange events. On their way back the club members visited the Batumi Museums of Regional Ethnography and Art.

KvemoKartli. The Georgian Association of Education Initiatives (SIQA) invites youngsters of 10-15 years of age, who are interested in the Origami art or would like to learn the ancient Japanese culture. At the "Origami-do" meetings the participants will develop skills that will help them create from hard paper the room decoration models as well as decorations used in practical life. The meetings will be held once a week on Mondays. Leader of the club is Lucas Samulnik, volunteer of the "European Volunteer Service" from Poland.For full text. Source: the social network.

Guria. On October 17, as part of the Civic Education and Teachers' Training Program, the representatives of 19 civic clubs from Guria have invited as guests ZviadTeneishvili, Chairman of the Ozurgeti District Election Commission #60 and the lawyer Giorgi Khuroshvili. The meeting took place in the Guria Youth Resource Center and the main topic of discussion concerned the polling procedures and general issues related to managing the election process. The USAID-funded program is implemented by PH International. The Guria Youth Resource Center is the program partner in Guria.

Mtskheta-Mtianeti. National Association of Local Authorities organized the First Focus group in the Municipality of Dusheti. The focus group was pilot public meeting, which gathered local stakeholders (representatives of municipal board, local NGOs, experts) in the framework of the Baseline Study on Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation at the Local Level to review and discuss collected information on climate change in Dusheti municipality. The Baseline Study on Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation at the Local Level envisages detailed assessment of local problems and challenges related to climate change in each of Georgian municipality and along with the Study of International Experience on Adaptation and Climate Protection at the Local Level and the Analysis of Capacities of Local Authorities will serve as a background for elaboration of the Climate Road Maps for the municipalities of Georgia.  The First Working Meeting of the Baseline Survey  was hel within the framework of program "institutionalization of Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation in Georgian Regions” which is supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and is implemented by the National Association of Local Authorities of Georgia (NALAG).

Tbilisi. A Loan Committee Meeting was held at CHCA Tbilisi Office . During this meeting several business proposals were discussed, and the authors of the most effective and viable business proposals will be provided with interest-free loans to support their business activities. The loans of the first cycle of the project will be issued in the coming weeks. A Loan Committee Meeting was held within the framework of the "Income Generation and Business Support Initiative” project. For full text Source: official page of the organization in social network

Tbilisi. The civil society organizations react to the nomination of Davit Darakhvelidze as the Minister for Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Accommodation and Refugees of Georgia. They express their concerns on the fact that the nominee for the Minister has used the language of hatred and racist statements during the pre-election campaign in the Ambrolauri District, as well as the aggressive tone when communicating with media. CSOs ask the Prime-Ministerial nominee to be more cautious when selecting the candidates, while they urge public officials to be more responsible when making public statements and to refrain from the language of hatred and racist statements. For full text. Source:osgf.ge

Imereti. The climate change week was launched on October 21 by the new building of the Parliament of Georgia. Representatives of environmental and civil sector operating in Georgia have participated in the event. NGOs participating in the week plan to hand over the text of appeal on environmental issues to the members of the Parliament of Georgia of 8th calling and the nominee for the Head of Parliamentary Committee for Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, GiaTsagareishvili. The climate week is organized by the Greens Movement of Georgia / Friends of the Earth - Georgia. It aims to mobilize the public and involve it actively in the processes of mitigating the problems caused by the climate change. Just like in previous years, the week is organized countrywide and various events are planned as part of it throughout the entire week.

Tbilisi. The event hall of the Tbilisi Public School #77 hosted the presentation of the "Dream" magazine printed at the initiative of members of the civic club "Dream Club”. The magazine aims to popularize civic education and the Club's activities. At the meeting the Club leaders have informed the invited guests about the civic activities and initiatives of the Club, such as the "Safe street" and "No to vandalism". The Club has also presented the blog and Facebook pages created within the program framework. The meeting was attended by the Director of the Center for Crime Prevention and Innovation Programs under the Ministry of Justice of Georgia, representative of the foundation Tbilisi Youth House, administration of the School #77, teachers, pupils and the civic club members from various schools. Online version of the magazine will be published on a monthly basis and it will cover the Club’s activities, achievements and various interesting issues. For full text. Source:civics.ge 

Tbilisi. On October 19 the Coalition "For Media Advocacy” has addressed the future Parliament and Government of Georgia with the proposals for improvement of media environment. Coalition members stressed the topics, reforming of which in their opinion is crucial for improving the media environment.Proposals of the Coalition "For Media Advocacy” to the future Government and Parliament Source:osgf.ge

Tbilisi. The climate change week is launched in Georgia. The event aims at mobilizing the public and involving it actively in the processes of mitigating the problems caused by a climate change. This annual week in Georgia is organized by the Greens Movement of Georgia / Friends of the Earth Georgia for the fourth time. As part of the week, the program "Enhancing Local Capabilities and Strengthening Regional Cooperation for Adapting to Climate Changes and Protecting Biodiversity in Georgia and the South Caucasus” plans to organize the exhibition of children’s paintings "Nature and Children” in the seven target municipalities: Dedoplistskaro, Sighnaghi, Sagarejo, Marneuli, Bolnisi, Dmanisi and Ninotsminda. On the day of the exhibition, author children of the paintings will be awarded with appreciation certificates and gifts that will be presented to them by the organizations implementing the program. This year the climate change week is organized with the financial support of the EC Delegation in Georgia. Slogan of the event is: Start modestly – together and gradually! Source:CENN

Samegrelo. To improve the situation with the rights of persons with disabilities, the legal-consultation center functioning with the Association "Dea” held a meeting. The persons with disabilities, their family members, lawyers, NGO sector and media representatives have attended the meeting held on October 19 in the Civic Engagement Center. Lawyer of the Association "Dea” Bakur Gogokhia has briefed the participants about concrete examples of violation of the rights of persons with disabilities. The discussion concerned persons who are unable to leave their homes due to improper infrastructure. On its hand, the lawyer of the legal-consultation center functioning with "Dea” Guram Kupunia has stated that "these people are modest and do not file claims in court to protect their rights”. The meeting was attended by the students of the Zugdidi-based Shota Meskhia University, who are involved in the work of the legal-consultation center and are eager to assist the persons with disabilities in protecting their rights.

Adjara. The advocacy group is set up in the Association "Deserving Old Age” as part of the project "Social Center for the Elderly” (donor – the EU), which advocates the urgent issues for the unprotected elderly and gets familiar with their problems by visiting them on the ground. In addition, the meetings with decision-maker persons in the round-table format also serve the solution of problems of the elderly. For full text. Source: awa.org.ge

Imereti. The civic education students’ forum was held in the I. Otskheli Kutaisi Public School #2. The civic club members of the Kutaisi-based public schools and the civic education teachers have participated in the forum. Main objective of the forum is to identify and advocate the problems within the community and schools, and to involve the business sector and the authorities in the community affairs. The Director of the Kutaisi Education, Development and Employment Center Ilia Kiladze hopes that the forum will result in 10 initiatives planned by the schoolchildren, which will be implemented at a later stage and will focus on concrete decision-making with participation of the self-government, business and community representatives. The program strives to improve the quality of the civic education curriculum and enhance youth participation in the process of building the democratic society. The program is implemented with the support of the Ministry of Education and Science. 125 public schools are involved in this program Imereti-wide. There are 44 civic clubs founded in Imereti. The forum participants split up in groups to identify the communities and the school curricula.

Shida Kartli. The society "Biliki” (path) implements the "Civic Education and Teachers’ Training Program” (USAID/PH International), within the framework of which it cooperates with 55 public schools of the Shida Kartli Region. Out of these, civic clubs are established in 32 schools, which implement various interesting initiatives and projects for the benefit of the school and the community. On October 17, to commemorate the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, the civic club "We” of the Surami Public School #3 decided to organize a charity event. The club leaders have addressed the supervisory council of the school in writing and requested to organize in school the exhibition and sale of culinary products prepared by the schoolchildren. The school administration has supported the exhibition and sale, in parallel of which a film was shown in the event hall, where the audience bought tickets for a symbolic price. With the amount raised from the event the club members bought the gifts: balls and badmintons for the IDP children and the stationery items for the family-type children’s home.

Tbilisi. On October 19, the Civic Development Institute held a meeting with teachers in the Teachers' Professional Development Center. The alternative to the existing policy of a safe school was the main topic of the meeting. Head of the Institute IaAntadze has opened the meeting and briefly overviewed the activities of the Civic Development Institute within the education component. SopioGorgodze and Simon Janashia have discussed the alternative document to the safe school policy. According to them, this policy document aims to offer the decision-maker persons ways for improving the safe school concept. The document is based on the study and examination of the situation and policy in the general education system of Georgia and the legal documents. In addition, presented at the meeting was the study "Safe School Policy in Georgia: Preconditions, Results and Attitudes", and the mechanisms of internal control in public schools and the governing style were discussed. The meeting participants received from the organization a book "Guidebook of a Child-Oriented School", written about these issues. The meeting was held as part of the project "Advocacy of a Child-Oriented School", which is supported by the East-West Management Institute and the United States Agency for International Development.

Guria. The Lanchkhuti Information Center has developed the library management electronic program "GeoLib". The program is Georgia-made and is based on the asp.net technology. It provides a possibility to fill in and edit the books database, search for the books, register withdrawals and returns of the books, fill in / edit the database of readers and to carry out various types of statistical registrations.

Adjara. The Association of elderly women "Deserving Old Age" has organized a seminar on October 18 about the gender violence issues. Male senior pupils and teachers of the Kobuleti Public School have participated in the seminar. Further, journalists of "Adjara PS" and other public representatives also participated in the training. Seminar participants talked about gender stereotypes, concrete facts existing around them and other aspects of gender violence. The cycle of seminars "Men's Talks on Gender Violence" is implemented as part of the project "Social Center for the Elderly". The next seminar is planned in November. For full text. Source:awa.org.ge

Tbilisi. To celebrate the International Day of the Girl (11 October), the Women's Fund in Georgia has organized the showing of KetiMachavariani's film "White as a Salt". A cocktail party was held after the film. This was a charity event and the raised amount will be entirely donated to the grant budget of the Women's Fund. For full text. Source: the organization's official page in the social network.

Adjara. The contest screening of animated films of the leaders' school functioning with the "Young Teachers' Union" took place at the international festival of animated films ("Topuzi 2012") hosted by Batumi. 250 films made in various countries were submitted to the contest. Remarkably, all four animation videos developed by the leaders' school have successfully passed the first round. Although the animated films of the leaders' school were not among the overall winners, the contest organizers have stressed the fact that out of 9 animated videos offered by them, foreign animators have selected for the international festival in Vilnius one film only - "A Bird, Teacher and Me" (the leaders' school). The festival in Vilnius will be held on October 22-26.