Tbilisi. The Social Justice Center publishes a report examining contemporary forms of non-standard and informal employment in Georgia. “On the one hand, it contains local knowledge about labor, social and human rights related situation of informal and non-standard employees; while on the other hand, it also presents a survey of those engaged in informal and non-standard employment”. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge

Tbilisi. The Dighomi flood plains on the outskirts of Tbilisi are home to over 20 species of rare birds, like the kingfisher, great white egret, small white egret and night egret. “With our support, up to 50 students visited the Dighomi flood plain to study, observe and spot these rare birds by sound or appearance”. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Tbilisi. Civil society organizations express their extreme concern in regard to possible abolition of the State Inspector’s Service by the authorities of the Georgian Dream. “On the background of extreme political polarization, seizure of state institutions, as well as public distrust of law enforcement agencies and the judiciary, the bill registered behind closed doors secretly and expeditiously and aimed at abolishing an independent institution, as well as terminating the authority of the State Inspector prior to the term of office, is nothing else but a political retaliation against an exceptional institution that has more or less managed to gain public confidence in recent years”, - is noted in the joint statement. Read more… Source: osgf.ge

Adjara. According to information released by the Social Justice Center, in high mountainous Adjara, like in other regions, there was heavy snowfall during recent days and part of villages has been left without power supply for 2-3 days, roads are closed too. “Severe winter is typical for high mountainous Adjara and upper villages often appear isolated due to poor infrastructure. Regardless these weather conditions, high mountainous Adjara is not served by a dedicated ambulance, which would provide prompt emergency medical service to citizens in case of necessity”. The organization has been demanding the state repeatedly to create an appropriate medical infrastructure for high mountainous Adjara in order to provide emergency medical care to citizens. Read more… Source: The website of the organization on a social network Photo: Shorena Shavadze

Tbilisi. GCSD launched a new project - “Enhancing Georgia’s Capacity to Counter Targeted WMD Assassination Attempts”. “The project aims to enhance Georgia's capacity to detect and respond to the targeted use of weapons of mass destruction”. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Imereti. Local Democracy Agency Georgia, in the framework of the project "Civil Society Initiative", held meeting with the public servants who are responsible for relations with civil society organizations in Tskaltubo municipality. The meeting is being organized by LDA Georgia within the framework of the project "Civil Society Initiative," with the support of the European Union and the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Tbilisi. GCSD hosted the conference within the framework of the project - "Talk, Research and Discover NATO". “The conference consisted of three panels, where thematic experts discussed topics related to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The winners of the student research competition announced within the project also participated in the panel discussions, presenting their own papers. At the end of the conference, they received relevant certificates”. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

On September 18-19, in collaboration with StrategEast, the United Nations Development Program and with the support of GITA, there was held EPAM Engineering Hackathon: Design your future.  The traditional marathon brings together professionals, innovators of Information Technology and facilitates civil society and charity organizations, schools, public sectors, medical institutions of various countries to improve services and processes through digital solutions. The favorite team of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP Georgia) Accelerator Lab, supporter of the Hackathon, is Dart Team that came up with an idea of creating an interactive map for wheelchair users. The idea implies creation of a mobile application that lets people with disabilities know in advance where they should expect an adapted environment. Within the framework of the hackathon, the team created a prototype of the application, while at this stage they work on refining the product. As mentioned before, Dart Team became the favorite team of UNDP Georgia, however, instead of receiving the prize, it decided to purchase a computer for a teenager from Samtredia. “A Georgian schoolgirl has received a computer as a gift from us, Dart Team and a social charity project “Charte”. It is a valuable gift for Janna, which will help her fully engage in online schooling and search for vital information needed in her studies”, - is stated on the website of UNDP Georgia on a social network.

Tbilisi. The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) publishes an analysis of local self-government budgets. “In 2021, the largest share of expenditures - 37% (GEL716,3 million) planned by municipalities comes on subsidies that are mostly released to finance N(N)LEs. In 2020-2021 years, a total of GEL 212 million was provided in the Tbilisi budget to subsidize public transport of the city. The share of remuneration expenses in total costs in municipalities ranges from 8% to 50%, while that of social assistance - from 2% to 17%. In 2021, as a result of budget changes made prior to the local self-government elections, the figure of planned total expenditure has increased by GEL 292 million”, - is stated in main findings of the analysis. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) has released its final social media monitoring report for 2021. “From 2018, International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy, using open source social media, seeks to identify coordinated information campaigns, expose manipulative tactics and strategies, increase resilience against disinformation via voter awareness, and inform Facebook, the most popular platform in Georgia, about main findings”. Read more… Source: isfed.ge

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. According to information released by the Social Justice Center, the authority granted to the Government to impose restrictions for coronavirus prevention is extended until 2023. “Resolving such fundamental issues related to human rights is the constitutional authority of the Parliament of Georgia. While the “Law on Public Health” envisages transfer of this authority entirely to the Government, which is equivalent to refusal of the Parliament to perform its legislative function and legalization of a de facto state of emergency in the country”. The organization considers that the Parliament should not limit itself to the automatic extension of the deadline for delegation of authority to the Government and should thoroughly arrange the scope of authority of the Government in the pandemic management process. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge Photo: parliament.ge

Tbilisi. The Media Development Foundation (MDF) has published its annual report – “Hate speech - 2020”. “The purpose of the study is to identify various forms of hate speech in the media and public discourse and to reveal their sources”. Read more… Source: mdfgeorgia.ge

Tbilisi. UN Women together with the Business and Technology University and in partnership with IT companies, launches a new programme – 500 Women in Tech with the support of the Norwegian Government. “The project was launched on December 21 and it aims to enhance women’s participation in technologies throughout Georgia. The programme is designed for the beginners as well as for women and girls who already have some experience in this field”. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Tbilisi. The Public Defender of Georgia publishes a special report on the legal status of the children of the St. Nino orphanage in Javakheti Ninotsminda. "The results of the study showed that despite the steps taken after the events of spring 2021, the boarding school still faces a number of challenges, both in terms of producing documentation for the institution and caregivers, as well as assessing and meeting the individual needs of minors, including bio-psycho-social needs. The issue of communication and exchange of information between agencies and institutions working with children is problematic and ineffective, which has a negative impact on the process of meeting the needs of minors and is against their interests," the study said. Read more…  Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. The European Union has signed agreements for closer cooperation in research and innovation with 🇬🇪 Georgia. “For the period 2021-2027, Georgia has been granted association status to #HorizonEurope, Europe's research & innovation programme. Researchers, innovators and research entities established in the Georgia can now participate, under the same conditions as entities from the EU Member States. Learn more… Source: eeas.europa.eu

Tbilisi. The Social Justice Center publishes an evaluation: Security sector, law enforcement system and repressive criminal policy-2021. “Institutional reforms of the law enforcement system, the prosecutor’s office and the police have been substantially suspended this year. Closed style of these agencies and lack of cooperation with civil society organizations continue to be a challenge. The major problem remains instrumentalization of the prosecutor’s office and the police for political purposes as well as use of these bodies to suppress public or political protests”, - is stated in the document. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge

Tbilisi. According to information released by Transparency International Georgia, the commitment to adopt the Law on Freedom of Information still remains unfulfilled. “The Government of Georgia should have submitted the bill on Freedom of Information to the Parliament in 2015, however, this obligation, committed within the framework of the Association Agreement signed with the European Union, is still unfulfilled. It is necessary to urge both the Ministry of Justice and the Government to resume/start the process of initiation of the bill with the involvement of all stakeholders in order to fulfill commitments as soon as possible”, - is noted in statement released by the organization. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. The Social Justice Center publishes a blog post by Tigran Tarzyan reviewing problems of children left without pre-school education in the Javakheti region. “There neither was and nor is a kindergarten in the village where I live, even though currently there reside about 15 children of kindergarten age there. Everyday village life is hard. It is exhausting work, long working day, a lot of things to do both indoor and outdoor. Morning starts early by performing household and domestic chores. Each member of a family has a particular duty. Everyone works from morning till late at night. Even children are not exception. In the village, they are also involved in the work process and, consequently, they miss the opportunity of age-appropriate upbringing and education. The fact that education is not available from an early age aggravates the situation related to integration of children belonging to ethnic minorities. They do not learn the language and that further worsens the situation”. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge

Tbilisi. The Social Justice Center presents an evaluation made by the organization in regard to the state of religious freedom and non-dominant ethnic groups in the country in 2021. “We witnessed social conflicts with religious and ethnic connotations in our country this year as well, which fact again failed to draw attention of the Government to positive transformations and substantial reforms in the policy of equality and integration. Moreover, pre-election processes in regions densely populated by ethnic minorities and efforts of the Government to use them as a political tool once again demonstrated political arrangements for retention of a weak policy of integration of these regions, their exclusion from democracy and peripheralization”. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge

Tbilisi. On December 17, In the scope of the "National Security and Public Policy" program, a new module - "Turkey and the Region" has started. Lectures are conducted by Zura Batiashvili, Rondeli Foundation's Research Fellow. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Tbilisi. The Social Justice Center presents an evaluation: What the rights-related situation was in conflict regions in 2021. “In 2021, the situation in conflict regions has not improved. Critical rights-related challenges keep complicating the daily lives of people living here. Discriminatory practices against ethnic Georgians continue to take place in Gali and Akhalgori. In 2021, teaching in the Georgian language was completely prohibited at schools of Gali. This decision virtually completed the process of Russification at schools Gali, which started years ago. There is the same situation in the Akhalgori education sector. It is still impossible to improve the regime of traffic with conflict regions, which fact resulted in a number of tragic consequences in 2021”. Read more… Source: socialjustice.org.ge