Projects

Project Title: Organizing the joint 5th International Conference: Access to State Archives in the post-Soviet Space

Donor: The National Security Archive (NSA) at the George Washington University

Budget: 5,000 USD

Duration: August 1, 2024 - December 31, 2024

Project Objectives:

• Organizing the joint 5th International Conference on Access to State Archives in the Post-Soviet Space to enhance public access to archival information, foster dialogue, document, compare, and evaluate future strategies for opening the Soviet archives.
• Fostering dialogue and strengthening social participation among scholars, archival researchers, educators, and non-governmental organizations' representatives on archival openness.
• Documenting and comparing recent trends and approaches in archival research and openness, focusing on Eastern European and post-Soviet countries, where significant changes have occurred due to the pandemic, war, and democratic backsliding.
• Evaluating future strategies to ensure archival openness, promote free access to archival institutions, increase participation in research and modern historiography, and combat disinformation and propaganda through the use of accurate, research-based historical sources.

Grant Agreement

Project name: Digital Storytelling for Peaceful Coexistence (DSPC)

Donor organization: The Civic Innovation Fund

Leading organization: Yerevan State University (YSU) Center of Innovational Social Research

Organizations involved: The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI)), and Slobodná škola Košice (Slovakia).

Total budget: 2.500 euros

Duration: 15.04.2024 - 30.06.2024

The DSPC project is a transformative initiative aimed at fostering empathy and promoting reconciliation among historically conflict-impacted communities.

By collecting and sharing personal narratives of individuals affected by wars and conflicts, the DSPC project seeks to bridge societal divides and inspire meaningful dialogues.

The project will produce a collection of oral video stories (a total of 5 videos from Georgia) that will challenge deep-rooted biases and promote a common understanding of the past. At its core, the project centers around a user-friendly digital platform where these diverse narratives will be hosted and made accessible to the public. 

Memorandum of Understanding

Project title: Assessing the accountability, transparency, and effectiveness of the institutions involved in the external oversight of covert surveillance

Donor: The grant is issued by the Netherlands Helsinki Committee within the scope of the European Union funded project  - Strengthening Monitoring and Advocacy Capacities for Rights in Georgia

Duration of the project: 01.03.2024 – 31.07.2024

Grant amount: 11,995.20 EUR

Project goal: to assess the accountability, transparency, and effectiveness of the external oversight institutions (Common Courts, the Personal Data Protection Service, the Prosecutor’s Office, the Parliament of Georgia, and the Constitutional Court) in relation to their mandate to oversee covert surveillance by monitoring their performance for 2021-2023 years.

Project activities and timeline:

1. Development of the monitoring methodology – March 2024;

2. Find, study, and sort publicly available information on incidents related to covert surveillance - March-April, 2024;

3. Based on the monitoring methodology request of public information – March 2024;

4. Analysis of the received information and if necessary, request of the clarifying information – April-May, 2024;

5. Legal proceedings in response to the possible refusal, partial refusal, and/or inaction of public institutions in relation to the FOI requests – April-June, 2024;

6. Analysis of the findings of the monitoring in light of the international standards and recommendations and drafting of the report - May-June, 2024;

7. Public presentation of the report and its distribution on the organization’s website and social media channels – July 2024;

8. Preparation and distribution of the informative products on the organization’s website and social media channels – May-July, 2024.

Contract

The content of the information provided is the sole responsibility of the Institute for  Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) and it does not necessarily represent the position of the European Union.

Project Title: Digital Freedoms in Georgia - 2024

Project N: SG-GX2060-LP-125 m00

Donor:  Internews and United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

Budget:  24,783 USD

Duration: November 29, 2023 – August 28, 2024

Summary of the Project

The project aims to strengthen Internet freedom in Georgia.

IDFI will implement the following activities as part of the project:

Activity 1: Capacity Building Material Creation. In order to raise awareness of people about emerging digital challenges, and new developments as well as to reach out more people, IDFI will prepare a video, informational brochure and online quizzes on digital safety issues.  

Activity 2: To conduct 3 end-user trainings on digital safety topics - Based on the materials IDFI had prepared on digital safety as well as prepared videos, brochure and online quizzes as part of GIF supported local activities, IDFI will conduct a training on digital rights for students, journalists, CSO representatives and civic activists. 

Activity 3: To publish 2 blog posts on digital rights. As a follow up of previous analytical work conducted under GIF supported local actions, IDFI will prepare two blog-posts on the most pressing digital challenges, developments and needs in the sphere of digital freedoms (including surveillance, online content moderation or digital safety in Georgia). Blog-posts might also follow up the topics of our previous studies/reports in order to assess new developments and changes as well as to what extent our recommendations were considered by various stakeholders. 

Activity 4: Plan, organize and execute a digital rights workshop. To communicate our observations made and recommendations elaborated in our blog-posts as well as to follow-up our recommendations, voice the challenges we observed over the past years under GIF local activities, IDFI will hold a workshop with the participation of all relevant stakeholders (e.g. several public institutions, CSOs, business sector, technical community) to discuss emerging digital threats, our recommendations on protecting digital rights in Georgia and necessary steps to be taken in the coming years.

Activity 5: Plan, organize, and execute a digital rights awareness-raising/advocacy campaign – With the use of all prepared awareness raising materials, IDFI will implement an awareness raising/advocacy campaign online, during which IDFI will widely disseminate prepared video, informational brochure and online quizzes on digital security and digital rights issues. The aim of the campaign will be to raise awareness of online users about digital challenges and get more people familiar with digital hygiene tips and tools. 

Contract

Project title: History education at the time of war

Supported by: Civil Society Forum e.V.

Overall Budget: 1,500.00 EUR

Project Number: №CM106_GE_2

Duration: 28.11.2023 - 31.12.2023

Project Objective: the IDFI will be responsible for the coordination of translating the Toolkit produced by the Confronting Memories programme from English into Georgian.

The obligations of the IDFI are as follows:

a) Coordinate the translation and proofreading of the Toolkit (ca. 17,000 words) from English into Georgian with external service providers.

b) Communicate and coordinate with service providers (translator, proofreader, and designer) to finalise the Toolkit for publication.

c) Bind the toolkit in accordance with the designer’s template.

Budjet

Contracts

Project Title: Global AI Advocacy Subgrant: Georgia

Donor Organization: Global Partners Digital

Total Budget: EUR 3,256.59

Duration of the Project: May 01, 2023 - March 14, 2024

Project Summary 

Project goal is to promote a human rights approach to artificial intelligence by shaping the

outcomes of relevant international debates.

Sub-project goal is to contribute to the implementation of the project strategy by directly engaging and advocating within identified global processes to ensure a human rights approach to AI

In collaboration with GPD, the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information will implement the project's global advocacy strategy and engage in advocacy efforts at the identified forums to ensure a human rights approach to AI in identified global processes.

For the duration of the project, Institute for Development of Freedom of Information will engage in the below forums and processes, with the aim of ensuring a human rights-respecting approach to AI. 

The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information may also engage in other ad hoc opportunities subject to their interest and capacity.

- Council of Europe’s Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Convention on Artificial Intelligence

- United Nations Secretary General’s Envoy on Technology: Global Digital Compact

- United Nations Human Rights Council

Specifically, the partner will will take on the following responsibilities and engages:

- Strategy Implementation

 - Review global mapping developed by GPD and provide input on forums identified for direct advocacy under the project

- Identify at least 2 forums and/or processes for advocacy engagement under the project

- On the basis of the updated global advocacy strategy, engage in the designated forums and/or processes and implement the activities outlined in the strategy.

Engagement may include, but is not limited to:

- participation in consultations with civil society;

- development of analysis, joint statements, and/or responses to relevant policy outcomes and texts adopted by relevant policy forums; or

- engagement in direct advocacy with relevant policy makers

- articulating policy positions through the use of strategic communications

Contract

Project Title: Open Government Data (OGD) Survey
Donor: Deloitte Consulting LLP, a contractor to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for The USAID Economic Governance Program

Project Contract Number: G-2305-01788

Total Budget: GEL 63,104

Duration of the project: July 10 - January 9, 2024

Project Background

International practice shows that businesses are reaping tremendous value from both data created through businesses’ economic activities and data shared by governments. The World Bank’s latest report entitled - Data for Better Lives - identifies major benefits of open government data (OGD) for business: quality improvements; cost reduction and process optimization; production innovation; more effective intermediation and lower transaction costs. Nevertheless, the economic aspect of open data has been neglected, and the private sector in Georgia lacks information and opportunities to utilise open data for economic growth. The project aims to address the underutilization of open government data (OGD) from the perspective of the broader open data ecosystem, since the Country has low scores in Open Data Use and Impact indicators according to the Global Data Barometer report, indicating a lack of practical use cases and engagement from the private sector and academia. 

Project Objectives and Activities:

- Elaborate an overview of the baseline of the economic aspect of the OGD ecosystem in Georgia;

- Develop a survey methodology to identify high-impact and high-potential sectors for utilising open data, including the identification of high-impact and high-potential sectors for open data usage;

- Conduct surveys among target populations in Tbilisi and seven larger cities ((Batumi, Gori, Kutaisi, Ozurgeti, Rustavi, Telavi, and Zugdidi) to gather data on open data usage and needs;

- Analyse the survey results and prepare a report summarising the findings;

- Facilitate a public-private dialogue (PPD) on open government data to foster collaboration and address barriers; fostering stakeholder engagement from the private sector and academia.

Budget

Contract

Project Title: Global Index on Responsible AI: Regional Research Hub

Donor: Research ICT Africa

Total Budget: 54,470 USD 

Duration of the project: July 1, 2023 - December 31, 2024

Background 

The Global Index on Responsible AI (GI) is a project of Research ICT Africa (RIA) and the Data for Development Research Hub (D4D.net), supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).

The Global Index is a new rights-based tool being developed to support a broad range of actors in advancing responsible AI practices. It is intended to provide a comprehensive, reliable, independent, and comparative benchmark for assessing progress toward responsible AI in countries across the world. The Global Index will bolster the capacity of governments, civil society organisations, and other stakeholders in upholding rights-based responsible AI principles by providing research and data to foster accountability, develop more precise policy interventions, refine best practices, and encourage regional and international cooperation. 

To assess each country against Responsible AI indicators, there will be a global task team on primary data collection. 120 countries are involved in the survey and each country is assessed by one national researcher. These national researchers will be selected, co-trained (along with the Global Index core team) and supervised by the Regional Hubs, which will be responsible for the quality of the collected evidence and its assessment in the GI survey tool.

Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) serves as the Regional Research Hub in Georgia covering 12 Eastern European and Central Asian countries and is expected to engage with the GI core team across the following phases of the GI first edition. 

The major activities of the project include:

 - Phase 1: Pilot the GIRAI survey and team building - March-August 2023

- Phase 2: Establish the research network and data collection for the full study - September-December, 2023

- Phase 3: Data analysis for global report and dissemination - December 2023- November, 2024

IDFI will be engaged to complete the following activities:

- engage with the GI Steering Committee;

- provide inputs on methods and indicators;

- verify the regional relevance of indicators;

- recruit and train regional team leaders;

- recruit and co-train country researchers;

- oversee the primary data collection process;

- ensure that national researchers have a common understanding of core concepts of the survey;

- provide support in regional consultations;

- provide support in piloting instruments in the region;

- oversee country researcher data collection;

- write regional analyses for the Global Index report;

- attend all scheduled meetings as necessary;

- provide necessary information, making timely decisions and taking action so as not to hold up the project; and take part in and organize dissemination activities.

Contract

Project title: Overcoming Barriers to Combat Disinformation in Ethnic Minority Communities

Donor: NATO Public Diplomacy Programmes/Division

Project number: 221026c

Project Duration: June 2023 - December 2023

Project summary: Armenian and Azerbaijani communities in Georgia are among the most vulnerable communities to disinformation, particularly regarding NATO, which may be due to language barriers predominantly exposing them to Russian media outlets rather than Georgian or European. This project aims to combat this, especially among young ethnic minorities (ages between 16-25) through workshops, social media campaigns and utilising traditional and local media outlets to spread factually accurate information about NATO during this project and beyond. The IDFI aims to reach 90 Armenians (predominantly from the Samtskhe-Javakheti region) and 90 Azerbaijanis (predominantly from Kvemo Kartli) in person through lecturers, experts and trainers who are well-versed in Georgian, Armenian and Azerbaijani, and 20,000 people via the videos that will be created and spread on social media and local news outlets.  

Main outputs: 3 training sessions, 3 workshops, 2 videos. 

Project Objectives: 

- To address anti-NATO sentiment and the lack of knowledge amongst ethnic minority communities in rural areas of Georgia. 

- To combat feelings of being sidelined from Georgian society and the benefits that Georgia receives from NATO. 

- To raise the resilience of ethnic minority communities against disinformation and increase awareness of NATO and its mission in Georgia. 

Project activities: 

Activity Number 1- Creating videos that will debunk disinformation about NATO and raise awareness of NATO’s role and mission in Georgia spread by local influencers and through social media accounts. 

Activity Number 2- Conducting training sessions in disinformation, misinformation, propaganda and ways to confront it for local communities. This will take place in local NGOs, schools, American Corners and civic centres. 

- Activity Number 2 - Stage 1- Training the trainers by experts and lecturers in the topics mentioned above.  

- Activity Number 2 - Stage 2- Training the locals, consisting of 3 training sessions in each region by students and locals in their mother languages. 

Activity Number 3 - Conducting interactive and accessible workshops held by experts and lecturers addressing specific cases of disinformation and how to counter it. 

Follow-up Activities to ensure the projects sustainability-

- 1. Videos created can be continually used in the future. 2. Keeping in contact with participants. 3. Continually engaging participants with the University of Georgia programmes and internships within the IDFI. 

- Qualitative and Quantitative forms of assessing the success of the programme - Number of sessions delivered, attendance levels, the extent of the spread of the videos and social media content and verbal feedback given by attendees and trainers. 

Budget and Activities

Project title: Advancing the capacity of CSOs and the Media in the field of Freedom of information and freedom of speech      

Donor:  Czech Republic – Ministry of Foreign Affairs,Czech Republic’s Official Transition Promotion Program

Project number:  20-23GE01

Project Duration:  April, 2023 – October, 2023

Grant amount: CZK 399 993

Project summary

In order to facilitate the application of the ECHR case law in national jurisdiction and promote free speech and freedom of information, the pressing legal questions stemming from the existing administrative practice and case law regarding the freedom of information, freedom of speech and freedom of media will be documented. Working meetings aimed at mapping the main challenges will be organized and held with CSOs, independent lawyers and media representatives who are actively engaged in handling the cases related to freedom of Media, Freedom of Speech and Freedom of expression. Research of the ECHR (and ECJ as well if required) case law will be conducted in order to study the legal standards that are applicable to legal challenges specific for Georgia. Digital manual of newest case law of the ECHR regarding the freedom of information, freedom of speech and other rights that fall under the scope of Media freedom will be prepared and free access will be provided.      

Main objective of the project

Facilitating the application of the ECHR case law in national jurisdiction and advancing the standards of free speech and freedom of information.

Project activities

1. Disseminating information about the project through the website and social network;

2. Conducting meetings with the relevant stakeholders

3. Drafting and publishing at least three legal blogs/articles regarding the legal standards of the ECHR;

4. Preparing and publishing three visual materials (infographics) regarding the project;

5. Submitting amicus curiae to the Common or the Constitutional court of Georgia regarding the case of high legal importance;

6. Preparing Digital Manual;

7. Holding final presentation;

8. Published and sending digital report to the legal departments of the Media, CSO’s, Bar association of Georgia, Administrative bodies, Judiciary.

Budget

Project timeline:

Contract

Project title: Information Integrity Coalition Steering Committee Chairman
Supported by: Georgian Information Integrity Program(GIIP) / USAID
Budget: USD 10,000
Duration: May 1, 2023 – October 31, 2023

Tasks and responsibilities:

-       Assign staff member(s) with relevant background to work at least 50% of their time on the project;

-       Coordinate and lead the work of the Steering Committee for the period of six months;

-       Set up regular Coalition meetings to coordinate its activities, reach agreement on outstanding issues, and distribute tasks among the members.

         Keep notes of the Coalition meetings, circulate those among members, and follow up implementation against decided deadlines;

-       Facilitate drafting of the Coalition statements (including occasionally writing first drafts of the statements), approval and adoption of those statements by the Coalition member organizations;

-       Overseeing the Coalition's joint advocacy initiatives by supporting the Coalition to identify the advocacy objectives, creating advocacy strategy and plan, and helping in delivering activities                   against those objectives;

-       Co-organise the Information Integrity Coalition’s annual conference;

-       Co-organise other events related to the coalition’s work.

Deliverables:

-       Coalition work plan for the period of six months;

-       Bi-monthly reports, covering the key activities of the Steering Committee and wider coalition;

-       Write-ups of the events and meetings organized during the rotating management;

-       Final report, covering the period of six months rotating management.

Contract

Project Title: Parliamentary Project
Funded by: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
Budget: USD 4500.00
Duration: April 24 – June 30, 2023

Project Goal:

The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information will provide services to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and will support the Supreme Council of Ajara to facilitateimplementation of the 2021-2024 Institutional Development Strategy, strengthening of the effective oversight and the fulfilment of commitment under the Open Governance Action Plan 2022-2024.

Main Activities Envisaged by the Project:

1. Providing consultation and assistance to the Open Governance Council and the Department of Strategic Development and International Relations of the Supreme Council of Ajara in processing of opinions and information received within the framework of the Thematic Inquiry, as well as support in desk research, for the preparation of the Thematic Inquiry report and recommendations, including through provision of feedback and input for the final outputs of the Thematic Inquiry.

2. Supporting the SCA in the enhancement of its oversight functions, through consulting and provide feedback in the process of developing a guide on the oversight mechanisms of the Supreme Council of Ajara - with particular focus on new oversight mechanisms, the recommendations on their effective use and tools to engage citizens further.

Contract

Project Title: Fostering Decentralization and Good Governance at the Local Level in Georgia

Donor: UNDP Georgia

Budget: 209,512.00 GEL

Duration: February 24, 2023-November 30, 2023

The aim of the grant is to contribute to the development and improvement of transparency and accountability of local self-governments and support public participation in the local decision-making processes through monitoring, reporting, capacity building, advocacy and networking.

To this end, the grant’s specific objective is to assess the openness and accountability of municipalities based on the Local Self-Government Index for the fourth time for 2023 and communicate the results with relevant local, national and international stakeholders.

Under the grant, IDFI will have several outputs and will implement the following activities:

Output 1: Local integrity systems are advanced through increased capacities of local stakeholders and the assessment of municipalities

Activity 1.1. Ensuring institutional, and methodological set up of future capacity building, monitoring and and research efforts – review of the methodology, preparing all monitoring documents, updating the website and outreach to relevant stakeholders

Activity 1.2. Conducting training for local observers/partners/experts and launching the evaluation

Activity 1.3. Assessment of municipalities – initial assessment and review process

Activity 1.4. Communicating initial assessments with municipalities and results validation

Output 2: Advocacy and networking between civil society organizations, the government institutions and donor community are promoted

Activity 2.1: Preparing the monitoring report, key findings and recommendations

Activity 2.2. Providing with networking and advocacy platform

Contract

Project title: Promoting the Accessibility of Judicial acts through Monitoring, Advocating and Litigation

Donor organization: USAID Rule of Law Program

Project number: G-2126-23-211-3047-20

Project Duration: 1 February, 2023 - 30 November, 2023

Grant amount:$ 24,850.00

Project summary

The project aims at ensuring the accessibility of judicial acts through monitoring, advocacy, and strategic litigation. The project activities will be focused on the implementation of the Constitutional Court’s decision of 7 June 2019, the execution of the decision will be monitored, working meetings will be held with the representatives of the Parliament and other relevant stakeholders, an analytical report will be prepared, and applicable legislative amendments to the Organic Law of Georgia on Common Courts will be advocated. The project team will also start strategic litigation requesting proactive publication of the court decisions.

Purpose of the project

The overall purpose of the project is to promote the accessibility of judicial acts

Objectives of the project

- Monitoring the implementation of the Constitutional Court’s decision of 7 June 2019;

- Holding working meetings with stakeholders and preparing/advocating relevant recommendations;

- Delivering a report on the availability of the judicial acts, identifying the challenges in legislation and practice;

- Submitting a complaint to the court requesting to publish/disclose judicial acts.

Activities

Budget

Contract

Project Title: Advocating Open Data Standards and Promoting Open Data Use in Georgia – Phase II
Donor: International Media Support (IMS)
Budget:  30,887 EUR
Duration: February 1 –September 30, 2023

Summary of Project and Activities:

Despite Georgia’s achievements in making more public data available over the past years, international studies and our analyses demonstrated that the country’s performance is low in terms of availability of beneficial ownership data. It is widely acknowledged that availability of beneficial ownership data is incremental for journalists and civil society representatives to track activities of companies and high-ranking officials as well as reveal potential corruption cases. Due to the importance of the issues, we consider it relevant to elaborate and propose Beneficial Ownership Data Standards to relevant public institutions and stakeholders.

On the other hand, IDFI plans to expand its awareness raising and outreach activities on the use of public data for holding the government accountable in the regions of Georgia, where activists, journalists, civil society actors, students, and other stakeholders necessitate experience and knowledge sharing on methods and tools for using data for government oversight activities. 

The project aims to continue advocating Open Data Standards (especially, Beneficial Ownership Data Standards) through sharing best practices and outreaching to relevant stakeholders. In addition, to ensure greater public use of public data, capacity building and outreach activities will be implemented for local civil society actors and stakeholders.

IDFI will implement the following activities in frames of the proposed project:

Activity 1. Preparatory stage  - At the first phase of the project, IDFI will plan/prepare all organizational or methodological documents/issues, which ensure that all project activities are implemented on time and with high quality.

Activity 2. Preparation and elaboration of Beneficial ownership data standards for Georgia – Based on international best practices and experience of several advanced countries in this direction (e.g. UK, Denmark, etc.), IDFI will prepare policy document/analytical paper on beneficial ownership standards (with the focus on open data standards - BOD) for Georgia.

Activity 3.    Beneficial Ownership Data Standards advocacy meeting/workshop -   IDFI will organize an advocacy meeting with the participation of Georgian civil society, public institutions, journalists, academia, business sector, and the international community to discuss the prospects for the elaboration and adoption of beneficial ownership standards in Georgia. IDFI will present its policy document/analytical paper prepared as part of the project.

Activity 4.   Preparing and conducting trainings in the regions -  Three one-day practical trainings will be held for journalists, activists, watchdogs and CSOs residing in three big cities outside Tbilisi.

Activity 5. Publishing and Updating Datasets on DataLab.Ge – In order to ensure that more relevant data is available for the Georgian public in open formats for their future use, IDFI will publish and update more datasets on its portal – DataLab.Ge. Three winners will be awarded financial awards at the end of the project.

Activity 6.  Open Data Contest -     In order to promote the use of open data for government accountability and the public good, IDFI will organize its annual contest on analytical articles on the topic of #Data4Change.

Project Activities and Budget

Contract 

Name of the project: Gender Equality for Sustainable Development in Guria Region

Supported by: Dekabristen e.V.

Budget: EUR 730

Duration of the Project: September 8 - September 26, 2022

Overall project objectives:

The primary objective of the project is to build capacity of the Municipal Gender Equality Council (established at the level of municipalities in Georgia for the purpose of ensuring regular and coordinated work on gender issues) members and initiate close coordination with reference to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in three self-governing units of Guria: Lanchkhuti Municipality, Ozurgeti Municipality and Chokhatauri Municipality.

The capacity building activity/training aims at incorporating national indicators regarding SDG5 into the annual action plan and long-term gender equality strategy, and raise awareness of the members that will contribute to the meaningful changes - to prevent violence against women and domestic violence, recognize and value domestic work through the provision of public services and raise the visibility and impact of global initiatives. 

The training will also address local and innovative actions and solutions that can lead to transformative change toward the SDGs. The IDFI team will determine the SDG Ambassador from each council (contact person) who will be eager to bring a new perspective to the council in course of the SDGs and encourage council members to participate in the global process. 

Project Title: Digital Freedoms in Georgia - 2023
Project N: 7200AA20CA00021
Donor:  Internews and United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
Budget:  USD 19,839
Duration: November 29, 2022 – May 28, 2023

Summary of the Project

The project aims to strengthen Internet freedom in Georgia.

IDFI will implement the following activities as part of the project:

Activity 1. Produce a policy brief on surveillance, encryption and/or digital freedoms in the country - IDFI will prepare a policy brief on the most pressing digital challenges, developments and needs in the sphere of digital freedoms (including surveillance, encryption, or digital safety in Georgia).

Activity 2. Campaign and engagement with communities and/or advocacy activities based on work in year 2 activities - In order to raise awareness of people about emerging digital challenges, new developments and our recommendations, as well as to reach out more people, IDFI will prepared three videos on various digital safety issues. In particular, when selecting the video topics/text, the prepared policy briefs, analyses and elaborated recommendations, as well as content of our trainings conducted before will be used.

Apart from the videos, to follow-up our recommendations, voice the challenges we observed over the past years, IDFI will hold a presentation or workshop with the participation of all relevant stakeholders (e.g. several public institutions, CSOs, business sector, technical community) to discuss emerging digital threats, our recommendations on protecting digital rights in Georgia and necessary steps to be taken in the coming years.

Activity 3 - Plan, organize, and host 1 training on digital rights – Based on the materials IDFI had prepared on digital safety as well as prepared videos and policy briefs, IDFI will conduct a training on digital rights for students, journalists, CSO representatives and civic activists.

Budget

Contract

Project Title: EU-UNDP project - “Consolidating Parliamentary Democracy in Georgia”

Funded by:  The European Union (EU), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Budget: USD 4650.00

Duration: November 14 – December 25, 2022

Project Goal:

The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information will provide services to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and will support the Supreme Council of Ajara to the implementation commitments of the Open Governance Action plan for 2022-2024.

Main Activities Envisaged by the Project:

1. Piloting a Thematic Inquiry on open governance issues:

1.1. Providing trainings for staff of the Supreme Council of Ajara and representatives of civil society organizations on the full process of Thematic Inquiry.

1.2. Providing consultation and assistance to the Supreme Council of Ajara in preparing the relevant documents for conducting the Thematic Inquiry.

2. Consultancy in the development of the concept of the international conference and holding workshop with the Ajara Supreme Council staff.

3. Consultancy In the process of developing a guide on the oversight mechanisms of the Supreme Council of Ajara and holding workshop with the staff of Supreme Council.

Budget

Project title: Analysis of Russian Capital in Georgian Business - Stage 3

Supported by: Georgian Information Integrity Program(GIIP) / USAID

Budget: GEL 57,250

Duration: October 26, 2022 – May 5, 2023

In the second phase of the project, IDFI intends to review and publish a new report detailing the work, resources and connections of Georgian companies owned by Russian citizens in the following sectors: water resources, tourism, construction and big investments from other sectors not listed in previous stages of the project.

In addition, at this stage the findings from all three stages of total 11 sectors will be combined and published as one large study. In this way, the project will result in one extensive report about Russian capital in Georgia’s key business sectors. 

 The business is often related to socio-political actors and influences on public perceptions. We deem it important to closely investigate such links between political, civil and media actors and business companies owned by the citizens of Russia. This would give us a clear image of funding sources behind some malign political, media and civil actors that actively spread disinformation in the country. For this, IDFI will monitor the donations, lobbying cases and other types of connections between the companies and societal actors in order to map the network of Russian capital and political organizations in Georgia. As a result of the three-stage project, IDFI plans to create a map of the Russian capital in Georgia, which will be integrated into the Georgian Disinformation Ecosystem Map.

Project Objectives

-  Investigation of Russian capital in the mentioned sectors of Georgian business and its impact on the political, media and civil sectors;

- Investigating and mapping the Russian capital in Georgian business and its impact on Georgian political, media, and civil actors;

- Revealing the connections between the companies owned by the citizens of Russia and political, civil, and media actors affiliated with the government of the Russian Federation;

- Creating an effective tool and source of verified information for the civil society and research organizations as well as for media outlets that are focused on Russian-Georgian relations, Russian propaganda and disinformation issues;

-Investigate the activities of the companies, relevant to these sectors, that have been sanctioned by the West after the Russian invasion in Ukraine. 

Project activities:

- In the second phase of the project, gathering information from public agencies, the Internet and other open sources in the following key areas: water resources, tourism, construction and big investments from other sectors not listed in previous stages of the project.

- Update the company information studied in 2015’s report.

-  Creating an analytical brief/interim report.

-Production and advertising of the final research report of the three stages. 

Project Budget and Activities

Project Title: De Minimis Contract on Research on Population Data Analysis in Global Data Barometer about the Eastern Europe and Central Asia Region
Project #: UNFPA/EECARO/PSC/2022/004
Donor: United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Regional Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia
Budget: USD 9,990
Duration: November 1, 2022-December 31, 2022

Summary of the Project

In frames of the project, IDFI will analyse GDB results of the countries from Central Asia and Eastern Europe region in Health and Covid-19 module, which includes country assessments in terms of accessibility of important population/demographic data. In particular, the module consists of the following sub-modules/categories:

- Vital statistics (primary indicator);

- Healthcare system capacity data (secondary source);

- Real-time healthcare system capacity data (primary indicator);

- COVID-19 statistics, which includes Vaccination data (primary indicator); Testing data (secondary source); Infection and mortality data (secondary source).

Based on the analysis, IDFI will prepare a comprehensive report, which will contain the following topics/chapters:

-  Major tendencies and findings in the region regarding the accessibility of population and healthcare data

- Compilation of best practices from the countries regarding the accessibility of population and healthcare data

-  Major gaps and needs in terms of accessibility of population and healthcare data

- Recommendations in terms of accessibility/management of population and healthcare data

- Annex of country profiles - country results in particular indicators, highlighting major strengths and needs/gaps in terms of accessibility of population

and healthcare data.

Budget

Contract