Imereti. The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) has held the summary presentation of the project "Active Society - Warrant of Democracy" in the Kutaisi Civic Engagement Center on December 26. Main objective of the project was to promote effective self-government through mutual cooperation between the citizens and the local self-government authorities. It was implemented in 11 municipalities of 2 regions – Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti and RachaLechkhumi-Kvemo Svaneti. Representatives of the public sector, media and local self-government authorities have attended the presentation of results by the organization. Source: ISFED

Samtskhe-Javakheti. On December 25, the organization "Union of Democrat Meskhetians" has summarized the results and identified the winners of the video contest announced as part of the project "Trust Building in the South Caucasus". The first place winner Shota Narimanishvili was awarded with a digital photo camera, while the runners-up Nana Mikeladze and Nino Avetisian have received MP3 players. The third place winner Mari Tsiklauri was awarded with the memory stick. The schoolchildren of the Akhaltsikhe Public School #1, who have jointly produced the video, were awarded with the encyclopedia. The video contest titled "Society and Me" was announced on December 10. Deadline for submitting the videos was December 25, and youngsters from 15 to 25 years of age could participate in the contest. They should have made the 2-5 minute long videos.

Tbilisi.The Tax Committee was set up in the Georgian Small and Medium Enterprises Association, which aims to develop recommendations and submit them to the executive authorities for improving the tax legislation and the business environment. Creating the Tax Committee was decided following the meetings of the Association's President KakhaKokhreidze and member of the Supervisory Board MikheilChelidze in the Ministry of Finance, which, among others, aimed at developing the official format of communication between the authorities and business. The audit and consultation companies have already affiliated in the Tax Committee. The Committee functions in line with the open door principle and is ready for mutual cooperation with other representatives of business sector. Source: the Georgian Small and Medium Enterprises Association.

Tbilisi. The Supreme Council of the Adjara Autonomous Republic is debating the draft law on making amendments to the procedure of staffing of the Supreme Election Commission. NGOs release the appeal, which says that after the parliamentary elections they once again proposed the initiative of reforming the election legislation. In the context of the reform, changing the procedure of staffing of the election administration is one of the priority issues. "To make a thorough analysis of this issue and develop the preferred model of election administration, the local and international organizations with required election expertise have already commenced intense work on the subject. The Central Election Commission is involved in the process and the work is being coordinated with the Parliament of Georgia. Accordingly, we believe that the amendment to the procedure of staffing of the Supreme Election Commission must be viewed within the format of this working group. Only the implementation of grounded and fundamental changes will make it possible to overcome the current situation, and besides, reforming the Supreme Election Commission must be a part of the uniform election reform, as under the legislation the Supreme Election Commission is a constituent part of Georgia's election administration. We offer you to join us to discuss the procedure of staffing of the Supreme Election Commission within the format of the NGO working group", – says the appeal. For the full text (Geo) Source: isfed.ge

Guria. On December 25, the Civic Engagement Center and the NGO "Women for Regional Development" have organized a meeting with the community initiative groups concerning the community organizations support program. Leaders of the community initiative groups from various villages of the Ozurgeti Municipality (Dvabzu, Shemokmedi, Mtispiri, Mziani, Laituri, Anaseuli, Jumati, Baileti, Tkhinvali, Natanebi, etc.) have attended the meeting. The participants have discussed the issues concerning the possibility of implementing community initiatives in villages and raising the grant funding.

Adjara. At the initiative of the Adjara Branch of the Civil Society Institute and the Batumi Civic Engagement Center, the discussion over the draft Adjara budget was held on December 25 in the Batumi Civic Engagement Center. The Head of the Commission for Finances and Economic Issues of the Supreme Council of Adjara AleksandreChitaishvili and Minister of Economy and Finances of the Adjara Autonomous Republic Giorgi Tavartkiladze have talked about the project. Representatives of the local society, media and CSOs have attended the meeting. Examination of the draft budget continued in the discussion format, at which the Head of the Democracy Institute GenoGeladze has once again raised the issue of transforming the Adjara Television into the public broadcaster.

Kakheti. The winners of the grant competition held to identify the innovative projects in the rural development were awarded in the Agency for Development of the State Services. The event was held in the Public Service Hall, where all finalists were awarded certificates for participating in the grant competition, and the winner Irakli Rostomashvili has received 4,466 GEL and the winner's certificate. The winner idea, titled "Supporting Innovative Projects in the Area of Rural Development", provides for the development of web-portal on the farming economy in Kakheti. The Agency for Development of the State Services has developed the concept of multi-functional service-centers in rural areas. Under this concept, public centers were already set up and are functioning in Shashiani, Sartichala and Gomi. These centers are equipped with modern technologies and provide the local population with various types of services.

Tbilisi. Interested persons have an opportunity to get familiar with the book of Robert Denhardt and Janet Denhardt "Public Administration: An Action Orientation" in the Regional Development and Local Self-Governance Resource Center of the Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development.The book describes how should citizens exercise influence on the work of public service. The authors focus on the importance of teaching participation as to the public servants as well as ordinary citizens. The authors aim to give students practical skills, namely: management, communication, delegation, motivation and decision-making. Source:participate.ge

Samegrelo. The "International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy" has implemented the project "Active Society - Warrant of Democracy" in two regions of Georgia: 11 municipalities of Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti and RachaLechkhumi-Kvemo Svaneti, which aims to promote effective self-government.The study conducted within the project framework has revealed that the letter requesting public information on amendments to the budget was submitted to the Zugdidi Municipality Gamgeoba and Sakrebulo, which the latter has left without response, while the Gamgeoba responded late, - said the organization's representative in Zugdidi MakaKodua. According to her, the publicity of the Sakrebulo sittings is also a problem. Until now the Sakrebulo fails to provide information on when the Sakrebulo sittings are scheduled.According to the representative of ISFED, a summary press-conference of the project will be held in Kutaisi on December 26, at which active citizens and those self-governments will be named, which have best cooperated with the organization. The project is implemented with financial support of the "Open Society - Georgia" Foundation (OSGF).

Tbilisi. On December24, the general assembly of the Georgian platform of the Eastern Partnership civil society forum was held. The participants have discussed the challenges accompanying the process of Euro-Integration, as well as challenges that emerged after the October parliamentary elections of this year, along with the ways of jointly overcoming them in the dialogue and trialogue formats. The 2012 activity report and future plans of the national platform were presented at the general assembly. In addition, the election of the Chair and Co-Coordinators of Working Groups was held. The assembly elected MananaKochladze as the Head of the Platform. 

Tbilisi. The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights has released the report of the long-term election observation mission on December 21. At the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, the observer mission has observed the pre-election developments ahead of the parliamentary elections in Georgia. Observation covered the period from August 22 to October 1.OSCE/ODIHR, Final Report of Long-Term Parliamentary Election (2012) Observation Mission. The Report. Source: media.ge

Samegrelo.Representatives of various Zugdidi-based NGOs have established on December 24 the initiative group of monitoring over self-government. According to the group members, they aim to ensure the publicity and transparency of election and appointment of officials in the Zugdidi Municipality. To this end, they start monitoring local authorities from today. The group plans to achieve set objectives with the assistance of the Civic Engagement Center.

Adjara. On December24, Transparency International - Georgia has presented the report - An Analysis of Funding of Election Campaign - to the Adjarian population (after Tbilisi) in the Batumi Civic Engagement Center. The study focused on: sources of income of election entities, expenses borne by them, activities of the State Audit Office, and problems associated with the legislation and financial declarations. Discussion has followed after the presentation, at which the students and representatives of local CSOs and media have discussed the Analysis.

Samtskhe-Javakheti. On December 21, the civic club "Care" of village Varkhani of the Adigeni Municipality has met with the trustee of community of the same village, in the process of implementing a small grant. The meeting was planned as part of the Civic Education and Teacher Training Program and aimed at informing the trustee about problems identified as a result of population interviews under the project and searching for the ways of their solution.The club members have interviewed 100 households. Supply of drinking water and renovation of internal roads as well as the fence of the village graveyard were identified as the key problems. It was decided that the club members will draft a letter on the problem of drinking water and internal roads, which will be submitted for examination to the Adigeni self-government for further including it in the action plan.The village trustee has noted that he will cooperate with youngsters around the raised problem and they will solve it through joint efforts.

Tbilisi. "Transparency International – Georgia" has released a weekly podcast of parliamentary news. Eka Gigauri, Levan Natroshvili and KakhaUriadmkopeli are the reviewers of the December 24 podcast, which discusses the following topics: summary of the Parliament's work, boycott of the minority, incident in Kutaisi during the President's visit, NikaGvaramia's arrest, wire-tapping, minority with one less single-seat MP, 2013 budget, amnesty and other details of parliamentary life.The organization releases audio podcasts that review the most interesting developments of the countries chief legislative body. Any media outlet, blogger and interested person can use and disseminate the podcast without permission. For the full text. Source: transparency.ge

Samtskhe-Javakheti. On December 21, representatives of the Akhaltsikhe Municipality Sakrebulo and NGO sector have once again discussed the draft local budget for 2013. Meeting participants have discussed the amendments to the draft and the comments that the Sakrebulo will take into consideration in the future.Chair of the Akhaltsikhe Municipality Sakrebulo Oleg Sandroshvili has explained that the part of comments and recommendations has already been reflected in the draft budget and certain amendments will be made to it in the beginning of next year as well.Local and international NGOs had certain comments with respect to the draft 2013 budget. During the public discussions of the draft budget they have drafted a special appeal and submitted it to the Municipality Sakrebulo.NGOs were involved in the discussions of the budget as part of the project "Transparent Self-Government”, implemented by NGO "Union of Democrat Meskhetians”.

Samegrelo. The event of distribution of professional toolkits to the beneficiaries of the project "IDP Vocational Training and Service Centre” was held at CHCA Zugdidi office. Each beneficiary was delivered the professional toolkits averaging 500 Euros from CHCA.  IDP Vocational Training and Service Centre is being functioning for already three years in Zugdidi. During this period approximately 700 IDP and socially vulnerable persons were provided with vocational training courses in tailoring, hairdressing, cosmetology, vehicle repairing, computer courses, and accounting. Out of them 170 the most capable and successful beneficiaries of the centre were provided with professional toolkits in order to support their further employment processes and more than 100 beneficiaries have got employment and stable income. About 5500 individuals were provided with VTSC discounted and free-of-charge services till today.  The mentioned project is being implemented by CHCA and UNHCR.  For full text

Samtskhe-Javakheti. Prevention of child abuse was discussed on December 21 in the Akhaltsikhe Civic Engagement Center.Discussion was organized at the initiative of the Akhaltsikhe Civic Engagement Center and NGO "Society of Democrat Women of Samtskhe-Javakheti”. NGO and civil society representatives and local experts have talked about the reasons, results, notion and complications of violence. In addition, the documentary provided by CSO "House” on domestic violence and the videos advertising a hot line for the victims of violence were shown, followed by the discussion on the statistics of violence in Georgia.Area – Rights.

Tbilisi. The fourth general assembly of the Charter of Journalistic Ethics was held on December 22, where the new Chair and members of the organization were elected. Journalist of Studio "Monitor" Giorgi Mgeladze will chair the Council of the Charter. He replaced ZviadKoridze on this position, who had chaired the Charter for two years. Three members of the Council were elected, and currently its members are Davit Mchedlidze, Natia Rokva, Giorgi Mgeladze, ZviadKoridze, LashaZarginava, Irakli Absandze, Gela Mtivlishvili, Natia Kuprashvili and IaMamaladze.The Charter members have approved the new staff of the Revision Commission as well. Nana Biganishvili will head the Commission, while LikaBasilaia-Shavgulidze and ShorenaGhlonti will be its members. Prior to electing the new Council members, the former Chair ZviadKoridze and the Chair of the Revision Commission IaBobokhidze have delivered to the signatory journalists of the Charter the annual report. Source: media.ge 

Adjara. On December21, the US Embassy held the presentation of the grant competition for the Adjara-based local CSOs in the Batumi Public Library, as part of the Small Grants Program of the Democracy Commission. The Georgian NGO, education and media organizations can participate in this competition. Deadline for submission of projects is January 21, 2013.The Small Grants Program of the Democracy Commission is administered by the US Embassy's Public Relations Department, chaired by the Deputy Ambassador and the Head of the Department. Maximum amount of the grant should not exceed 24,000 USD.

Tbilisi. The "International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy" (ISFED) has released the first monitoring report on the development in local self-government authorities after the parliamentary elections of 1 October 2012. The organization has carried out monitoring in 69 municipalities and according to the report, "since the 1 October 2012 elections until today 31 Gamgebelis have left office Georgia-wide. 29 out of them left office based on personal application, while two of them - based on the Sakrebulo's decision. During the same period, 16 Sakrebulo chairs have left office, including 14 by their own decision, and two – by the Sakrebulo's decision." The Report. Source:isfed.ge

Adjara. On December 22, the youth organization Art Way has presented another activity - "Street Entertaining Contest" in the Batumi Civic Engagement Center. Organizers have explained to the volunteer art club members the principles and purpose of this activity. The "Street Entertaining Contest" is kind of a tool for expressing solidarity towards the blind, which underscores the possibility and necessity of integration of persons with disabilities - the blind in particular - into the society through various methods. Any interested parties can participate in the contest. Along with the members of Art Way Club, the students, schoolchildren and local CSO representatives have attended the meeting.