Tbilisi. The Institute for the Development of Freedom of Information has released information obtained  from  the Service Agency of the Ministry of Finance. The information posted on the web page includes Salaries and Bonuses; List of Employees; Higher Education; Representation Expenses; Roaming Expenses; Official Visits; Replaced Vehicles and Computer Technique; Disciplinary Responsibilities; Implementation of Audit Recommendations. For the full text Source:opendata.ge

Tbilisi. The Institute for the Development of Freedom of Information has released information obtained  from the State Regulation Agency.  The information posted on opendata.ge includes Bonuses of Public Officials; Bonuses of Employees; List of Employees; Electronic Correspondence; Diplomas of Higher Education; Official Visits; Written Agreements about Urgent Procurements; Urgent Procurements; The List of Vehicles. For the full text Source:opendata.ge

Tbilisi. The Institute for the Development of Freedom of Information has released information obtained  from  the Educational and Scientific Infrastructure Development Agency.  The information posted on opendata.ge includes Bonuses of Public Officials; Bonuses of Employees; Salary Supplements of Employees; The List of Employees; Electronic Correspondence; Diplomas of Higher Education; Written Agreements about Urgent Procurements; Urgent Procurements; The List of Vehicles; The Acts of Audit; Implementation of Audit Recommendations, For the full text Source:opendata.ge 

Tbilisi. The Institute for the Development of Freedom of Information has published the costs borne by the Ministry of Energy in 2013 for organizing the events and conferences. The web page states that the Institute has obtained these data from the Ministry of Energy, "totaling 67,626.61 GEL". For the full text. Source: opendata.ge

Tbilisi. The Centre for Human Rights and Monitoring released a movie called "Residents of the City of Tents”. Source: Web-page of the organization in the social network.

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia presents an assessment of the performance of the Georgian Parliament in the first year. The assessment period encompasses the time period from October 21, 2012 when the (first gathering of the newly elected Parliament) to October 21, 2013.Assessments are based on the information researched by our organization, observations of our parliamentary office and the statistical information requested from the Parliament. For the full text Source:transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association has already started the 2014 Local Self-Government Pre-Election Observation. GYLA implements the observation through the regional branch offices in 8 regions: Adjara, Guria, Imereti, Shida Kartli, Kvemo Kartli, Mtskheta-Mtianeti, Samegrelo and in the capital - Tbilisi. The goal of the observation is to support fair and transparent electoral processes; to ensure that the election administration members, electoral subjects and the public servants abide by the electoral legislation and the internationally recognized democratic standards during the pre-election period.  In addition, GYLA aims at informing the citizens of Georgia and the international community of the shortcomings and violations relating to the 2014 Local Self-Government pre-election processes. For the full text Source:gyla.ge

Tbilisi. The Institute for the Development of Freedom of Information has released information obtained  from  the Civil Aviation Agency. The information posted on the web page includes Salaries and Bonuses; Official Visits; List of Employees; Higher Education; Representation Expenses; Roaming Expenses; Acts of Audit. For the full text Source:opendata.ge

Tbilisi. Jumpstart Georgia published a new visualization about electronic procurement system. "In 2010, Georgia introduced an official electronic procurement system. It is one of the most transparent and efficient systems in the world. However, as a result of two main loopholes, too many contracts are sidestepping any competition, increasing the risk of corruption, costing taxpayers more, and reducing overall quality.Based on the data from the research by Transparency International Georgia, JumpStart Georgia visualized main trends in Georgia's state procurement from January 2011 to August 2013". The visualization Source:feradi.info

Tbilisi. On April 14, 2014 Radisson Blu Iveria hosted the Inter-Agency Anti-corruption Coordination Council of Georgia (agenda). The meeting was chaired by the Minister of Justice of Georgia Thea Tsulukiani.The meeting of the Inter-Agency Anti-corruption Coordination Council of Georgia was dedicated to Georgia’s participation in Open Government Partnership (OGP) and discussions about the draft Action Plan (2014-2015) of the Government of Georgia.The meeting was conducted in several parts. During the first part of the meeting, head of the Analytical Department of Ministry of Justice, Secretary of the Council, Rapporteur of the Open Government Georgia Forum Rusudan Mikhelidze presented the draft of the 2014-2015 Action Plan and draft commitments that were already selected by government agencies. She also talked about Open Government Georgia Forum activities. The first part was followed by discussion. Source:ogpgeoblog.wordpress.com

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia released new report - Who Owns Georgia’s Media? which looks at the ownership of Georgia’s media outlets that have national coverage or reach large segments of the population, analyzes the background of shareholders and tries to shed light on their other business activities. For the full text Source:transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Starting from April 15, media monitoring of pre-election period of the self-government elections planned in June will launch. "Internews Georgia”, "Caucasus Research Resource Center” and the "Civil Development Institute” will observe 39 media outlets, including: 8 television channels, 12 radio stations, 7 newspapers and 12 online editions.The project is implemented with support of the EU and the UN Development Program. Monitoring results will be periodically published on the web page mediamonitor.ge. Source: media.ge

Tbilisi. Jumpstart Georgia published a visualization - "A million and a half GEL for the Georgian Patriarchate". "Apart from the funding from the central state budget, the churches in Tbilisi districts get financial aid from the municipal budget for "Facility Improvement Activities". Generally, this budget finances different infrastructure projects of the city.The Tolerance and Diversity Institute (TDI) studied the funding provided to the churches from 2013 Tbilisi's budget. Liberali visualized this data". The visualization  Source:feradi.info

Tbilisi. On March 14 the Institute for the Development of Freedom of Information has obtained from the Investigation Service of the Ministry of Finance of Georgia the statistical information on financial crimes identified by the Service in 2004-2014. According to the information published by the Institute, "received documentation demonstrates that from 15 March 2004 until 6 March 2014 the Investigation Service has identified total of 9815 cases of financial crimes. Over the concerned period most of the crimes were identified in 2005 – 1863 cases, while the least in 2008 – 422 cases," states the publication. For the full text. Source: opendatablog.wordpress.com

Tbilisi. The Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics launches monitoring of the self-government election coverage. Monitoring will start on April 1 and last until the end of June.To identify the trends, the Charter of Journalistic Ethics will observe the pre-election and post-election periods. Monitors will observe the coverage of the self-government elections in respect of seven national and five regional broadcasters. Source: media.ge

Tbilisi. On March, 27, 2013, the presentation of the research, by the support of the Public Defender of Georgia on Human Rights of Convicts upon Early Conditional Release took place and was attended by the Deputy Minister of Penitentiary, Corrections and Legal Assistance of Georgia Mr. Giga Giorgadze, representatives of International Organizations and NGOs’. For the full text Source:ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia released a blog post - "Non-declared property of local self-government officials”. "Our study has revealed that some officials of the Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti, Imereti and Adjara self-government institutions have submitted incomplete information on their property and business activities in the annual property declarations", says the blog post. For the full text Source:transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia released a blog post - "2014-2017 Adjara Program Budget sets a unique precedent of responsible budgeting in Georgia". "The Government of Adjara Autonomous Republic proved that it has what it takes to switch to program budgeting – political will. 2014-2017 Adjara budget can safely be called a program budget, unlike Georgia’s 2014-2017 state budget. We believe the Government of Adjara provides the GoG with a very good example of not only political will and reforming zeal but also courage. What remains to be done, however, is the Government of Adjara implementing its 2014-2017 program budget in practice", says the blog post. For the full text Source:transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Three Georgian NGOs will be monitoring 39 media outlets (8 TV channels, 12 radio stations, 7 newspapers, 12 online editions) before and during the municipal elections in June 2014.   For the full text Source: Media.ge

Kakheti. Civil Initiative and the community development union "Nukriani" launch the new coalition project "My Village", supported by the East-West Management Institute and the Community Development Center. The project aims to create a good practice and mechanism of co-participation of the rural population and civil participation, which will increase citizen participation in the local decision-making process and the accountability of the municipalities' representatives before the population.To this end, the project authors plan to inform the population on their rights and identification of problems, as well as to launch the advocacy processes. Source: the organization's web page in the social network.

Tbilisi. The Institute for the Development of Freedom of Information has filed an administrative complaint in the Ministry of Finance due to incomplete provision of public information requested from the Ministry.The Institute believes that "lawful obligation of a person responsible for ensuring access to public information was not fulfilled" and requests the Ministry to issue the information in full. For the full text. Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. "Studio Monitor" has released video images of the Sakdrisi archaeological site. "The images show that prior to the issue of permission by the Ministry of Culture, the Sakdrisi archaeological site was damaged. The gold mining company denies infliction of any damage. Studio Monitor will soon present an in-depth journalistic investigation on Sakdrisi," says the information released by the Studio. The images. Source: Studio Monitor.