Tbilisi. The Coalition for Independent and Transparent Judiciary reacts to the re-election of Levan Murusidze and Dimitri Gvritishvili as members of the High Council of Justice by the Conference of Judges. “We believe these decisions strengthen the clan-based governance in the court and prevent the fundamental reform of the justice system, that, among other things, is included in the recommendations of the European Commission issued in response to Georgia's EU membership application”. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Watch USAID’s animated series to learn about being an engaged citizen. “Today we are presenting the episode that covers tolerance. Stay tuned for other episodes. Animated clips explain the principles of democracy and can be used in the classroom to make the teaching and learning process more fun and easier to understand. In addition, the animated clips promote the importance of civic education, raise awareness, and encourage students to engage in civic life. USAID created this series as part of its Civic Education Matters Campaign”. Read more…  Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Imereti. On October 19, the representatives of Taso Foundation visited the projects of the participants of the “Women's Economic Empowerment” program in the village of Dimi, Baghdati municipality: vegetable greenhouse and a family cellar. Purchases planned within the project have been completed, women have started their activities. The project is implemented by Taso Foundation with the support of the United Nations Women's Organization (UN Women) and the Norwegian government. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Samtskhe-javakheti. On October 18-19,  2022, in the framework of the project Community Youth Engagement in the Regions of Georgia, the following discussion was held by George Melashvili (President of the European-Georgian Institute) and Aka Zarqua (Online edition Realpolitik editor-in-chief). The lecturer and students discussed about the historical discourse of disinformation, its influence on the formation of public opinion, and modern examples of disinformation. Another topic was civil activism; students played the practical activity game "Electionville" along with the theoretical part. Students were participating from the villages: Mokhe, Zarzma and Adigeni. (Municipality of Adigeni) Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Tbilisi. IDFI’s Transparent Public Procurement Rating (TPPR) project is now on Twitter. For several years now, the project has followed and assessed the quality of public procurement legislation in terms of transparency at the international level. To see news and updated regarding TPPR or public procurement in general, follow our twitter page here... Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Georgia. Spectacular Georgian fortresses, castles and towers are the focus of a Parliamentary thematic inquiry that studies the potential to revitalize disused historic monuments. The inquiry looked into ways to bring new life to historic sites, using their cultural value for redeveloping surrounding areas. It explored policy approaches for sustainable protection and preservation of historic heritage and studied the role of national and local authorities, the private sector and civil society in designing conservation and management tools. Read more… Source: www.undp.org

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...

Guria and Imereti. On October 11-12, 2022,  the Institute for the Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) in cooperation with the National Parliament Library of Georgia and Center of Regional Initiatives - “Bright Future” held a presentation on the issue of repressed people in Ozurgeti and Khoni and a screening of the film "Cemetery of the Shot in Batumi" shot by Radio Free Georgia/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Svaneti. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), UN Women, the Agrarian Issues Committee of the Parliament of Georgia, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia, and the Mestia Municipality celebrated World Food Day and Rural Women's Day in Mestia on October 16-17. For this day, the farmers' agricultural market, wheat, and bread exhibition were organized in Mestia, where farmers presented various local products, including dairy products, wine, honey, and niche products. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Tbilisi. On October 13, 2022, the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) held a roundtable discussion on how to improve legal safeguards and mechanisms for protecting personal data in cyberspace with the participation of personal data and cyber security experts, lawyers, public, private and civil society representatives. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

America. October 11-13, 2022, Public Defender Nino Lomjaria paid an official visit to Washington, where she held meetings with high officials of the US Senate, the Presidential Administration and the Department of State, as well as heads of international organizations. According to the Public Defender, the main message of our American partners is that the United States of America will unwaveringly stand by Georgia, as long as the Georgian people are willing to receive assistance in the process of democratic development. Read more… Source: ombudsman.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...

Samegrelo. A car belonging to the Tsalenjikha Mayor, Gia Kharchilava, was set on fire in front of his house. Gia Kharchilava is the only Mayor throughout the country, who was elected from the spectrum of political opposition. He sees a link between the aforementioned incident and his official activity. Transparency International Georgia calls on the Ministry of Internal Affairs to instantly and impartially investigate the fact of burning of Tsalenjikha Mayor’s car and inform society about the results of the investigation. Read more... Source: The organization's page on the social network

Tbilisi. UNICEF Representative in Georgia, Ghassan Khalil delivered a public lecture on the rights of the child at the Batumi Shota Rustaveli State University. The lecture’s main focus was about Living the values when making the change: Leadership with child-rights based approach. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

The European Union (EU) is the largest donor to Georgia. Its portfolio grew significantly from a committed amount of EUR 150 million in 2015 to EUR 225 million in 2020. Between 2014 and 2020, the EU provided support to Georgia of a total of EUR 938.4 million. More …

Tbilisi. On International Day of the Girl Child UNFPA together with the EU decided to use art, a universal language to speak to parents, children and teachers about how essential gender equality is in our society and families and brought a puppet show "Esma Starts a Car” to the stage. “Esma Starts a Car” is a puppet show for girls and boys who dream, break stereotypes, want to make the world a better place and whose families are proud of their children regardless of their gender. Read more… Source: eu4georgia.eu

Tbilisi. IDFI publishes a new study: Overview of the education sector and identification of challenges faced by ethnic minorities and socially vulnerable groups. In 2021, spending on education, science and vocational training was approximately GEL 2.2 billion, 3.6% of GDP, with 1.2% of the spending going to inclusive education. In 2021, the number of students with special educational needs whose status has been suspended has doubled. In 2021, the unemployment rate in Georgia among the labor force with higher education was 15.5%, which is still well above than OECD members (6.1%) and EU countries (5.5%). Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Samegrelo. The city of Poti joined UNICEF’s "Child-Friendly Cities Initiative" (CFCI). A memorandum of cooperation was signed between UNICEF and the Poti Municipality City Hall. At the next stage, an action plan will be developed, after which Poti will gain the status of a "child-friendly city". A child-friendly city is a system of local government where the needs and rights of children are an important part of local policies and programs. Find out more… Source: www.unicef.org

Tbilisi. On October 10, 2022, The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) acquainted Erasmus+ financed study visit participants with the work and achievements of the Memory and Disinformation Studies Direction. The organizer of this event was a non-governmental organization “Gergarti”. "During the study visit, participants met with those organizations and individuals who work on reevaluating the Soviet past. They got acquainted with their research and expressed a wish to apply new knowledge and experience to their future work". Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. The report developed by Transparency International Georgia within the framework of the parliamentary monitoring project evaluates the performance of the Gender Equality Council (hereafter – the Council) in the Parliament of 10th Convocation in a period between 11 December 2020 and 1 June 2022 (hereafter – the reporting period). “From the point of view of the protection of women's rights the legislative initiatives developed by the Gender Equality Council of the Parliament should be evaluated positively. Also, the Council was actively involved in the working process of the thematic research groups. The full formation of the Council was carried out lately, which, according to Transparency International-Georgia, was an obstacle to its full functioning. The fulfillment of the important obligations stipulated by the action plan was also not implemented, and the government did not submit reports to the Council within the stipulated time. See the evaluation of the activities of the Gender Equality Council and our recommendations in detail in the report”. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

The 2022 Peace Prize is awarded to human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski from Belarus, the Russian human rights organisation Memorial and the Ukrainian human rights organisation Center for Civil Liberties. The Peace Prize laureates represent civil society in their home countries. They have for many years promoted the right to criticise power and protect the fundamental rights of citizens. They have made an outstanding effort to document war crimes, human right abuses and the abuse of power. Together they demonstrate the significance of civil society for peace and democracy.  source: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2022/summary/

On October 4-7, 2022, IDFI and the e-Governance Academy (Estonia) held 1.5-day interactive masterclasses for civil society organisations (CSOs) and public institutions, to collaborate and design proposals to address the challenges digitally vulnerable citizens are encountering in Georgia. Two 1.5-day masterclasses provided an introduction to a project/service/initiative/policy idea design and the theory behind the methodology. The framework is based on learning-by-doing, which means that each participating team will use the tools and methods during the masterclass to work on their team challenges. Read more… Source: idfi.ge