Tbilisi. On September 28, there was conducted a national forum on: ''State funding of civil society organizations''. The forum was attended by representatives of central and local authorities, international, donor and civil society organizations, international experts.

The purpose of the forum was to evaluate current status of state funding of civil society organizations, review international experience, trends and create a model of state funding for Georgia through engagement of all stakeholders.

''The civil society sector is very important for development of Georgia'', - stated Vincent Rey, Head of Cooperation Section at the Delegation of the European Union to Georgia, at the meeting. According to him, the sector is quite strong in Georgia. ''We are pleased that the government and the civil society sector start working towards state funding'', - Vincent Rey said.

Representatives of the government talked about sustainability and importance of the civil society sector. According to Mikheil Sarjveladze, Deputy Minister of Justice, they provide their input to the civil society development and there are visible examples of this, contribution of civil society organizations to the development of the civil society is important for the future as well. Gogi Patsatsia, Deputy Minister of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Accommodation and Refugees of Georgia, focused on the role of the sector. While Tamaz Marsagishvili, Deputy Minister of Education and Science, stated that there should be created a sustainable system of funding the sector so that they are not financially dependent only on funds. ''In the 90s, the issue regarding state funding of the civil society sector was subject to the criticism, today the picture has been changed'', noted David Aprasidze, Manager of a project of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation – ''Civil Society Sustainability Initiative'', at the forum. According to him, it is important that discussion of the subject issue is carried out via inclusion and engagement of all parties.

In the opinion of Vazha Salamadze, Director of the Civil Society Institute, the picture, in terms of state funding, is changed in comparison with previous years, however, it is scattered and 95% of the funding of civil society organizations comes from donor organizations. ''Appearance of Georgian sources is very important, though the discussion, whether the sector should be funded by the state or not, still continues. There are a number of areas where the state works well as a donor, for example a social direction. There is also a potential in another direction'', - Vazha Salamadze has stated.

Luben Panov, International Expert, focused on models of the state funding of civil society organizations existing in different countries. According to him, investment of the state into the civil society sector - is the country investment.

The Civil Society Institute has presented to the forum a study, which covers, on the one hand, the best European practice of state funding mechanisms for civil society organizations and, on the other hand, a detailed research regarding mechanisms existing in Georgia.

Participants of the forum continued working in multi-actor groups. Expressed opinions, recommendations and trends, as well as findings of the study will be used to create a Georgian model.

The Forum was organized by the Civil Society Institute in the framework of the ''Civil Society Sustainability Initiative'' project, funded by the European Union and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of the Federal Republic of Germany.