Tbilisi. IDFI published an article ‘Accessing Archives in a Post-Soviet World: The Georgian Experience’. The article tells about implementation of duties of positive changes in archival landscape (OGP) by government of Georgia. Commitments to bring about positive changes in archival landscape have been made by nearly 20 countries in their action plans for the Open Government Partnership (OGP). Commitments ranged from ensuring unhindered citizen access to public information and archival documents, adopting or amending relevant archival laws, declassifying archival materials, and digitizing paper-based documents to make them publicly available online. Read more… Source: The web-page of the organization

Tbilisi. On February 18-21, in Brussels, civil society organizations will present a report on implementation of the Association Agreement. With the facilitation and support of Open Society Foundations, representatives of four civil society organizations are going to Brussels for an advocacy visit. More specifically: Vano Chkhikvadze and Sopho Asatiani (Open Society Georgia Foundation), Manana Kochladze (Green Alternative), Giorgi Oniani (Transparency International Georgia), Mikheil Benidze (International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy). The purpose of the visit is to inform representatives of the European Parliament, the European External Relations Office and missions of member states accredited to the European Union about results of a monitoring of objectives stipulated by the Association Agreement. The report reflects current situation in Georgia in terms of justice, corruption and environmental protection. There will also be discussed issues related to the elections during the visit. Read more… Source: https://osgf.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...

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. National Platform of Georgia for the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum releases a statement in regard to the competition for selection of the Prosecutor General.  “National Platform of Georgia for the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum calls on: the Prosecutors’ Council to not nominate the candidacy of Irakli Shotadze at the Parliament, as well as to justify minimal compliance of the candidate with the requirements defined for the Prosecutor General in case it nominates another person; the Parliament to take the final decision based on a consensus among various political forces and not on a majority basis, which fact would promote political neutrality and legitimacy of the newly-appointed Prosecutor General”, - is noted in the statement of the Platform.  Read more… Source: https://gyla.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. Civil society organizations, operating in Georgia, release a joint statement: Statement of the President of Georgia undermines the rule of law and fundamental principles of democratic society. “Addressing the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on January 28, the President of Georgia stated she was ready to host a delegation of the Russian Federation, including Sergey Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs, at the event planned in May, bypassing the Law of Georgia on Occupied Territories. According to the appraisal of non-governmental organizations, the stated intention to disregard the law in favor of members of the delegation of the specific state, military aggression of which resulted in occupation of territories of our country, is alarming and contradicts national interests of the country”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: gyla.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. Non-governmental organizations release a joint statement.  “We would like to express our concern over non-constructive criticism of Tea Tsulukiani, the Minister of Justice of Georgia, in regard to publicizing video material of a monitoring of the National Prevention Mechanism at Public Defender’s Office of Georgia and an expert of the mentioned Mechanism. This act, on the one hand, grossly violates principles defined by Georgian legislation, while on the other hand, contradicts international obligations committed by Georgia. We consider that this act of the Minister of Justice of Georgia should serve as a basis for her political responsibility”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

17 January, Tbilisi - the National Volunteering Forum “For You, For Me, For Changes – It’s Time For Volunteering”, organized by Education Development and Employment Center (EDEC) at the Georgian National University SEU in Tbilisi. “The forum was held within the framework of Georgian Civil Society Sustainability Initiative, funded by the European Union and co-funded by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. The partner of the forum is Georgian National University SEU The forum was dedicated to promoting volunteerism in Georgia. During the forum the presentation of the campaign “This Country is Yours” and the award ceremony of journalists’ contest “Journalists for Social Change” was also held. At the end of the event an interesting presentation on the topic “Civic Activism, Volunteer Culture and Experience of the Regions of Georgia” was presented by journalist and director Goderdzi Sharashia. Georgian Civil Society Sustainability Initiative was developed and is implemented by the consortium led by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in cooperation with four Georgian Civil Society Organizations: Civil Society Institute (CSI), Center for Training and Consultancy (CTC), Center for Strategic Research and Development of Georgia (CSRDG) and Education Development and Employment Center (EDEC). The project is funded by the European Union and co-funded by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung“. Read more… Source: Georgian Civil Society Sustainability Initiative

Tbilisi. The Civil Society Institute has identified winners in a competition “Journalists for Social Changes”. The competition is part of the campaign “ThisCountryIsYours” and aims at identifying journalists throughout Georgia who have regularly and competently covered challenges and development opportunities that civil society faces. Organizations, operating in regions of Georgia, had a possibility to select the best journalist who works in their region, as well as to nominate one representative of central media. On January 17, the Civil Society Institute announced the winners: Guria - Tamta Dolidze - TV Company “Guria”;  Adjara - Irakli Kurua – TV program Hashtag, Adjara TV;  Imereti - Tamuna Kavtaradze, Mega TV; Kakheti - Mariam Megrelishvili - TV “Tanamgzavri”;  Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti - Nana Khubutia - live press;  Samtskhe - Javakheti - Rusudan Gvaramadze - TV9;  Kvemo Kartli - Ekaterine Eradze - Marneuli TV; Shida Kartli - Nino Chibchiuri - TV Company “Trialeti”;  Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti - Marine Svanidze - kvira.ge;  Central - Mikheil Sesiashvili - Mtavari Arkhi;  CSI special prize - Netgazeti.  The civil campaign “ThisCountryIsYours” is carried out within the framework of “Civil Society Development Initiative”, implemented by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) in cooperation with the Civil Society Institute (CSI), Center for Training and Consultancy (CTC), Center for Strategic Research and Development of Georgia (CSRDG) and Education Development and Employment Center (EDEC). The project is financed by both the European Union and Konrad Adenauer Foundation.

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Tbilisi. The collection is designed for everyone who cherishes freedom, dignity, justice, human kindness, patriotism and democracy. “We have tried to offer reader a changing in time and varied picture of freedom, justice and democracy in Georgian thought”, - is stated in the introduction to the publication. There are people of different gender and age among authors who have been living in different epochs and have different socio-economic or political status. Viewpoints and forms of expression of authors are diverse. Any genre of text can be found in the collection. The collection has been published by the Civil Society Institute (CSI) within the framework of a project “Civil Society Development Initiative” and represents part of a large-scale campaign “ThisCountryIsYours”. The project “Civil Society Development Initiative” is financed by both the European Union and Konrad Adenauer Foundation.  Collection (geo) ...

The report on “Enabling Environment for Civil Society in Georgia” was prepared in the framework of EU funded project “Monitoring Progress Empowering Action” implemented in EaP countries. The report is based on the monitoring tool - CSO Meter. The report is prepared by the local partner of the project in Georgia – Civil Society Institute, following a joint methodology for all six Eastern Partnership countries. The report covers all 10 areas that are part of the CSO Meter and provides recommendations for the improvement. It also outlines the most important findings in the end. The report has been prepared in a highly consultative manner: about 180 stakeholders were engaged through Advisory Board, survey, focus group meetings and interviews. The collected data represents a valuable source of information to track the progress or regression, to support cross-country learning among EaP countries and most importantly, to propose evidence-based solutions for advocacy and policy-making in Georgia. More ...

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... 

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. GYLA and EMC release a statement regarding public review of projected amendments to the Namakhvani HPP cascade operation conditions conducted at the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia. “The ministry grossly violated requirements of both the Environmental Assessment Code of Georgia [1] and the Aarhus Convention [2] while conducting public review on December 20 that was of particular interest to the local population. Despite the fact that Deputies of Ministers of Environmental Protection and Agriculture and Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia attended the meeting, the rule of carrying out of public review was violated in their presence. In particular, artificial obstacles were encountered by those interested in attending the meeting, attendees were not allowed to ask questions, critical questions were not answered at the meeting”, - is noted in the statement, - “We call on the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture to: abolish public review, conducted through gross violation of requirements of the Environmental Assessment Code; set a new date for public review; make sure that public reviews are held in accordance with the Environmental Assessment Code in public spaces accessible for population to be affected; ensure proper involvement of population, to be affected by projects, and other interested people in decision-making process as stipulated by both the Environmental Assessment Code and the Aarhus Convention”. Read more… Source: https://gyla.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. On December 17, The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) in partnership with the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) with the support of the European Union (EU) launched the project “Contributing to PAR implementation through Civic Monitoring and Engagement”.  Action Major Activities:  IDFI and GYLA will monitor the implementation of Public Administration Reform, with particular focus on 4 components: policy development, accountability, public finance management, and service delivery in order to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the implementation process, allowing for evidence-based revision. The assessment will serve as an alternative monitoring report, complementing and verifying the report of the GoG. Once unfulfilled commitments are identified, the project team will examine the principal reasons for failure and propose ways of addressing them.  Monitoring and research results will be stored on this platform. For this purpose, IDFI will create an online monitoring platform - PAR Tracker that will grant the public and all interested stakeholders ready access to comprehensive information about PAR implementation, as well as means to engage in the monitoring process.  GYLA will train 11 local CSOs in at least 6 cities in Georgia (Akhmeta, Batumi, Kutaisi, Zugdidi, Poti, and Marneuli), four of which have the self-governing status, while the fifth and sixth are populated by ethnic minorities (Muslim Kists in Akhmeta and Azerbaijanis in Marneuli).  IDFI will study best practices on the most problematic issues identified by PAR Tracker and elaborate policy recommendations, which will be communicated to all relevant stakeholders and decision-makers through workshops and roundtable discussions. Read more…  Source: https://idfi.ge

Tbilisi. Europe Foundation and the Global Initiative for Fiscal Transparency (GIFT) are hosting the launching event of their joint initiative that aims at contributing to open and inclusive public participation in the design and implementation of fiscal policy.  The cooperation between Europe Foundation and GIFT is based on the premise that open and inclusive participation in public policy making is a cornerstone of poverty reduction and sustainable economic development. To achieve real participation, however, there should be a reciprocal relationship between citizens and public authorities, “in which citizens provide resources to and entrust governments with stewardship over public resources, and, in turn, expect to receive information on public finances and fiscal policies and to have opportunities to participate in fiscal policy-making”.  Together, Europe Foundation and GIFT Network will target civil society organizations (CSOs) and public authorities to strengthen CSO capacity to engage in policy dialogue and to foster civil society participation in fiscal policy making, for citizen-oriented service delivery policies that lead to visible results for Georgian citizens. Toward these ends, Europe Foundation will organize capacity building and networking opportunities for CSOs and public authorities and will promote the GIFT principles through roundtable discussions on specific challenges to civic engagement in policy making. In the nearest future, Europe Foundation and GIFT will unveil a review of international best practices on how to ensure open and direct civic participation in public policies to support Georgia’s efforts in this area. In addition, it is envisioned to provide grant support to CSOs either to monitor public service delivery or to promote collaboration between CSOs and local authorities for designing more effective and needs-based services.  Read more… Source: http://www.epfound.ge

Tbilisi. “Article 42 of the Constitution” responds to election of 14 judges to the Supreme Court by the Parliament. “The organization ”Article 42 of the Constitution” negatively appraises election of 14 judges to the Supreme Court by the Parliament of Georgia on December 12 of the current year and considers that this decision of the Parliament will not have a positive effect on independence of or public confidence in the judiciary”, - is noted in the statement released by the organization. Read more… Source: https://article42.ge

Tbilisi. The Public Defender of Georgia is responding to the recent media reports about alleged pressure exerted on citizens in the regions of Georgia. ‘The Public Defender's representatives talked to citizens in the regions of Georgia, who confirmed the above reports after receiving the confidentially guarantee. Specifically, according to the information obtained from the regions of Kvemo Kartli, Shida Kartli, Samtskhe-Javakheti, Kakheti, Samegrelo, Guria, Imereti and the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, employees of kindergartens, public schools and music schools - non-commercial legal entities founded by local self-governments - were allegedly subjected to direct or indirect pressure and coercion in connection with participation in a rally due to be held in Tbilisi on 14 December 2019. According to the citizens, they were given hints about future problems in the workplace in case of refusing to participate in the rally’ – Is mentioned in the statement of the Public Defender. Read more…  Source: http://ombudsman.ge