Kvemo Kartli. CSO "Sida" has published a video instruction "How to use social media for public relations", developed by the "Civil Society Regional Network". Video Source: page of the Network in social network.

Tbilisi. From last October the initiative group "Guerilla Gardening" takes care of restoration of green landscape of Tbilisi and its surroundings with support from the "Open Society - Georgia" Foundation, as well as aims to raise public awareness and involve citizens in the urban environmental protection process. Informative videos were produced as part of the project: Video: Role of a tree in contaminated environment. Video: Calling for planting of trees and citizen participation in planting. Video: More information on the priority trees to clean air from hazardous substances. Source: osgf.ge 

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.

Shida Kartli. A collection of works - "Open the Door" - published at the initiative and with support of the "Open Society - Georgia" Foundation was presented on January 29 in the Defense Academy in Gori. Writers LashaBughadze and DatoTurashvili have read out extracts from the collection.The collection was published as part of the project "Writers for Human Rights", which aims to popularize patients' rights and bring their problems to public through literature texts. Source: osgf.ge 

Tbilisi. A meeting was held on January 28 in the "Frontline Georgia" office on the monitoring of Patriarchate's children homes. The Head of the Social Protection Department of the Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Welfare, representative of CSO "Partnership for Human Rights" and the Head of the Patriarchate's Social Department were invited to the meeting. Representatives of the civil society and international organizations have also attended the meeting. For the full text Source: page of the "Partnership for Human Rights" in the social network.

Tbilisi. The "Charter of Journalistic Ethics" and UNICEF have presented a new project to journalists on January 28. The project that will run for 5 months from January 15 to June 1 aims to support ethical coverage of children's issues in the Georgian media. Monitoring is aimed at determining the extent of observation of international or domestic standards and ethical norms by media when covering the children's issues. For the full text Source: www.media.ge

Tbilisi. A meeting of the group working on issues related to persons with disabilities was held on January 27 in the Central Election Commission. The participants have discussed maximum participation of persons with disabilities in the electoral processes and their full engagement in the self-government elections.Representatives of the CEC, Public Defender's Office and local CSOs including the Election Environment Development Center have attended the meeting of the working group. Source: the Election Environment Development Center.

Samtskhe-Javakheti. "Solidarity to the Ukrainian People" – was the slogan of the rally held in Akhaltsikhe by the civil sector representatives, journalists and citizens. The rally in support of the Ukrainian people was organized by the Samtskhe-Javakheti based CSO "Tolerant". The event took place on January 24 in the Akhaltsikhe center, in the territory adjacent to the Shota Rustaveli monument.

Tbilisi. Youth movement "Davitianni" has released an open letter to the Ukrainian youth. "Georgian youth extend our help and support to not only our friends but our fellow-warriors in a common affair called a move towards European structures and democratization," says the statement. For the full text Source: davitianni.ge

Imereti. A seminar was organized on January27 for the members of the Kutaisi Youth Center on "Stigma and stereotypes on the ethnic minority issues". The event aimed to inform youngsters about the best way of integration, on how should the mentality be changed in ethnic minorities and ethnic Georgians, and on how should the stigma and stereotypes be fought against in respect of ethnic minorities. Source: the organization's page in the social network.

Tbilisi. The "Election Environment and Development Center" has released a petition, in which it demands immediate release of the Chairman of the Azerbaijani CSO "Center for Election Monitoring and Democratic Research" AnarMamadli. Any interested person can join the petition by signing the document. The petition Source: eedc.org.ge

Shida Kartli. On January 23, CSO "Biliki" (path) has presented the activity report for July-December 2013 as part of the Civic Education and Teacher Training Program.Within the Program framework the members of school-based civic clubs have identified numerous problems. Through an advocacy campaign or various activities and the support from the local municipality and NGO sector aimed at solving these problems, many issues have been resolved positively.Representatives of the local municipality and CSOs and media have attended the event, as well as the Directors and civic education teachers of the partner schools.

Tbilisi. The "School of Liberalism" has hosted on January 27 the lecture of MP Tamar Kordzaia on "Can the Public Broadcaster Serve the Authorities". The School offers a video recording of the lecture for those who were unable to attend. Source: the School's web page in the social network.  

Tbilisi. CSO "Liberal Academy Tbilisi" has organized an informative meeting with students on January24 in the Tbilisi State University. The meeting aimed at informing the students about the Visa Facilitation Agreement, the Visa Code, results of their implementation, the visa dialogue and the related processes. Further, meeting participants got familiar with the terms of photo competition planned as part of the organization's current project "Visa Liberalization Prospects: Civil Participation and Advocacy". Source: web page of Liberal Academy Tbilisi in the social network.

Imereti. On January 24 by the initiation of NGO "Kutaisi Education, Development and Employment Center” the Civil Club members met with the journalist David Liklikadze. During the meeting the journalists shared his professional experience to the event attendees and told them interesting sorties from his professional background. Totally 24 Civil Club members were attending the meeting. Source:cso.ge

Kvemo Kartli. A training was delivered on January 17 for the members of the Dmanisi Youth Center in "Let's Make Our Roads Safe and Friendly Together". Invited trainer has talked about the road safety, following which the discussion took place between the training participants on the causes and results of road accidents and ways of elimination of this problem. The event was organized as part of the "Advancing National Integration in Georgia" project, implemented by the UN Association of Georgia (UNAG) with financial support of the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Source: web page of the Dmanisi Youth Center in the social network.

Tbilisi. Non-Governmental organizations released a statement on the Process of Selecting Candidates for the Board of Trustees of the Public Broadcaster of Georgia. "We urge the Parliament to ensure conduct of the new competition, if any; with the composition of the old commission with a view to reflect already gained public trust in the final version of the Board. Furthermore, we call on the Parliament to make the timely and effective decision in a manner that the new Board was able to ensure smooth functioning of the public broadcaster with a view to provide information to public on states political development and public process, including the upcoming local self-government elections, without restriction", says the statement. For the full text Source:gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International - Georgia released a blog post - "Confirmation that Ministry of Internal Affairs maintains an officer at GNCC”. "Transparency International Georgia has obtained confirmation that an individual who is listed as an adviser to the Chairman of the Georgian National Communications Commission (GNCC) is in fact representing the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA)", says the blog post. For the full text Source:transparency.ge

Tbilisi. CSO "Young Barristers" has released monitoring results of study: "Property Declarations of Politicians and Their Secret Business Interests". Pursuant to the document, in the aftermath of 2012 parliament elections the examination of proprietary state of former high officials of the executive and legislative branches and establishment of its compliance with the law was put on the agenda.At this stage, the organization's legal team has completed working on the property declarations of the suspended Mayor of Tbilisi Gigi Ugulava and MP Givi Targamadze. Source: barristers.ge

Tbilisi. A summary event of the Youth Parliament of Georgia of 2013 calling was held on January 27. Representatives of the Parliament of Georgia, CSOs and business have attended the meeting opened up by the founder of the Youth Parliament of Georgia Teona Lavrelashvili. She has talked about the achievements and future plans of the Youth Parliament. At the end of the event, the administration of the Youth Parliament of Georgia has awarded young MPs with certificates.

Kakheti. From now on the Telavi residents will receive information newsletters on the importance of saving the energy. Newsletters are to be distributed by the schoolchildren, who were already trained on these issues. Training and event are part of the project "Save Energy, Save the Planet", implemented by CSO "Sphere".

Zugdidi. A training on "Advocacy" was delivered for the members of the Youth Center on January 25-26 in CSO "Atinati". Meeting participants have discussed topics such as the notion and significance of advocacy, process planning and key characteristics, advocacy in Georgia, etc. Following the training, the participants will be able to acknowledge the essence and importance of advocacy as one of the tools of activating the public/community and achieving its goals. The event was organized as part of the Advancing National Integration in Georgia project, implemented by the UN Association of Georgia with financial support of the United States Agency for International Development. Source: page of the Zugdidi Youth Center in the social network.