Tbilisi. On March 24, a new project of the European Union – ''Georgian Civil Society Sustainability Initiative '' was presented. The purpose of the project is to promote improvement of a civil society environment in Georgia, enhance civil society organizations, increase their accountability to citizens and strengthen links with other actors.

The presentation was attended by representatives of civil society, government, diplomatic missions, international organizations, media and business sector.

The attending audience was greeted by Tamar Chugoshvili, a Deputy Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia. ''I have special ties with the sector and know challenges, for democratic development it is critically important that the field is functioning. One of the components of the project, as I have looked through, is the capacity building of non-governmental organizations, which, in turn, is also critically important, since it will increase the quality of work of NGOs. The Parliament of Georgia is open to non-governmental organizations'', stated the Deputy Chairman of the Parliament.

Dorota Dlouchy – Suliga, the Head of Political, Press and Information Section at the Delegation of the European Union to Georgia underlined the importance of the project, the role of non-governmental organizations and pointed out that the non-governmental sector should not be depended only on funding of donors, respective steps have to be taken towards the state, therefore, there is a necessity of advocating this issue. She highlighted the fact that the non-governmental sector has to work a lot, because in accordance with sociological surveys they are less popular.

Dorota Dlouchy – Suliga also talked about the Association Agreement with the European Union. She noted that this document is first of all important for Georgia, this is a choice of the country and everyone has to see its value, which is also envisaged by the project.

The project is implemented by a consortium led by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. The consortium also involves four Georgian organizations: the Civil Society Institute, the Center for Training and Consultancy, The Center for Strategic Research and Development of Georgia, the Kutaisi Education Development and Employment Center.

David Aprasidze, a Manager of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation project - ''Georgian Civil Society Sustainability Initiative '' talked about those challenges that the sector faces. Confidence in the public sector has positive dynamic, however it is still not sufficient, internal institutional structuring of organizations remains a key challenge. All this has an impact on participation of non-governmental organizations in a public policy formation and implementation direction. These are the challenges, on which the project details are designed, stated David Aprasidze. One important detail is diversification of local sources of funding within the framework of the project. The project also envisages changing stereotypes about civil society through a pretty solid campaign. According to David Aprasidze, the same as in all fields, there is a certain elitism in this sector too, which needs to be overcome and, therefore, it is necessary to go to people and work with them, as a matter of fact this is all part of the present project.

At the event, the Civil Society Institute presented the ''Declaration of Key Principles of Civil Society Organizations in Georgia'', which was developed by mutual agreement of up to 200 organizations. The declaration reflects those basic values, on which there should be based the activity of civil society organizations in a democratic environment. The declaration includes 16 principles.