TWENTY-THIRD QUARTERLY REPORT

Award Period: October 31, 2014 – April 30, 2021

Reporting Period: April 1 – June 30, 2020

Submitted to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the terms of Cooperative Agreement No. AID-114-A-14-00008 by the East-West Management Institute, Inc.

Tamuna Karosanidze, Chief of Party, : [email protected] Ana Drakic, EWMI ACCESS Project Director, New York: [email protected]

#5 Marjanishvili St., Third Floor • Tbilisi 0102 • Tel (995 0 32) 2202 444 • www.facebook.com/EWMI.ACCESS

CONTENTS

Acronyms ...... 3 Background ...... 4 Executive Summary ...... 5 Component One: Citizens become more aware of and involved in CSO Activities ...... 6 Key Activities and Accomplishments ...... 6 Key Issues and Challenges ...... 13 Plans for Next Quarter ...... 14 Component Two: Improving CSO leadership, organizational capacity, and sustainability ...... 14 Key Activities and Accomplishments ...... 15 Key Issues and Challenges ...... 19 Plans for Next Quarter ...... 19 Component Three: CSO policy research, monitoring, and influence increase ...... 19 Key Activities and Accomplishments ...... 20 Key Issues and Challenges ...... 26 Plans for Next Quarter ...... 26 Component Four: Network of Centers for Civic Engagement ...... 26 Key Activities and Accomplishments ...... 27 Key Issues and Challenges ...... 30 Plans for Next Quarter ...... 30 Public Outreach ...... 30 Key Activities and Accomplishments ...... 30 Plans for Next Quarter: ...... 32

Annex 1: EWMI ACCESS Rapid Response Grant Projects

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ACRONYMS ACCESS Advancing CSO Capacities and Engaging Society for Sustainability Project CBO Community Based Organization CCA Center for Civic Activities CCY Coalition of Children and Youth of Georgia CDP Capacity Development Plan CiDA Civil Development Agency COP Chief of Party COGs Citizen Outreach Grants CSO Civil Society Organization CTC Centre for Training and Consultancy, Georgia DCoP Deputy Chief of Party DFRLab Digital Forensic Research Lab EWMI East-West Management Institute GCSD Georgian Center for Strategy and Development GEL Georgian Lari G-PAC Policy, Advocacy, and Civil Society Development in Georgia HICD 2020 Human and Institutional Development 2020 Activity HRSJRC Human Rights and Social Justice Research Center IFES International Fund for Electoral Systems IMDCA Internet Monitoring for Democratic Civic Action ISFED International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy NCCE Network of Centers for Civic Engagement, Georgia NMP Non-profit Management Program OACA Organizational and Advocacy Capacity Assessment Tool PPAG Public Policy and Accountability Grants RRG Rapid Response Grant StratCom Strategic Communications Center of Georgia TA Technical Assistance ToT Training of Trainers UNAG United Nations Association – Georgia USAID United States Agency for International Development WISG Women’s Information and Support Group WoG Women of Georgia WWC Winner Women’s Club

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BACKGROUND The Advancing CSO Capacities and Engaging Society for Sustainability (ACCESS) Project works to enhance the effectiveness of civil society organizations (CSOs) in Georgia. EWMI ACCESS is a 6.5-year $8,996,947 project funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by East-West Management Institute (EWMI) and its local partners, the Centre for Training and Consultancy (CTC) and the Civil Development Agency (CiDA). ACCESS builds on the successes of EWMI’s and USAID’s previous work with CSOs in Georgia under the Policy, Advocacy, and Civil Society Development in Georgia (G- PAC) project.

ACCESS works to achieve four objectives: 1) Citizens become more aware of and involved in CSO activities; 2) CSO leadership, organizational capacity, and sustainability are improved among organizations throughout Georgia; 3) CSOs are able to effectively monitor, analyze, and influence key government policies and processes; and 4) The Centers for Civic Engagement (CCEs) establish local ownership so they continue to operate as politically neutral gathering spaces for public discourse.

EWMI ACCESS pursues these four objectives through grants supporting policy research, watchdogs, and civic engagement activities by CSOs, technical assistance programming to strengthen CCEs and CSO management and operations, and a wide range of events that deepen dialogue and partnerships between citizens, CSOs, government, businesses, and media.

EWMI ACCESS prioritizes the expanded inclusion of women, minorities, and youth in its initiatives to ensure that voices from these groups are more fully taken into account in CSO activities and governance processes. By increasing the use of science, technology, and innovation in CSO activities, EWMI ACCESS also assists civil society in becoming more effective and efficient in representing the needs of the public.

EWMI ACCESS began on October 30, 2014, and is scheduled to end on April 30, 2021.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY During the reporting period, EWMI ACCESS launched 38 new grant projects, including 11 Citizen Outreach Grant (COG) projects, 22 Rapid Response Grant (RRG) projects, and five Public Policy and Accountability Grant (PPAG) projects.

COGs addressed wide-ranging issues concerning Georgian citizens across the country. The implementing organizations sustained regular communication with their constituents and despite the challenges created by COVID-19, significantly expanded their support bases.

RRGs provided critical information and support to disproportionally affected groups during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic. They gained wide media coverage and public support and spurred multiple crowdfunding initiatives and other solidarity actions in support of vulnerable groups.

PPAGs used diverse online and face-to-face communication methods to safeguard citizens from conspiracies and misconceptions about COVID-19. They also tracked and exposed anti- western and pro-Russian fake Facebook accounts and pages and successfully advocated for their removal from Facebook.

EWMI ACCESS supported a regular exchange of information among its grantees, leading to resource-sharing and amplification of results, as well as to the increased solidarity among civil society actors.

EWMI ACCESS’ local implementing partner CTC provided uninterrupted organizational development assistance to eight organizations, responding to their concrete needs and priorities. It also engaged 154 CSO members and civic activists through self-paced e-courses, and launched a new e-course on preventing sexual harassment in the workplace. Additionally, CTC developed the first Georgian-language publication on co-creation to popularize this concept in Georgia and provide background information on its meaning, benefits, and approaches.

NCCE’s regional offices remained closed because of the COVID-19 threats and restrictions; however, they successfully organized 67 online issue-based discussions, engaging 887 citizens and discussing the most critical issues related to the COVID-19 crisis and its impact on different groups and sectors. NCCE also published a practical guidebook for citizens on how to receive the state-sponsored benefits and assistance available in response to the COVID- 19 outbreak and provided direct assistance to over 400 citizens in applying for these benefits.

On May 20, USAID Georgia informed EWMI that it is considering increasing the total estimated amount of ACCESS by $700,000 and extending ACCESS’ period of performance by six months, from May 1, 2021 to October 21, 2021. On June 5, EWMI provided USAID Georgia with a Technical and Cost Application for the anticipated extension of ACCESS that would build upon its early success with RRGs that catalyzed new forms of civic mobilization

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and provided timely and critical support to the most affected groups and communities in the early weeks and months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Georgia. With the proposed amendment, ACCESS will step up its efforts to amplify citizen voices in pandemic responses, bolster emerging local initiatives, and engage civil society groups in addressing medium- and long-term implications of the pandemic in myriad small and large ways. During the reporting period, negotiations between EWMI and USAID were still on-going regarding the Technical Application for the extension.

COMPONENT ONE: CITIZENS BECOME MORE AWARE OF AND INVOLVED IN CSO ACTIVITIES Component One serves to increase the involvement of Georgian citizens with civil society organizations (CSOs) and CSO initiatives. The goal is to provide citizens with effective channels to voice their concerns to the government while increasing public trust in the CSO sector. EWMI ACCESS achieves these objectives through the Citizen Outreach Grants (COGs) Program, Regional Civic Engagement Campaigns (RCECs), Bus Tours, and initiatives aimed at increasing the use of technology to engage more citizens in CSO activities.

Key Activities and Accomplishments During the reporting period, EWMI ACCESS started implementing seven open and four targeted COGs. EWMI ACCESS also received over 450 applications to the Act Now - Rapid Response Grant (RRG) competition and selected and implemented 22 RRGs in response to COVID-19.

Targeted Citizen Outreach Grants The following four targeted COG recipients began implementing their grant activities in June: Women of Georgia, Civic Initiative/Knowledge Cafe, Center for Civic Activities, and Club of Winner Women. EWMI ACCESS awarded these grants based on the significance of their priority areas and outstanding past performances of implementing organizations.

Women of Georgia (WoG) raised awareness on gender inequalities in Georgia by sharing experiences of women from various backgrounds and using storytelling to establish an emotional connection with readers. During the reporting period, WoG recorded 13 interviews with women from four regions of Georgia, as well as from migrant women living in Italy and the US. Asmat Petriashvili, 92, featured on Women of Georgia

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The stories highlighted women’s main challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic and in general. In addition to writing about emigrant women, women with ‘masculine’ professions, civic activist women, ethnic minority women, and women whose families were victims of the Soviet terror, WoG’s stories covered such tabooed topics as HIV infection, LGBTQI rights, and adoption.

The story about a woman who fostered a child with Down syndrome received the highest Facebook engagement with over 4,200 likes, 511 comments, and 940 shares. The second most popular story was about the only woman in Georgia who is open about her HIV infection. Her story generated 267 comments and was shared 236 times. In total, WoG’s stories received over 15,000 Likes on Facebook, generated over 1,300 comments, and were shared over 1,660 times. The number of WoG’s social media followers increased from 75,000 to 77,397 in three months.

Club of Winner Women (CWW) helped breast cancer patients and survivors in regions of Georgia and raised public awareness about the importance of breast and cervical cancer screening. During the reporting period, CWW set up two new women’s support groups in Gori and and organized 12 psychological rehabilitation sessions for the support/self- help group members in Gori, Sagarejo, and . Medical personnel and cancer survivor women supported by CWW collaborated in multiple informational and peer solidarity campaigns to raise awareness about the state-sponsored screening programs and the importance of screening for reducing cancer mortality. CWW also organized meetings with local governments to advocate for local programs (i.e. post-surgery and post-treatment physical and psychological rehabilitation) for breast cancer patients and survivors.

In the face of the increased threat of infection and health complications for cancer patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, CWW organized special therapy sessions and online consultations on how to cope with stress, how to remain physically active in self-isolation, and on cancer care during COVID-19. CWW members launched a Facebook challenge campaign in which they shared their personal experiences during the pandemic and exchanged recommendations on how to ensure the physical and mental well-being during the stay-at-home order. To CWW meeting with the Gori Municipal Government highlight CWW’s role in addressing one of the most concerning issues for women through peer-support and empowerment, in May EWMI ACCESS published a feature story dedicated to the CWW success to date and its plans.

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Civic Initiative/Knowledge Cafè mobilized resources through crowdfunding, sponsorships, and civic activism to build the first-ever independent civic space in the Village (Sighnaghi Municipality). During the reporting period, the Knowledge Café produced infographics and short videos about the progress it was making in terms of fundraising and civic activism diversification. By the end of June 2020, the number of its crowdfunding contributors reached 1,419, and soon the organization will be able to begin the construction process. Meanwhile, the Knowledge Café continued designing the local community empowering initiatives supported by EWMI ACCESS, including a business startup Knowledge Cafe promotional poster mentorship program aimed at developing civic and business skills among students from 20 schools and a new training program for university students. Both programs will be launched in the 2020 fall semester.

Center for Civic Activities, in partnership with Tusheti, Pankisi, Pshav-Khevsureti, Mtiuleti, Khevi, Racha, Lechkhumi, Lower Svaneti, and Upper Svaneti Community Based Organizations (CBOs), launched intensive advocacy campaigns on:  Access to public transportation for rural communities in Pankisi;  Access to the internet in Pshav-Khevsureti;  Naming one of the streets in the Municipality after the village Khalde to commemorate the courage of the Khalde villagers against the Russian occupiers at the end of the 19th century;  Documenting and preserving the unique Racha Oda houses and creating a new tourist track in Racha.

These issues were identified as some of the top priorities by the CBOs. CCA assisted them in organizing advocacy meetings with local and national government representatives and submitting petitions to local Sakrebulos to advance these issues. CCA also conducted 10 informational One of the few remaining Oda-style houses in Racha meetings in Pankisi, Upper Svaneti, and Racha to inform local citizens, including youth, about the project goals and engage them in future activities. As a result, CCA recruited 30 new volunteers.

CCA’s media portal Mtis Ambebi (Mountain News) produced and disseminated video stories highlighting the advocacy issues and the CBO efforts. Mtis Ambebi also helped the Upper Svaneti CBO to organize a crowdfunding campaign for Elene Kvanchiani and her disabled son

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living in a barn in extreme poverty in the Vedi Village, in Mestia. Within a week, CCA and Upper Svaneti CBO raised 40,000 GEL to build a house for them.

Open Citizen Outreach Grants The -based environmental movement #Gavigudet is a group of local volunteers and civic activists combating air pollution in Rustavi through advocacy campaigns, and citizen awareness and mobilization. During the reporting period, #Gavigudet developed and distributed eye-catching visual materials, such as infographics and short videos to inform wider audiences about the Rustavi air pollution problem and its health implications, including its correlation with COVID-19 health complications. #Gavigudet published daily updates on its Facebook page about the results of monitoring of factories in Rustavi and their damaging impact on the environment. As of June 2020, the Facebook page had 12,626 followers.

Gavigudet call for volunteers #Gavigudet also engaged in public consultations on and organized street actions in support of new draft laws requiring companies to closely monitor and reduce emissions and authorizing the Department of Environmental Oversight to seal off the object, plant, or installation if it poses a threat to the environment, human health, or human life. The parliamentary hearing on the draft law was scheduled to take place in the spring of 2020, but was postponed until the 2020 fall session.

Additionally, #Gavigudet joined efforts with the popular plant shop Anemone – one of the grantees of the USAID-supported Youth and Women Entrepreneurship in Georgia (YES- Georgia) – and applied to Orbeliani Georgia’s platform to raise funds to plant trees in Rustavi. If successful, #Gavigudet will plant 300 new trees. Anyone who donates at least 30 GEL to this campaign will receive a plant as a gift from Anemone.

The -based CSO Human Rights and Social Justice Research Center (HRSJRC), in partnership with the media organization TSPress, began monitoring water and air pollution and recurring flooding in Poti. HRSJRC studied the legal framework and the sanctions imposed by the Ministry of Environmental Protection HRSJRC meeting with local activists via zoom and Agriculture for illegal fish processing. HRSJRC also created a Poti Civic Platform and its Facebook group Poti Citizens for their Rights to collaborate with local activists and with social and environmental movements from other parts of Georgia, such as #Gavigudet in Rustavi, to share experiences and amplify resources.

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During the reporting period, HRSJRC organized two meetings between the Poti local government and the Poti Civic Platform, four working meetings of the platform members, and training for them on advocacy tools. HRSJRC also initiated a petition demanding the setting up of automatic stations for permanent monitoring of air in Poti. The petition reached its signature goal in just about two days and with 574 signatures it has been submitted to the Poti Sakrebulo for review. The Sakrebulo will discuss the petition in the next reporting period.

The Centre for Biodiversity Conservation & Research - NACRES promotes volunteerism and civic engagement in through strengthening volunteer firefighter groups and raising awareness on fire prevention and safety.

During the reporting period, NACRES developed and printed informational posters and leaflets about safe evacuation from buildings and forest fires. It also purchased special equipment for volunteer firefighters (i.e. first aid kits, torches, walkie-talkies) and equipment for junior volunteer firefighters’ school clubs (i.e. first aid kits). NACRES will launch the junior firefighters program in schools in the fall 2020 semester.

Tbilisi Pride’s project Proud Families empowers families of LGBTQI persons through peer solidarity and awareness- raising to accept their children openly, support their well- being, and eventually speak up as advocates for equality. During the reporting period, Tbilisi Pride reached out to family members of LGBTQI persons to encourage and secure their participation in the project activities. Shortly after launching the project, Tbilisi Pride developed and published a brochure describing the support and opportunities offered to the families of LGBTQI persons and designed a two-day workshop that will engage the families in designing and implementing project activities. The workshop and the follow-on activities will enable and support the Proud Families logo recruited participants to build a peer solidarity network and offer a “safe haven” to both give and receive support. The workshop will be organized in the next quarter.

The -based New Thinking Institute (NTI) empowers young rural Azeri mothers from three villages of the Marneuli Municipality through setting up a Mothers’ School and offering them informal education opportunities. The classes take place at the two local community development centers of Molaoghli and Khuldara supported by EWMI ACCESS.

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During the reporting period, NTI organized an introductory meeting with selected young mothers, their spouses, children, and instructors to discuss the upcoming activities and agree on the activity calendar. It also set up two groups of 12 young mothers each and began the first weekly classes, including a computer class. In addition to the weekly instructions, 22 mothers attended a seminar on healthy lifestyle and NTI discussion on women’s rights COVID-19 prevention and an informal discussion on women’s rights.

Salam Platform empowers Azeri youth by creating educational opportunities in advocacy, public speaking, and debates. During the reporting period, Salam Platform created a closed Facebook group for its members and organized a three-day Training of Trainers (ToT) in public speaking and debating techniques engaging 20 participants. The trained trainers organized and conducted 14 follow-up trainings for their peers from the region in public speaking and debating techniques and one round of debates for the Salam Platform members. Additionally, Salam Platform launched Reading Clubs and organized two discussions among the Club members on racism and nationalism. These topics became particularly important after the growing xenophobic attacks on Azeri minorities after the spread of the COVID-19 infection in the Azeri communities of Marneuli and .

Orbeliani - Georgia developed and launched a new funding mechanism for community- driven projects, introducing a match-funding system. The platform enables civic activists and social entrepreneurs to register their project ideas and start an intensive outreach campaign to raise funds from citizens for their implementation. If a campaign reaches at least half of its funding goal through crowdfunding, the rest will be covered/matched by Orbeliani - Georgia using the EWMI ACCESS grant funds.

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Protect Trees idea featured on the Orbeliani Meti crowdfunding platform

During the reporting period, Orbeliani - Georgia received 20 ideas through open competition and selected 12 finalists. Selected ideas went online on the crowdfunding platform – Orbeliani Meti (Orbeliani More). The selected ideas included a women-only hitchhiking app, preservation of traditional Oda houses in the Racha Region (by the Racha CBO in cooperation with the COG recipient CCA), setting up of a rock-climbing club for children from the Bediani orphanage, tackling air pollution in Rustavi (by the COG recipient #Gavigudet), among others. Orbeliani - Georgia worked with the finalists to help them develop their online fundraising plans and set up the tailored crowdfunding campaigns. During the reporting period, 254 donors donated 5,074.50 GEL to different ideas.

Rapid Response Grants – Act Now In order to respond to the COVID-19 crisis in a timely manner, EWMI ACCESS promptly announced the Rapid Response Grants (RRG) program for Georgian CSOs, civic movements and citizen groups in late March. The program deployed flexible resources to these groups to take civic action to minimize the spread of infection and address the crisis caused by the pandemic. EWMI ACCESS reviewed applications on a rolling basis and awarded 22 grants during the reporting period. Quick access to funds allowed grantees to support some of the most urgent needs during the early months of the COVID-19 outbreak and implement the tailored projects that varied in form, strategy, and those who benefited from them.

The supported initiatives ranged from organizing crowdfunding and volunteer initiatives to help lonely elderly and socially vulnerable families in different parts of Georgia; to raising awareness in marginalized and ethnic minority communities about the COVID-19 threat and prevention measures; to providing critical information and support to high-risk groups, including HIV and cancer patients, individuals with substance dependence; to preventing and addressing disinformation and conspiracies surrounding COVID-19; to using new technologies to mitigate the negative effects of the pandemic; to building the capacity of medical personnel;

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to developing and distributing motivational photo-diaries and stories; to creating alternative learning and developmental resources for children; and addressing the needs of vulnerable groups, such as persons with disabilities and children with terminal illness.

The RRG projects received wide media coverage, including broadcasts and interviews on national TV and radio stations, video stories and interviews in leading online portals, and wide social media reach. They also spurred increased activism, volunteer engagement, and networking among civil society groups at local, regional, and national levels. The networking examples include a partnership between the Platform Salam and Gumbati to distribute informational materials in the Municipality, Platform Salam’s assistance to the Georgian Journalists’ Ethics Charter to translate its media literacy cards into Azeri and distribute them to the Azeri community, Lika Qurcikidze’s and Shorena Tkeshelashvili’s support to the Innovations for Inclusive Society to prepare children with learning disabilities for school entry, Marketer.ge’s and Prevencia.ge’s stories about and Lonely elderly from Sighnaghi supported by one of the RRG projects interviews with the RRG activists, and others. Marketer.ge also recorded and published an hour-long podcast with USAID Georgia’s Private Sector Development Senior Advisor David Tsiklauri about the USAID programs in Georgia, its support during the COVID-19 crisis, and economic security and growth initiatives during and beyond the pandemic. Within days from publishing, the podcast was viewed more than 11,000 times and shared more than 500 times.

EWMI ACCESS submitted daily updates to USAID Georgia about the RRG-supported activities and outcomes. By the end of June 2020, the vast majority of the RRG recipients had completed their projects. Six grantees – Marketer.ge, Social Workers for the Society’s Wellbeing, Children’s Hospice, Welfare Foundation, Innovations for Inclusive Society, and Lika Qurcikidze and Shorena Tkeshelashvili, – continued implementing their projects through July.

In June 2020, EWMI ACCESS developed and published a feature story to highlight the RRG program and its achievements. After finalizing all 22 RRGs, EWMI ACCESS will develop an infographic summarizing the final results and lessons learned document with concrete recommendations for supporting civic work through grants.

Key Issues and Challenges During this reporting period, EWMI ACCESS did not encounter any major challenges under Component One other than those caused by COVID-19, such as the delayed start of the COG activities and substitution of in-person meetings with the online ones or moving them outdoors, when possible.

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Plans for Next Quarter EWMI ACCESS plans to conduct the following activities under Component One during the next quarter:  Support and oversee the implementation of ongoing open and targeted COG projects;  Issue a new targeted COG to the Youth and Children Coalition to help put children’s issues at the center of electoral debates and programs during the 2020 parliamentary elections;  Issue RRGs to respond to urgent needs and opportunities that may arise in the run- up to 2020 parliamentary elections;  Issue a new RfA for CSOs on addressing the COVID-19 pandemic challenges and select respective grantees, in accordance with the proposed EWMI ACCESS funded extension;  Issue a new RfA for civic activists and citizen groups on addressing the COVID-19 pandemic challenges and select respective grantees, in accordance with the proposed EWMI ACCESS funded extension;  Facilitate regular contact and information-sharing among grantees and partner CSOs;  Organize bus tours to Marneuli, Bolnisi, and Poti;  Organize a Social Lab discussion on the role of informal and formal civil society in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

COMPONENT TWO: IMPROVING CSO LEADERSHIP, ORGANIZATIONAL CAPACITY, AND SUSTAINABILITY Under Component Two, EWMI ACCESS provides a wide range of tailored technical assistance (TA) to regional and Tbilisi-based CSOs to help them develop into strong and sustainable organizations. EWMI ACCESS TA emphasizes facilitated learning and giving CSOs the latitude to define their own priorities and tailor specific interventions to individual and organizational needs. To assist CSOs in improving their ability to leverage existing resources and pursue emerging opportunities to raise social and financial capital, EWMI ACCESS provides opportunities for networking and business sector outreach.

EWMI ACCESS works to achieve Component Two objectives by implementing the following activities: (i) the CSO Organizational Development Program; (ii) the Nonprofit Management Program (NMP); (iii) CSO network facilitation, through support for the Regional Civil Society Network (R-CSN), a consortium of 64 CSOs throughout Georgia; and (iv) the Business Outreach Program. EWMI ACCESS implements Component Two primarily through its local implementing partners, Center for Training and Consultancy (CTC) and Civil Development Agency (CiDA). CTC is responsible for the CSO Organizational Development Program, while CiDA leads the work on CSO networking and business outreach.

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Key Activities and Accomplishments During the reporting period, despite the COVID-19-related lockdown and government- imposed restrictions, CTC provided uninterrupted assistance to the Organizational Development Assistance Program participants. It also continued offering self-paced e-learning courses on leadership, project management, and civic activism and developed and launched a new e-course on preventing sexual harassment in the workplace, specifically targeting non- profit organizations. In order to promote the concept of co-creation to boost creativity and innovation in the civil society sector, CTC also put together the first Georgian-language informational material on organizing a co-creation process.

Organizational and Advocacy Capacity Assessments and Technical Assistance to CSOs During April and the first half of May 2020, CTC engaged with the Organizational Development Assistance Program participants through online consultations. Starting from late May, with some restrictions lifted, a number of organizations opted for face-to-face workshops and consultations. Throughout this process, CTC ensured strict adherence to the COVID-19 safety protocol established by EWMI ACCESS to prevent the spread of the virus.

CTC completed assisting the Georgian Center for Strategy and Development (GCSD), one of the leading Tbilisi-based CSOs working on enhancing strategic communications, countering violent extremism, and supporting research-based policy-making. The work with GCSD focused on improving sub-award issuing procedures, as well as developing specific requirements for grant applications. Also, the GCSD staff received a three-day online training on designing a project logical framework and a monitoring and evaluation system.

CTC also finalized its work with Umbrella – a network organization working through small regional chapters across the country to promote youth activism. Based on the initial assessment of the network, CTC assisted its affiliate youth initiative group in Marneuli. The Umbrella youth group in Marneuli (nine individuals) received a four-day training on organizational management and project planning.

CTC completed the work with the Coalition for Children and Youth of Georgia (CCY), the largest coalition of the Tbilisi-based and regional CSOs focusing on children’s issues. CTC supported the CCY board to design comprehensive rules of procedures on managing coalition projects based on a project cycle approach. The internal management documents developed through the CTC assistance received approval by the CCY board.

CTC provided continued support to the parents’ network organization Parents for Education to help it improve a concept on Digital School for Parents. The Digital School for Parents is an interactive web portal initiated by the organization to connect, share, and exchange ideas online on positive and effective parenting.

CTC supported the Georgian Coalition for Early Childhood Intervention in assessing its organizational set-up and membership base. The work with the Coalition also focused on

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institutional development and reassessing the existing structural arrangement. Further work with GCECI will revolve around reviewing the existing fundraising strategy.

CTC set out its assistance to Tbilisi Pride. At the early stage, it helped the organization with developing the COVID-19 crisis response plan. The plan concerned responding to the needs of the most vulnerable members of the LGBTQI community during the emergency situation, adapting the organization’s working style and ongoing projects to the new reality, and developing a plan for rallies and advocacy strategies in the new context. In the future, CTC and Tbilisi Pride will continue working on internal code of conduct, organizational culture, and communication of common values.

Lastly, CTC assisted Orbeliani - Georgia in conducting an initial organizational and advocacy self-assessment and identified the following two areas for future assistance: revision of the organization’s strategy document and/or elaboration of recommendations for promoting the crowdfunding platform.

During the reporting period, few changes occurred with regards to other selected organizations for the Organizational Development Assistance Program. The CBO Leli and the COG recipient WWC pulled out from the Program as they had to reallocate their human resources to other activities due to the COVID-19 crisis and were unable to take on new commitments. Assistance to MAC Georgia is on hold as the organization is engaged in another organizational development program funded by USAID Georgia – the Human and Institutional Development (HICD) 2020 Activity. The final decision regarding MAC Georgia will be made later, once the organization completes its work with HICD 2020.

CTC and EWMI ACCESS filled in the two vacated spots with the competitively selected Women’s Initiatives Supporting Group (WISG) and the COG recipient Platform Salam. CTC’s engagement with these two organizations is at the self-assessment stage.

Stress Management Support During the reporting period, CTC prepared and published e- posters with concrete recommendations on how to cope with the COVID-19 stress in the Azeri and Armenian languages. The recommendations were based on the earlier stress management videos prepared by EWMI ACCESS and CTC in collaboration with the well-known Georgian psychotherapist Maya Tsiramua. CTC published and promoted the posters in these two languages, targeting the ethnic minority populated regions of Kvemo Kartli and Samtskhe-Javakheti. Stress management poster

CTC and EWMI ACCESS also designed a two-day stress management and professional burnout prevention workshop for the RRG and COG recipients who were involved in the

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most intense and/or distressing COVID-19 response activities. In total, 10 grantees have been selected to participate in the workshop to take place in July 2020.

Support on Developing Organizational Policies to Counter Sexual Harassment In June 2020, CTC launched a new, self-paced e-course on how to prevent and address Sexual Harassment in the Workplace. The course is designed for CSOs to help them identify possible cases of workplace sexual harassment, address such cases/complaints, and develop efficient internal prevention and response mechanisms. The course takes up to two to three hours to complete and consists of three modules and pre- and post-tests. Upon completion, the system automatically generates a certificate.

The first module is a general introduction to the problem of sexual harassment, types of harassment in the workplace, and gender and sexual harassment. The second module focuses on the regulatory framework, including the relevant international conventions and national laws that are in place. This module also outlines the steps, timelines, and the state institutions to be contacted in case of sexual harassment. The third module is specifically about addressing sexual harassment in the organization and designing and integrating internal prevention and response mechanisms. The course also offers additional material, such as samples of internal sexual harassment policy Sexual Harassment in the Workplace - Online and complaint forms. Course Announcement

To create high-quality course content and material, CTC contracted the gender expert and Head of the Gender Department at the Georgian Public Defender’s Office Anna Iluridze. Before finalizing the course, CTC and EWMI ACCESS piloted it in a small group and collected detailed feedback from different stakeholders, including the Gender Council of the Parliament of Georgia, UN Women, EWMI-PROLoG, and Georgian CSOs, such as WISG, NCCE, Institute for Development of Freedom of Information, International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association, Sapari, Platform Salam, and others. Also, individuals with disabilities (deaf and blind) tested the course to make sure that is was equally accessible for everyone.

According to the absolute majority of the pilot participants, the course was both informative and user-friendly. They were particularly positive about the fact that it was tailored to the needs of CSOs and said that they would recommend it to others.

“I enjoyed taking the course and already see the CTC promoted the newly launched course benefits of this course for my own organization. online and through jobs.ge. CTC and EWMI Despite the fact that we are a relatively recently ACCESS also disseminated the information about established organization, it is important to have the course through the CSO mailing lists and such policies in place from the very beginning” – offered it to the participants of the CTC- Focus Group participant CSO. facilitated Organizational Development

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Assistance Program and EWMI ACCESS’ grantees. Since its launch in mid-June 2020, 56 participants enrolled in the course and 36 completed it within the first two weeks.

Self-paced Online Courses During the reporting period, CTC announced the fourth round of self-paced e-learning courses for CSOs and civic activists. 154 new unique users registered in the system and 125 received the completion certificates:  52 participants successfully completed the Leadership in CSOs course;  39 participants successfully completed the Project Logic in a Nutshell course;  34 participants successfully completed the Roadmap to CSOs course.

CTC asked the enrolled participants to give anonymous feedback on the self-paced courses. The majority of the participants found the self-paced courses useful and were satisfied both with the content and delivery. More specifically, over 90% of those who took the Leadership in CSOs course responded that their expectations were fully met. Satisfaction rates for the Roadmap to CSOs and Project Logic in a Nutshell courses were also above 88% and 86% respectively. The remaining 12%-14% of participants indicated that their expectations were met, albeit partly.

For additional details on the course enrollments and completion please see the table below: April-June, 2020

# Course Title Newly Individual Course registered course completion unique users enrollments / Certificates issued 1 Roadmap to CSOs 154 71 34 IV round (for all three 2 Project Logic in a Nutshell courses) 93 39 IV round 3 Leadership in CSOs 100 52 II round Certificates issued: 125 (for all three courses) Quarterly breakdown of CTC courses, enrolment, and completion

During the reporting period, CTC also added four new materials to its online resource database for CSOs and civic activists on non-profit management and civic activism. Based on the Google analytics data, at least 600 visitors view the database monthly.

Promoting the Co-creation/Social Lab concept for CSOs to boost creativity and innovation In May 2020, CTC completed the literature review on co-creation and Social Lab methodologies and published a comprehensive research paper describing these approaches. The paper breaks down the concept, function, model, structure, and composition of Social Labs, alongside the methods and instruments required for their operation. It also takes a

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closer look at the challenges that Social Labs can face during their formation and implementation phases. The document helps the reader to grasp the essence of the Social Lab methodology, as well as of co-creation processes at large. CTC intends to use the research findings to develop practical co-creation tools applicable to the Georgian context and promote creative and participatory planning processes to support innovation in the civil society sector.

Key Issues and Challenges During this reporting period, EWMI ACCESS did not encounter any major challenges under Component Two other than those caused by COVID-19. Because of the pandemic-caused resource reallocation needs, two organizations had to pull out from the CTC’s Organizational Development Assistance Program. CTC and EWMI ACCESS replaced them with two other organizations.

Plans for Next Quarter EWMI ACCESS plans to conduct the following activities under Component Two during the next quarter:  Continue implementing the Organizational Development Assistance Program;  Continue offering self-paced online courses, including the course on preventing and addressing sexual harassment;  Continue updating and promoting the resource database for CSOs and civic activists;  Engage international experts/consultants in developing and delivering training for CTC on organizing a Social Lab process;  Organize a stress management session for CSOs and civic activists involved in the most intense and/or distressing COVID-19 response activities;  Resume business outreach activities with CiDA;  Organize a study to determine the feasibility of adopting and contextualizing philanthropy mapping tools in Georgia;  Issue an RfA for joint initiatives by CSOs and business organizations on addressing the COVID-19 pandemic challenges and select respective grantees, in accordance with the proposed EWMI ACCESS funded extension.

COMPONENT THREE: CSO POLICY RESEARCH, MONITORING, AND INFLUENCE INCREASE ACCESS supports Georgian think tanks, watchdog CSOs, and CSO coalitions in effectively monitoring, analyzing, and influencing key government policies and processes. The goal is to improve policy decisions and increase government accountability to the public on national policy issues. ACCESS Component Three activities include: (1) building CSO capacity in policy research, analysis, and organizational management; (2) supporting research, advocacy, and monitoring projects through Public Policy and Accountability Grants (PPAGs); and (3)

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organizing policy forums to deepen constructive dialogue between CSOs, the government, and other policy stakeholders.

Key Activities and Accomplishments During the reporting period, the EWMI ACCESS-supported Public Policy and Accountability Grant (PPAG) recipients uncovered and exposed various disinformation campaigns related to COVID-19 and Georgia’s democratic transition; created and promoted automated and interactive fake news and fake source detection platforms; and mobilized and engaged thousands of social media users and volunteers in inspirational online and offline campaigns promoting Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic choice. It also organized an online policy forum on the actions taken and announced by the government to stimulate economy during the COVID- 19 crisis.

Public Policy and Accountability Grants (PPAGs) EWMI ACCESS’ recently launched five PPAGs aiming to build Georgia’s resilience against disinformation and other hostile foreign electoral interference in 2020 Parliamentary Elections. EWMI ACCESS signed the sub-award agreements on April 15, 2020 and ensured smooth launch of all five projects despite the COVID-19 crisis. Debunking fake news about COVID-19 and building resilience against the related conspiracies and anti-government- regulation calls was the first priority for these projects in the initial period.

International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) uncovered one major home-grown discrediting and divisive campaign and one major externally driven disinformation campaign using anti-western and pro-Kremlin narratives to polarize society. This was part of ISFED’s monitoring of Facebook prior to the 2020 Parliamentary elections.

On April 30, ISFED had Facebook take down arguably the most active platform of Kremlin’s information operations on Georgian social media – the Facebook page News Front Georgia, personal account of its administrator, and its satellite fake accounts. ISFED proved that News Front Georgia’s Facebook page and its administrator, along with 12 fake accounts, massively violated Facebook rules and engaged in the so-called “inauthentic coordinated” behavior. They spread fake news and divisive messages selectively, targeting vulnerable Facebook users, instigating antagonism and aggression, dividing the society, and driving political polarization.

Together with News Front’s network, Facebook also deleted the accounts and pages affiliated with Sputnik Georgia – another pro-Russian fake news portal that ISFED had reported on in early April 2020.

ISFED also issued a report on a coordinated network of false Georgian media pages in Facebook and YouTube, operating as a network in close coordination and disguise. The false media utilized common tactics in an attempt to disseminate pro-governmental messages in an inauthentic manner and demonize critical opinions.

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In total, during the reporting period ISFED:  Uncovered and exposed two inauthentic information operations;  Uncovered and analyzed 14 false media outlets;  Exposed 12 News-Front-affiliated inauthentic accounts; and  Identified 27 inauthentic personal accounts. ISFED uncovered a network of coordinated false online media outlets driving domestic polarization

ISFED’s social media reports received a high level of media coverage. The organization featured prominently on both television and online media, especially in the wake of Facebook’s takedown of Georgian and Georgia-focused inauthentic networks. ISFED’s reports were widely cited and its Executive Director was frequently invited in prime-time political talk shows.

In addition to publishing social media monitoring reports, ISFED successfully engaged with Facebook to take action against inauthentic activism and disinformation on this social media platform. ISFED lawyers and researchers had an active e-mail exchange with Facebook representatives, and held two online conversations discussing ISFED’s monitoring findings and Facebook’s takedown of the Georgian and Georgia-focused inauthentic networks. Facebook staff also delivered free training on CrowdTangle for ISFED’s social media team.

ISFED created the interactive platform DisinfoObserver to display information gathered as a result of ISFED social media monitoring. The purpose of this initiative was to raise public awareness on suspicious Facebook page’s activities and tactics and aid users in accessing reliable information. The platform allowed users to submit links to suspicious pages and accounts for double-checking and reporting. The website has a searchable directory of more than 130 Facebook pages.

Another major success story of the project was the joint address to Facebook, urging it to make political ads more transparent. The letter, initiated and coordinated by ISFED, was signed by 48 CSOs and media outlets in Georgia, making it a highly visible document. It outlined a number of recommendations for the 2020 Parliamentary election, which – if adopted by Facebook – would guarantee increased transparency of the upcoming elections.

As part of ISFED’s regular monitoring of the use of social media by political parties, candidates, public institutions, and high-level civil servants, it published blog posts on increased mentions of the ruling party Georgian Dream on the social media platforms of municipal authorities.

On.ge and DFRLab exposed and analyzed three Russian influence campaigns targeting Georgia.

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In April 2020, DFRLab researchers analyzed the way the Kremlin had responded to an investigation that found Russia responsible for a cyber-attack in Georgia in October 2019. DFRLab found that Moscow mobilized multichannel, full-spectrum propaganda immediately after the investigation’s findings became public, denied any responsibility for it, and accused Georgia and its Western partners of Russophobia. It used a range of diverse media sources to create the impression that Russia’s version of events was more credible.

DFRLab also analyzed another of Russia’s cyber activity against Georgia – the leaking of the personal data of more than 4 million Georgian voters that appeared in an online hacking forum. DFRLab verified the data dated back to 2011 and checked the database’s authenticity by comparing it against the official data of the Georgian voters registered by the Georgian Central Election Commission. It found that while the leaked dataset was dated 2011, it could still be used for various nefarious purposes, including privacy breaches, identity theft, and election-related intimidation.

Lastly, DFRLab exposed and analyzed the disinformation campaign run by the Georgian far- right group Alt-Info, spreading anti-Western narratives. Alt-Info was funded by an anti-western Georgian businessman with links to Putin’s ideologue Alexander Dugin. The group had become increasingly active on Facebook, where it spread anti-western and anti-LGBTQI narratives and disinformation, and attempted to present itself as a credible mainstream online media outlet through Facebook live interviews and sharing articles to expand its audience. For example, Alt-Info exploited the ongoing protests in the United States against police brutality and racial injustice, selectively amplifying anti-western content. On.ge’s Georgian translation of DFRLab’s research piece on Alt-Info was very popular, reaching more than 30,000 people in just two hours.

Another broadly shared article by On.ge was about the phone opinion poll which a notoriously anti-western political party Patriotic Alliance of Georgia was conducting in a bid to establish “truth” by polling “one million Georgians” as an alternative to the credible polls by international organizations that showed high popular support for Georgia’s membership in the European Union and NATO. On.ge journalists recorded the phone calls by the “pollsters”, showing how they tried to spin the questions and pressured respondents to On.ge Projects and DFRLab exposed how a pro-Russian party was answer in a certain way. On.ge also using a fake poll as information operation interviewed social researchers and experts about the methodological fallacies and political motives of conducing such “polls” and published a comprehensive article summarizing its research and monitoring results.

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DFRLab and On.ge successfully promoted their research findings on TV shows and programs with their investigators making frequent TV appearances. Additionally, On.ge published engaging anti-disinformation online quizzes and reached diverse Internet users effectively and widely.

Internet Monitoring for Democratic Civic Action (IMDCA) created an automatic feature for identifying fake news on its Who is Who (VinVinAris) web platform. The web platform is available as an extension on Google Chrome, enabling users to detect fake news across the whole web. Once a user who has downloaded the VinVinAris Chrome extension lands at a fake news website, a warning box shows up informing him/her that the content has been fact- checked by a reputable organization and was determined as fake news. IMDCA will invite such reputable fact-checking and anti-disinformation organizations and train them on how to have their fact-checking articles, videos, and other content integrated into this platform.

The VinVinAris platform also continued to identify and report fake accounts on Facebook (including the so-called ‘bots’ and ‘trolls’), and regularly updated its database in order for users to get up-to-date information. As of June 2020, the database kept records of more than 2200 identified bots/trolls. In addition to the fake news detection platform, IMDCA developed VinVinaris Extension for Firefox and Opera.

To engage in an intense digital campaign aimed at improving the public’s support for digital activism against trolls and bots, IMDCA developed a short graphic video on the basics of how to use this platform to spot and fight trolls and fakes in social media. More educational animated videos are in the pipeline.

During the reporting period, IMDCA saw citizen reporting increase by 32%, from 650 reports from January through March to 858 reports in April and May this year. Out of the 858 reports, over 400 reports were proven to be correct, and accounts flagged and reported. Additional 116 accounts were closed after massed reporting and only 17 resurfaced after a ban/suspension period passed. IMDCA also witnessed a major increase in volunteerism, with over 20 volunteers reporting fake accounts on a daily basis, sometimes even multiple times a day. IMDCA also helped citizens who had been harassed using fake accounts – it verified four of such cases and had the accounts flagged, reported, and removed.

Strategic Communications Center of Georgia (StratCom) targeted PPAG is about a social media crowdsourcing platform Information Defense Legion. Its goal is to help protect upcoming elections from hostile foreign electoral interference by mobilizing active pro- western and patriotically minded Georgians against trolls and for Georgia’s narratives.

In April and May 2020, the Legion’s Facebook page actively published posts, articles, and videos related to the COVID-19 pandemic, challenging and resisting the Georgian conspiracy click bait sites and the Russian propaganda outlets aggressively discrediting the US-funded Lugar

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Laboratory. In reality, the Lugar Laboratory was the center-stage of Georgia’s successful fight against the coronavirus.

The Legion also challenged a brief upsurge in Georgians’ anti-European sentiments as Italy, Spain, and others in the EU suffered severely from the virus outbreak and what seemed a weak EU response and solidarity. It shed light on how “successfully” Russia was dealing with the virus and explained the real motives and “usefulness” of Russia’s coronavirus aid to Italy and the US, while highlighting the financial assistance from the US and the European Union to help Georgia cope with the COVID-19 crisis.

The Legionaries also gathered and spread arguments against the health threats of 5G technology and related conspiracy theories that had flooded the social media and led to occasional calls for violence. The Legion spread a barrage of accurate facts and credible information, including live videos, testimonies, and interviews with epidemiologists, scientists, physicists, and researchers. In one example, the grantee organized a campaign against STOP 5G GEORGIA group, infiltrating its members to tell them the truth about the dangers of such groups. As a result, opinions in the group diverged, protesters did not show up, and for some time the group was suspended.

During the lockdown, the Legion organized weekly online discussions on conspiracies, fake news, and ongoing developments with pundits, experts, and distinguished volunteers responding to citizens’ questions and input.

Overall, during the reporting period StratCom Georgia:

 Organized a dozen of online campaigns targeting personal accounts, groups, and pages disseminating anti-western disinformation and/or conspiracies;  Identified fake accounts and placed them in a database that spread/disseminated Russian messages and used Russian sources;  Monitored and wrote comments in the comments section of the Facebook pages of pro-Western Volunteers handing out anti-propaganda newspaper in regions of Georgia Georgian media publishers;  Remained proactive in the Facebook pages and groups of the opponent to challenge them with arguments and win over or defeat the opponent’s narratives;  Regularly engaged in the comments under the posts published on the Legion's Facebook page;

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 Participated in page reporting and recruiting of volunteers as part of specific campaigns; and  Shared the Legion’s and like-minded organizations’ material/posts on various pages and groups for amplification.

The Legion’s most remarkable activities took place in the week of May 26, the Independence Day of Georgia. As one of the most important campaigns for the project, which lasted for one week, the Legion celebrated Independence Day, spread the narrative of why it is important to be independent, and inspired its supporters and like-minded people with motivational videos. The motto for the 26 May Campaign was Independence is Our Way and it featured as a hashtag and Facebook frame for the entire week. The May 26 video of the Legion went viral as it aroused patriotic emotions and projected a sense of unity and pride among Georgians. The video received a record number of reactions (1,737) and was shared 3,749 times. It reached 346,589 people, while engagements equaled 34,252. Additionally, a blogger Legionnaire shared the video on his page, which got 3,356 reactions, 152 comments, and 14,048 shares.

The first edition of the Legion’s anti-occupational and anti-Kremlin propaganda monthly newspaper called Position also came out on May 26. The newspaper was designated to be spread in the regions, where many people still do not have access to the Internet. The newspaper was first distributed in Gori, Kareli, and the adjacent IDP settlements. The Legion’s staff and volunteers gave the newspapers to the passersby’s in the streets and handed them out in markets, shops, residential areas, etc.

Lastly, the Information Defense Legion staged a symbolic performance. Its volunteers dropped flyers on Stalin’s Museum in Gori using a drone. The flyers featured an extract from Stalin’s letter where he endorsed the ceding of Georgia’s Tao-Klarjeti region to Turkey in 1921. The flyers also contained information regarding conflicts ignited by Russia in the former Soviet republics, including Georgia and Ukraine. The purpose of this activity was to dispel propaganda and myths regarding Stalin once advocated in the Soviet Union and still supported by the Russian disinformation machine in Georgia and Russia.

In June 2020, Legionnaires organized another action-performance in Ergneti, close to the administrative boundary line, in response to the South Ossetian de-facto administration blaming Georgia for bioterrorism. South Ossetian de-facto authorities, after claiming Georgia had carried out a bioterrorist act through the Lugar Laboratory, took samples of soil, air, ground surface, and insects in the territory of Khornisi for laboratory analysis. In response, Legionnaires collected additional samples of insects and worms in Ergneti and sent them to the de-facto administration for “further laboratory research.”

United Nations Association of Georgia (UNAG), in collaboration with the popular Internet publication civil.ge, conducted an informational campaign to support Georgia’s aspirations towards Euro-Atlantic institutions and democratic consolidation. Focusing on the

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experience of the first Democratic Republic of Georgia (1918-1921), it produced numerous multimedia materials and posted them on a popular Facebook page Republic 100. Most notably, UNAG developed and disseminated two high-quality, emotional videos about Georgia’s First Republic, showcasing its successes in public policy fields and in pluralist democratic elections and governance, with the motto Europe Is Our Home, Democracy Is Our Tradition. In June 2020, the project launched an online poll to study public attitudes towards democratic values and the recent history of Georgia. Based on the polling results, new targeted campaigns will be modeled and implemented for various social and age groups.

Policy Forum In May 2020, EWMI ACCESS organized a Facebook live discussion on post-COVID-19 economic recovery and the government’s anti-crisis plan. The online discussion featured leading Georgian economic think tanks – ISET Policy Institute, Policy and Management Consulting Group, and Economic Policy Research Center and addressed the following issues: most adversely affected sectors, effectiveness of the government’s response, government transparency and accountability, and recommended actions going forward. TV Pirveli recorded the discussion and aired it as part of its popular economic and business analysis program Analytics.

Key Issues and Challenges During this reporting period, EWMI ACCESS did not encounter any major challenges under Component Three other than those caused by COVID-19, such as having to organize a policy forum and a presentation of ISFED’s monitoring results online.

Plans for Next Quarter EWMI ACCESS plans to conduct the following activities under Component Three in the next reporting period:  Support and oversee the implementation of grant-supported activities of all ongoing PPAGs;  Announce a new PPAG program for think tanks and watchdog CSOs on addressing the cross-regional- and/or national-level COVID-19 pandemic challenges and select respective grantees, in accordance with the proposed EWMI ACCESS funded extension;  Organize capacity building activities for PPAGs and other CSOs;  Organize a Policy Forum series.

COMPONENT FOUR: NETWORK OF CENTERS FOR CIVIC ENGAGEMENT Under Component Four, EWMI ACCESS supports the Network of Centers for Civic Engagement (NCCE) to promote democratic dialogue in Georgia's regions and develop into a sustainable network.

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Key Activities and Accomplishments The COVID-19 crisis had the biggest negative impact on the activities of NCCE. NCCE had to temporarily close down its regional offices and move to work remotely. This had a negative impact on its civic activism, as well as on the income-generating activities. NCCE also had to delay the launch of Election Media Centers. As it was unable to host public events in the CCE offices, NCCE shifted to organizing online discussions primarily on COVID-19 but also other important issues concerning Georgia’s regions. Additionally, it developed and submitted new grant proposals to different donor organizations and engaged the head office and regional staff in discussing a plan for transitioning from a centrally-registered network to a network of individually/regionally registered CCEs.

NCCE Hosted (Online) Events During the reporting period, NCCE organized 67 issue-based events, engaging 887 citizens, among them 641 women (72%) and 253 men (29%). 58 of the 67 events were initiated by NCCE. They engaged 780 participants, including 574 women (74%), 155 youth (20%), and 103 ethnic minorities (13%). The remaining nine events were initiated by CSOs (7) and political parties (2). Thirteen online meetings were live streamed via NCCE’s Facebook page and were viewed 42,995 times.

April 20 events 197 143 53 54 14 ethnic 1,695 participants women men youth minorities Livestream views May 18 events 286 200 86 32 30 ethnic 23,000 participants women men youth minorities Livestream views June 29 events 404 298 113 69 59 ethnic 18,300 participants women men youth minorities Livestream views Monthly breakdown of NCCE’s events

The online events addressed some of the most important challenges and priority issues in the first months of the COVID-19 outbreak, such as the government energy bill support program and the overall policy in the field of energy supply and tariffs during the pandemic; bullying and cyber-bullying threats during the increased use of the Internet by children in the pandemic period; distance learning challenges in the regions; spread of disinformation during the COVID-19 crisis; problems in the tourism sector and tourism support plan unveiled by the Georgian government; situation in the occupied territories of Georgia; impact of COVID-19 on the culture sector; impact of COVID-19 on the agricultural sector; and many others.

NCCE also offered government, CSOs, the private sector, and other key stakeholders assistance in disseminating critical information to regional stakeholders and communities, using its extensive contact databases and networks at the local level.

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Live streamed events during April-June 2020

Consultation for Ethnic Minorities In partnership with the International Fund for Electoral Systems (IFES) Georgia, NCCE staff members and local volunteers in Marneuli and provided consultations to the Azeri and Armenian ethnic minority citizens in the Kvemo Kartli and Samtskhe-Javakheti regions to assist them in filling out the online forms to apply for the state-sponsored COVID-19 compensation programs.

Guidebook for Citizens on the COVID-19-Related State Benefits In June 2020, NCCE developed and published a detailed, user-friendly guidebook for citizens, explaining how to receive unemployment pay-outs, social assistance (i.e. socially vulnerable families and persons with disabilities), and agricultural support outlined in the Georgian government anti-crisis plan unveiled on April 24, 2020.

Earlier, NCCE published a post on its Facebook page, inviting citizens to submit questions regarding the anti-crisis plan. Within a few days, the organization received over 400 questions from across the country. NCCE grouped these questions by main topics and responded to them with easy-to-understand and comprehensive answers. The grouped questions and answers were listed in full in the 35-page long guidebook.

NCCE also trained its 10 regional coordinators on the eligibility criteria, application procedures, and timeframes related to the anti-crisis plan and provided individual consultations to citizens upon request. This included assistance in preparing and registering the applications.

Legal Analysis and Recommendation on Government Decree #286 After providing direct assistance to over 400 citizens on the COVID-19-related state benefits, NCCE identified significant gaps in a respective government decree that created unfair barriers for citizens seeking to receive state support. NCCE analyzed the legal aspects of the government decree #286 and provided concrete recommendations on how to address the identified pitfalls.

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Promoting Human Rights Protection during the Pandemic As part of the EWMI-PROLoG-funded project, in April 2020, NCCE developed and published three video addresses in the Georgian language with Armenian and Azeri subtitles on the role of government in protecting human rights during the COVID-19 pandemic. The speakers included the member of the Parliament Gender Equality Council Nino Tsilosani, Acting Head of Human Rights Protection and Monitoring Department at the Ministry of Internal Affairs Maka Peradze, and Head of Anti-Discrimination Department of Ombudsman’s Office Keti Shubashvili. They highlighted the government’s approach to ensuring the protection of human rights, mainly focusing on women’s and children’s rights, during the COVID-19 crisis.

NCCE promoted the videos through social media, as well as by sending them via emails, reaching over 1,676 people from 10 regions. Overall, the video clips reached 64,516 people.

Additionally, NCCE organized an online discussion on human rights issues featuring the same three speakers. They spoke in detail about the recent legal changes providing better protection of women’s and children’s rights, ways of protecting victims of domestic violence and sexual harassment, and the recent statistics. The discussion was facilitated by NCCE’s Executive Director. The live video reached 12,208 people.

Fundraising EWMI ACCESS and NCCE continued their efforts to raise alternative funds for NCCE’s operational expenses and project-based activities. During the reporting period, NCCE developed and submitted six project proposals. Four of them have been rejected while two are under evaluation. NCCE’s Head Office is in the process of developing additional project ideas and proposals for other donors operating in and outside of Georgia.

Fee-based Services Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the government-imposed restrictions on organizing in- person group meetings, NCCE did not receive bookings for conference rooms and logistic services.

NCCE maintained long-term sublease contracts in , Marneuli, Sagarejo, , and Zugdidi and during the reporting period, generated 14,314.70 GEL ($4,771) net income through these subleases. The highest-earning CCEs in this regard were Batumi with 48% share in the total net income, and and Sagarejo with 13% and 12% shares respectively.

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Fee-based Services by CCEs (April-May, 2020)

Zugdidi Telavi 11% 13% Batumi Sagarejo 48% 12% Ozurgeti 6% Marneuli 10%

Batumi Marneuli Ozurgeti Sagarejo Telavi Zugdidi

Key Issues and Challenges The COVID-19 pandemic and enforced government restrictions negatively affected NCCE’s civic and economic activities. NCCE had to close down its offices in the regions and move to online operations. NCCE negotiated with the landlords in all ten regions to reduce office rents by 50% during the COVID-19 period. The new rent agreements took effect in May 2020 and have remained in force throughout the reporting period.

Plans for Next Quarter EWMI ACCESS plans to conduct the following activities under Component Four in the next reporting period:  Continue providing technical assistance and oversight to NCCE;  Continue supporting civic activities of NCCE online;  Continue assisting NCCE in fundraising through business outreach and proposal development;  Assist NCCE in developing and implementing the individual registration plan.

Public Outreach

Key Activities and Accomplishments During the reporting period, EWMI ACCESS continued using diverse outreach tools to inform various stakeholders about the project and generate their feedback. Outreach efforts included producing and disseminating project information and news through EWMI ACCESS website and Facebook page and through partner organization’s pages, producing and circulating monthly e-newsletters, and ensuring wide media coverage of ACCESS-organized events. More detailed information about EWMI ACCESS outreach efforts are provided below:

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Electronic Newsletter During the reporting period, EMWI ACCESS issued six e-Newsletters (three in Georgian and three in English) to more than 1,200 subscribers. It also published them on the project’s Facebook page and website and re-posted them on partner organizations’ websites.

New Media EWMI ACCESS actively uses its Facebook page to disseminate news and project updates, announce upcoming events, and engage civil society in conversations. During the reporting period, EWMI ACCESS used its Facebook page intensively to post updates about its Act Now – Rapid Response Grants Program and other interventions related to civic response to COVID-19 and anti-western disinformation.

During the reporting period, EWMI ACCESS posted on Facebook 173 times. The number of ACCESS Facebook Page followers increased to 10,225.

EWMI ACCESS Website During the reporting period, the EWMI ACCESS website had 3,598 visitors (22.4% new and 77.6% returning visitors), 5,537 sessions, and 10,659 page views.

Feature Stories During the reporting period EWMI ACCESS produced three feature stories to highlight EWMI ACCESS’ intervention and support to civic groups and activists to address challenges caused by the pandemic; showcase successful initiatives through peer support and engagement for breast cancer patients; and describe ACCESS’ long-term and multifaceted interventions to counter anti-western disinformation and build resilience of the Georgian public on this.

EWMI Advancing CSO Capacities and Engaging Society for Sustainability (ACCESS) USAID Cooperative Agreement No. AID-114-A-14-00008 23rd Quarterly Report: April 1, 2020 – June 30, 2020 Page 31 of 32

Plans for Next Quarter:  Issue feature stories reflecting the achievements of EWMI ACCESS interventions;  Issue monthly electronic newsletters;  Update the EWMI ACCESS website and Facebook page with news, photos, and announcements about EWMI ACCESS events.

EWMI Advancing CSO Capacities and Engaging Society for Sustainability (ACCESS) USAID Cooperative Agreement No. AID-114-A-14-00008 23rd Quarterly Report: April 1, 2020 – June 30, 2020 Page 32 of 32