The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) is a Georgian non-partisan, non-governmental, non-commercial legal entity committed to enhancingopenness of the government and promoting an informed civil society through ensuring access to public information. IDFI was founded in 2009 by two academicians, Levan Avalishvili and Giorgi Kldiashvili with the support of the National Security Archive (George Washington University, Washington, DC.,www.nsarchive.org).

Mission of IDFI is to promote openness and transparency of the government, establish an informed society and support development of democratic values through ensuring access to public information.

Main areas of activities of IDFI are:

• Watchdog activities
  • Monitoring of implementation of the right of access to public information;
  • Monitoring of official web-pages and various communication resources of public institutions;
  • Increasing transparency and accountability of Georgian court system;
  • Finding out the extent of proactive disclosure of public information by public institutions;
  • Observing necessary mechanisms and leverages in order to ensure involvement of citizens in public policy;
  • Checking the extent of fulfillment of local, national and international obligations taken by the state. 
• Think Tank activities
  • Access to Information
  • Good governance
  • Freedom of the Media
  • Internet Freedom
  • Policy Analysis
  • Citizen engagement
  • Transparent Archives
  • Legal Reform
  • Economy and social policy
• Advocacy activities
  • Negotiations, consultations and meetings with various stakeholders, including representatives from the media, non-governmental sector, state institutions and business.
  • Holding conferences and presentations;
  • Spreading statements and introducing positions to broader society;
  • Establishing network coalitions;
  • Working out recommendations and introducing them to various branches of the government;
  • Initiating draft laws;
  • Holding information campaigns and attracting supporters.
• Awareness raising activities
  • Trainings, workshops, discussions by experienced trainers and facilitators
  • Working with various target groups (Students, Pupils, Journalists, Public Officers, citizens etc.)
  • Informational Campaigns (Spreading Flyers, Preparing Videos, Publishing Blog-Posts Etc.)
• Transparent archives
  • Ensuring openness of state archives and access to documentary materials.
  • Researching archival documents
  • Collecting photo and documentary materials
  • Recording verbal stories and publish researches.
  • Organizing exhibitions based on archival and other sources

See the most prominent achievements of IDFI over the past year here.

IDFI is part of a number of coalitions:

• Media Advocacy Coalition
• Open Government Partnership
• Anti-Corruption Council
• Coalition for an Independent and Transparent Judiciary
• Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum – Georgian National Platform

Annual budget of IDFI

• 2011 - 150 000 USD
• 2012 - 374 000 USD
• 2013 - 270 700 USD
  
  

IDFI is financed by various international donors such as USAID, OSF, OSGF, EWMI-G-Pac etc. Learn more about current and past projects here.