TWENTY-FIFTH QUARTERLY REPORT Award Period: October 31, 2014 – October 31, 2021 Reporting Period: October 1 – December 31, 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, Tbilisi: [email protected] Ana Drakic, EWMI ACCESS Project Director, New York: [email protected] #5 Marjanishvili St., Third Floor • Tbilisi 0102 Georgia • 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 ............................................................................................................................ 16 Plans for Next Quarter ..................................................................................................................................... 16 Component Two: Improving CSO leadership, organizational capacity, and sustainability .................................................................................................................................................. 17 Key Activities and Accomplishments ............................................................................................................. 17 Key Issues and Challenges ................................................................................................................................ 23 Plans for Next Quarter ..................................................................................................................................... 23 Component Three: CSO policy research, monitoring, and influence increase ............... 24 Key Activities and Accomplishments ............................................................................................................. 24 Key Issues and Challenges ................................................................................................................................ 30 Plans for Next Quarter ..................................................................................................................................... 30 Component Four: Centers For Civic Engagement ............................................................. 30 Key Activities and Activities ............................................................................................................................. 30 Key Issues and Challenges ................................................................................................................................ 35 Plans for Next Quarter ..................................................................................................................................... 35 Public Outreach ...................................................................................................................... 35 Plans for next Quarter ....................................................................................................................................... 36 EWMI Advancing CSO Capacities and Engaging Society for Sustainability (ACCESS) USAID Cooperative Agreement No. AID-114-A-14-00008 25th Quarterly Report: October 1, 2020 – December 31, 2020 Page 2 of 36 ACRONYMS ACCESS Advancing CSO Capacities and Engaging Society for Sustainability Project AOR Agreement Officer’s Representative CBO Community-based Organization CCA Center for Civic Activities CDP Capacity Development Plan CEFA Coalition Education for All CiDA Civil Development Agency COP Chief of Party COGs Citizen Outreach Grants CSO Civil Society Organization CTC Centre for Training and Consultancy, Georgia CYY Coalition for Children and Youth CWW Club of Winner Women DCoP Deputy Chief of Party DRI Democracy Research Institute EWMI East-West Management Institute GEL Georgian Lari GOTV Get Out To Vote G-PAC Policy, Advocacy, and Civil Society Development in Georgia GRC Grant Review Committee HRSJRC Human Rights and Social Justice Research Center HQ Headquarter HRC Human Rights Center IMDCA Internet Monitoring for Democratic Civic Action ISFED International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy LGBTQI Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual, Queer, Intersex NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization NCCE Network of Centers for Civic Engagement, Georgia NMP Non-profit Management Program NTI New Thinking Institute OACA Organizational and Advocacy Capacity Assessment Tool PPAG Public Policy and Accountability Grants PwD Person with Disabilities RCEC Regional Civic Engagement Week R-CSN Regional Civil Society Network RfA Request for Applications RRG Rapid Response Grant StratCom Strategic Communications Center of Georgia TA Technical Assistance UNAG United Nations Association – Georgia UNGC United Nations Global Compact USAID United States Agency for International Development EWMI Advancing CSO Capacities and Engaging Society for Sustainability (ACCESS) USAID Cooperative Agreement No. AID-114-A-14-00008 25th Quarterly Report: October 1, 2020 – December 31, 2020 Page 3 of 36 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 seven-year $9,696,947 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 October 31, 2021. EWMI Advancing CSO Capacities and Engaging Society for Sustainability (ACCESS) USAID Cooperative Agreement No. AID-114-A-14-00008 25th Quarterly Report: October 1, 2020 – December 31, 2020 Page 4 of 36 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY During the reporting period, EWMI ACCESS announced three new grant programs for Tbilisi- based and regional civil society organizations to address the COVID-19 challenges and issued nine new grants. This included six Citizen Outreach Grants (COGs), two Public Policy and Accountability Grants (PPAGs), and one Intersectoral Collaboration grant. The total grant pool for the three programs exceeded $200,000 USD. To ensure that the supported grant activities reflected diverse perspectives and experiences, EWMI ACCESS organized Social Laboratory discussions and designed the final activity plans based on the input received from the discussion participants. The new grant projects will commence in January 2021. Meanwhile, EWMI ACCESS continued supporting 17 targeted and open COGs, PPAGs, and Election Rapid Response Grants (RRGs) issued during the previous reporting periods. Despite the limitations imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting restrictions, the COG projects achieved significant results in terms of bringing to light regional citizens’ day-to-day problems and raising funds through crowdfunding and corporate donations to improve local communities. The COG projects implemented by the Center for Civic Activities and Orbeliani – Georgia particularly stood out in this regard. They raised 75,469 GEL from citizens to provide direct assistance to marginalized groups and families with low socioeconomic status, as well as to finance community development initiatives. The COG projects by Tbilisi Pride and Winner Women’s Club successfully set up and empowered solidarity networks of families of LGBTQI persons and female cancer patients, respectively, and created transformative precedents in terms