Georgian Civil Society Sustainability Initiative (CSSIGE)
The project is implemented by the financial support of EU and Federal Ministry of Cooperation and Development of Germany.
The consortium led by the Foundation of Konrad Adenauer is responsible for the project implementation.
“Civil Society Institute,” “Center for Strategic Researches and Development of Georgia,” “Consultation and Training Center,” “Kutaisi Education Development and Employment Center” are the members of the consortium.
Project Implementation Period: 2017-2020
Project Budget: 5.07 million €
Regional Hub Budget: 45 000 €
Target Groups:
· CSOs;
· Community organizations;
· Initiative groups;
· National, Regional and Local Government bodies;
· Other actors of civil society;
· Business;
· Media;
· Volunteers and young people.
Project Goal:
Supporting the sustainability of the society and increasing the role of society in the development of the political dialogue:
· Improving living environment;
· Strengthening CSOs;
· Increasing accountability;
· Strengthening links with different actors.
Project Objectives:
1. Increasing financial sustainability of the civil society using different tools: supporting/increasing diversity of the financial sources and involving authority, volunteers and business in this process;
2. Increasing the capability, accountability and reliability of the civil society so they can improve their work towards representing social, economic, cultural and political rights of the society;
3. Increasing civil involvement in the regions together with business, media and local government bodies;
4. Supporting the public events and initiatives on the national and regional level; especially – on the reforms under the Association Agreement.
Project Activities:
For the CSOs/Community organizations:
(1) Improving mechanism of access to the alternative sources of resources:
· Mechanism of Grants from the State/local budget;
· Mechanism of involving business in the granting process;
· Mechanism of increasing/improving the volunteering;
(2) Supporting institutional and educational development (training, workshops, seminars, grant programs);
(3) Increasing reliability of the CSOs:
· Developing the mechanism of transparency and accountability;
· Information campaign to battle the negative stereotypes about the CSOs (including campaign through the media);
(4) Sub-Grants:
· Monitoring the state grants;
· Small grants for community organizations;
· Grants for advocacy/monitoring joint initiatives;
· The grants supporting the cooperation between business, media, CSOs and governments, supporting the Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR);
· Institutional grant for 10 hubs (Spreading the information, supporting the information campaigns, organizing training and workshops in the regions (10 hubs in 10 region);
(5) Participation in the CSO Forums to ensure the effective communication between the media, government and business.
For the media:
(1) Media campaign;
(2) Online courses;
(3) Competitions for journalists;
(4) Joint activities for the representatives of media and CSOs to increase the level of cooperation among them.
For the business:
(1) Increasing awareness on the CSR and supporting their involvement in the forums, workshops, training-seminars etc.
(2) Supporting/organizing joint activities for the representatives of CSOs and Businesses to raise the cooperation level among them.
For the government (local/central):
(1) Joint initiatives for the local government bodies and CSOs;
(2) Participating in the multilateral activities such as forums(regional/national), workshops, seminars/trainings. Especially on the issues concerning the EU Association Agreement.
For Young/Volunteers:
(1) University course: “The Role of the Civil Society”;
(2) Civil Leadership Programs;
(3) Online courses/training;
(4) Competitions;
(5) Supporting volunteering (Time Bank System).