Tbilisi. The organization "Social Code” initiated monitoring of the health care programme. Within the framework of the project will be examined programme beneficiaries, medical personnel and medical buildings.The programme is held together with Fridrich Ebert Foundation. Source: Organization "Social Code”

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia released a blog post - "Competition procedure for public school principals in Adjara violated the law". On 6 February 2014, the Minister of Education and Science issued an order where names of individuals who had successfully passed the competition for principals of public schools in Georgia, including public schools of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, were listed. Transparency International (TI) Georgia "believes that the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia has grossly violated the rules for competitions for school principals in the Autonomous Republic of Adjara and the respective legal acts should be revoked". For the full text Source:transparency.ge

Tbilisi. According to the transparency International - Georgia's poll on surveillance, 69% of respondents would not discuss critical political opinions on the phone. In the period of 3-26 October 2013, 1,918 adults (18+) were interviewed face-to-face across the country. "The results of this nationwide poll indicate that Georgians are neither willing to share a secret nor their opinion about the current political events in Georgia with a friend over the phone". For the full text Source:transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Within the scope of the project "Promoting Internet freedom in South Caucasus” IDFI has been conducting comprehensive research of various directions of internet freedom, which aims at giving better understanding of the existing conditions and challenges in Georgia. In order to achieve this goal, the report covers various areas: technical overview of the existing infrastructure, legislature and users; limits on internet content, including technical filtering and blocking of websites, self-censorship and the recent cases of internet users' rights and their violations in Georgia; overview of pluralism and online activism in Georgia are given in the final part. research source:idfi.ge

Tbilisi. March 12, Transparency International Georgia has published its new report "Competition Policy and the Competition Regulatory Authority in Georgia”. The report examines the existing institutional framework of competition in Georgia and the measures carried out by the "Georgian Dream" Coalition since coming to power. It also provides specific recommendations which the government needs to consider in order to implement effective competition policy. Report source: transparency.ge

Samegrelo. The Civil Monitoring and Research Center has presented in the Chkhorotsku Municipality the first Interim Report of the project "Monitoring the Activities of Local Authorities in the Tsalenjikha and Chkhorotsku Municipalities". As part of the study, the degree of informing of web pages of both Municipalities was examined and the issuing of public information was observed. The project is implemented with support of the British Embassy in Georgia. Source: the organization's page in the social network.

Samegrelo. The Civil Monitoring and Research Center has presented the first Interim Report of the project – "Monitoring of Activities of Local Authorities in the Tsalenjikha and Chkhorotsku Municipalities”. Within the framework of the study, the degree of informing of web pages in both municipalities was examined and the issuing of public information was observed.Trustees of territorial units and the local population were provided with instructions on holding the village assembly and the procedure for identification of priorities.The project is implemented with support of the British Embassy in Georgia. Source: the organization’s page in the social network.

Tbilisi. The renewed opendata.ge has been launched on February 27, 2014. The portal serves to improve level of transparency and accountability of the government. Opendata.ge provides information on how state institutions operate, how they spend public funds and fulfill state targeted programs, as well as performance of public servants and their incomes and benefits to the public. By the initiative of OSGF, opendata.ge has been transformed into a single portal of NGOs involved in promoting freedom of information and since now, it will unite public information requested and collected by Institute for Development and Freedom of Information (IDFI), Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA), Transparency International - Georgia (TI-G) and Association "Green Alternative”. Source:opendata.ge

Tbilisi. Economic Policy Research Center (EPRC) held a presentation of a report on - Monitoring and Efficiency Analysis of State Rural Aid Programs. The project is being implemented with the financial support of Open Society Georgia Foundation (OSGF). Within the project, economic analysis of the rural aid program (village support program) and the fund for the regional projects of Georgia was conducted. The Report  Source:www.eprc.ge

Tbilisi. The General Auditor of the State Audit Office LashaTordia has met on February 25 with the CSO representatives. Meeting participants have discussed regulatory issues of a pre-election campaign for the 2014 local self-government elections. Source: the Election Environment Development Center.

Tbilisi. Institute for Development of Freedom of Information published a new research - "Predicted Financial Impact of the Health Care Reforms on Private Insurance Companies between 2006-2013 in Georgia - The Case of „Aldagi-BCI".  The research  Source:idfi.ge

Samegrelo. A partnership memorandum was signed between the "Centre for Civil monitoring and Studies” and the municipalities of Tsalenjikha and Chkhotsku. The aim of the memorandum is to provide support to "Monitoring of the local self-government of the Tsalendghikha and Chkhotskhu municipalities” project, thereby the population will be well informed about the responsibilities and competencies of the local municipalities as well as generally citizens’ rights and responsibility. Source: Web-page of the organization in social network.

Tbilisi. Transparency International - Georgia periodically publishes monitoring results of procurements by budgetary institutions on its web page in the social network. "We will try not only to draw public attention to potential offences, but to demonstrate tenders interesting from another perspective. This time we would like to present information on the several large procurements made by the Tbilisi City Hall in the recent months," says the organization's web page in the social network. For the full text (geo) Source: the organization's web page in the social network.

Tbilisi. On February 18, Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association and Transparency International Georgia will present their second Monitoring Report on the Activities of the High Council of Justice (HCOJ). The report mainly covers the period of 2013 and was implemented in the following direction: transparency of the HCOJ activities; the procedural issues and reasoning of the decision; appointment/transfers of judges; composition of the HCOJ. For the full text Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Publication of NatoDzvelashvili - "How did the Association of Investigative Reporting spend 40 thousand GEL received from the President's Fund" - was released by online edition Media.ge. By the 17 December 2012 decision of President Mikheil Saakashvili, 1 million GEL were allocated to two funds to support the civil sector and civil society and free media. For the full text. Source: media.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia has released the publication: ‘’Authorities are not reacting to public officials’ concealing of information in asset declarations’’. The pervious article published in late January on Transparency’s blog reviewed inaccuracies that the organization had discovered in the asset declarations of Georgian Parliament members. Specifically, were highlighted the cases where Parliament members had failed to indicate their connections with private companies in their asset declarations. The blog-post published on 17th of February says: "..Reports like these also appear in the media. For example, on 16 February, the Rustavi-2 TV channel aired a report on the omissions in the asset declaration of the Tbilisi City Council chairman. ..” According to the organization: "These cases are the latest indication that both the previous and the current government have ignored the requirements of the law, resulting in a situation where Georgia’s anti-corruption legislation is not applied effectively in practice.” For full article see source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. The Institute for the Development of Freedom of Information has released information on the business trip costs of the Minister and his Deputies in the Ministry of Culture in 2013. "According to the received information, total of 183,316.62 GEL were spent last year from the budget on foreign visits of the Minister of Culture and his Deputies," says the web page. For the full text. Source: opendatablog.wordpress.com

Freedom House released an annual report - "Freedom in the World 2014". A country-by-country report on global political rights and civil liberties, covers developments of 2013. Each country or territory is given a status "free”, "partly free” or "not free” based on points in political rights and civil liberties categories on a scale from 1 to 7 with 1 representing the most free and 7 the least free. According to the report, most signs suggest a strengthening of democratic institutions in Georgia, but it still remains among "partly free” countries. The report  Source:humanrights.ge

Tbilisi. CSOs have released a statement on monitoring of the children’s homes. "We, the signatory organizations, welcome the initiative of the Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Welfare to launch a monitoring process over children’s resident institutions. According to the information released by the Ministry, monitoring will cover all such institutions including the children’s homes functioning with the Patriarchate and it aims to establish the extent, to which the institutions in Georgia meet the requirements of child care standards. ... We demand that the civil society representatives are involved in the monitoring process. Upon expression of due readiness by the state, we are ready to name our trusted competent experts,” says the statement. For the full text Source:emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. Institute for Development of Freedom of Information published - "Income of "Hermes” Ltd.”. "Hermes Ltd., founded with 100% share of the government of Tbilisi, exclusively manages cemeteries of Tbilisi and also provides the citizens with ritual services. IDFI has tried to find out the income received by "Hermes” Ltd. during 2005-2013 (from such activities as providing ritual services and selling grave sites) and the share of the income that has been directed to Tbilisi budget. As we learn from the documentation provided by "Hermes” Ltd., the organization does not sell grave plots. As for providing ritual services, its income in 2005-2013 has amounted to 20 798 656 GEL, out of which Tbilisi City Hall has received 2 341 367 GEL as a dividend", says the organization's web-page.

Tbilisi. Within the framework of the Drug Policy Liberalization Campaign, JumpStart Georgia created a series of infographics dedicated to Georgia's drug policy. "The current drug policy in the country favours punishment: thousands of people are made to take drug tests each year, out of which 66% are confirmed to have not used drugs. For those whose test results are positive, fines vary from 500 GEL to 2,000 GEL or more. The Georgian budget receives about 20,000 GEL in fines from drug users each day, while money allocated for rehab and the treatment of drug addicts is almost two times less than that amount. Due to the country's small budget, currently only 5% of drug addicts have access to treatment in Georgia.Is punishment oriented drug policy effective? Does it solve the problem or does it increase harm? What are the consequences of such policies?". Infographic Source:feradi.info

Tbilisi. CSO "Young Barristers" has released new data on monitoring of the "Property declarations of politicians and their secret business interests". For the full text Source: the organization's page in the social network.