The project "Enhasing the Agency of young people in the local self-governance practices in Kvemo Kartli Municipalities via advancing their competencies and engagement mechcanisms" implemented with the support of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Government of Georgia and organized by the Center for Development and Democracy (CDD) and International Scout Centre Rustavi.

The aim of the project is to strengthen civil society, young women, ethnic and religious minorities and raise awareness about citizen engagement mechanisms in 3 (three) selected municipalities of Kvemo Kartli region - Rustavi, Bolnisi and Dmanisi.

The project includes trainings for teachers, development of guidelines for citizen involvement in the local self-government implementation process, meetings and other activities.

Tbilisi hosted Strategic Communications Week on November 18-22, 2019 organized by CDD and Sector 3. Communications Week aimed at raising awareness of public, sharing experiences of EU and the Eastern Partnership countries and promoting public diplomacy.

Within the conference, Georgia hosted a large-scale international conference “Disinformation Alert” focusing on strategic communications and counter disinformation.  The conference was held for the first time and it is important that Georgia was a host in the EU neighborhood. The overall goal of the conference was to better understand the threat of pro-Kremlin disinformation across the EU’s neighbourhood and develop a more coordinated response. The event addressed EU’s action under all four key pillars included in the action plan: building the capacity of EU institutions to expose disinformation; strengthening a joint response; Mobilising the private sector and raising awareness of the issue. The conference was part of the EU's main action plan, the European External Action Service and the “EUvsDisinfo” campaign. Conference was organised by the European External Action Service and the EU Delegation in Georgia, together with the coalition of non-profit organisations: the Center for Development and Democracy (CDD), Sector 3 – Hub for Development, Endowment “ProDemos” in partnership with the Government of Georgia, the Parliament of Georgia, the Information Centre on NATO and EU. 

Within the International conference "DisinfoAlert", seminar for youth on Strategic communications and Disinformation issues was held at Sector 3 - Hub for Development. Young professionals, European Ambassadors from EaP countries as well as members of Euro-clubs operating in the regions of Georgia attended the seminar.

Within the Strategic Communications Week, information meeting for teachers from the regions and representatives of educational establishments of the Patriarchate of Georgia was held at the Information Center on NATO and EU. Best practices for countering disinformation and importance of close cooperation in this regard was main topics of the meeting. Strategic Communications experts from EEAS held the training.

The project, “Georgia Member of the European Family”, has been implemented by the Center for Development and Democracy (CDD) since 2014. The aim of the project is to increase the involvement of the traditional religions’ representatives in the process of Georgia's Euro-Atlantic integration, as well as to raise awareness of teachers and students from the Georgian Orthodox Church (GOC) educational institutions. 

The new phase of the project began in 2019 and is based on the significant results achieved by CDD over the past years.

The project lasts for two years. Information meetings, discussions, conferences, and round tables are organized within the project. Study visits abroad with the participation of the high hierarchy of traditional religions are also planned.

Within the framework of the project, Euro Clubs will be gradually opened and supported in gymnasiums involved in the project.  The project also includes a variety of information campaigns, TV programs, and contests.

Project “Georgia member of the European Family” is implemented with the support of the British Embassy Tbilisi and Good Governance Fund (GGF).

CDD is actively working to support young people and provide further opportunities for them.  In 2016, with the support of CDD Euro Club “Surioni” was founded in Vani at St. Nino Gymnasium, it has been successfully operating. In particular, the club is working to increase awareness and involvement of local people in the European integration process of Georgia; meetings, training, and camps are organized for the youth.

Given the success of Vani's Euro Club, within the frames of the project “Georgia, member of the European Family”, the first Euro Club was officially opened for the students in Gori at St. George Mtatsmindeli  Gymnasium.

Euro clubs will gradually open in the orthodox Gymnasiums participating in the project. The clubs will have the elements of non-formal education to encourage effective use of the after school hours.

The purpose of the Euro club is to develop students; skills, competences, and values ​​in an informal environment, where children act and learn according to their own interests.

The Center for Development and Democracy (CDD) in cooperation with Georgia’s National Tourism Administration implements the project "Georgia as a new direction in business tourism". The uniqueness of the project is the format of inter-sectoral cooperation among civil society, private and public sectors that promotes tourism development - one of the priority directions of the country.

Within the framework of the project, Sector 3 – Hub for Development hosts the workshops by experts from British company "Kennedy Integrated Solutions". The aim of the workshops is to share British experience in the business tourism and events industry, to provide consultations and create a MICE tourism development strategy for Georgia.

This type of document will be created for the first time for Georgia. It will ensure Georgia’s appearance on the Business tourism map and create competitive conditions for attracting large-scale events, conventions, and conferences from the EU and other strategic markets. 

One of the top priorities for CDD is to observe elections in Georgia. CDD’s observation mission has been actively monitoring election processes since 2012.

The organization has been implemented following monitoring processes:

• 2012 – Georgian Parliamentary Elections
• 2013 - Extraordinary Elections of the Parliament of Georgia
• 2013 - Presidential Elections
• 2014 - Elections of Representative and Executive Bodies of Local Municipalities
• 2016 – Extraordinary Elections of Representative and Executive Bodies of Local Municipalities
• 2017 - Tbilisi Mayoral Elections
• 2018-  Presidential Elections of Georgia
• 2019 – Extraordinary / By-Elections of Georgia  

The observation mission of the Center for Development and Democracy is staffed by long–term observers as well as short-term observers. The organization's gender equality policy is taken into consideration when staffing the observation mission.

The members of the observation mission are people who have experience of participating in various international observation missions abroad, people who have taken long-term (LOT) and short-term(STO) training courses for observers organized by OSCE/ODIHR.

For election monitoring CDD uses observation methodology which was developed by the organization itself, considering all three levels of election administration working principles and international practices. Guidelines and action plan including logistical issues and effective management are being prepared. During the monitoring processes the observation mission guides by the local legislation, international standards and observer’s code of conduct.

The main principles of the organization are respect for the law, democracy, impartiality, accuracy, transparency, and professionalism.

CDD has been actively cooperating with religious communities since 2014. In 2016-2017 CDD organized two study visits of the high-ranking delegation to Brussels and to Washington, D.C. The aim of the visits was to increase the involvement of the traditional religions’ representatives in the process of Georgia's Euro-Atlantic integration.

The visits were acclaimed as historically important by the media for their unprecedented importance.

The delegation in Brussels consisted of representatives of the high hierarchy of the Orthodox Church. During the visit, high-level bilateral meetings were held in the European and Euro-Atlantic structures, at NATO HQ, EU institutions, in the European Parliament.

The visit to Washington was the first time for a delegation to consist of religious leaders from the Georgian Orthodox Church, Muslim Community, Latin Catholic Church of South Caucasus and the Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Georgia.

Within the scope of the visit, in addition to bilateral meetings, an international inter-religious conference was held to promote dialogue and discussion between religious leaders, civil society and academia. Furthermore, to discuss the role of religion in democracy and western values.

The study visits were carried out within the framework of the project "Georgia Member of the European Family" funded by the British Embassy in Georgia and Good Governance Fund (GGF). Other supporters of the project were: National Endowment for Democracy (NED), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Embassy of Georgia to the US, Information Center on NATO and the EU.

In 2016, by the initiative of CDD, TV series “Georgia, Member of the European Family” was aired by Patriarchy television “Ertsulovneba”.

The aim of the project was to inform the society about the specific benefits that the EU brings to the country for its development. In the framework of the project, 18 episodes of 45 minute were prepared and broadcasted on a topic of Georgia's Euro integration process.  Each episode was re-run during different air times, for wider coverage. The TV program covered all major points of the EU-Georgia Association Agreement.

The project was implemented with the financial support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands in Georgia in partnership with the Information Center on NATO and the EU and the Office of the State Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration.

Since 2014, CDD has implemented several ground-breaking projects to address raising awareness, skills development and myth-busting on the issues of the European integration process. The educational projects conducted from 2014 to 2017 included meetings, open lectures, workshops, and intensive training sessions.

3,000 participants were involved in the projects, including teachers and the students of educational institutions under the patriarchate of Georgia; the bishops, priests, monks, and nuns were actively involved as well.

The project was implemented in active partnership with the education system of POG and the education center of Patriarchate of Georgia named after David The Builder.

The project is supported by the Embassy of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands in Georgia, the British Embassy Tbilisi, The Good Governance Fund (GGF), The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the Embassy of the United States of America to Georgia.

 Youth and the enhancement of non-formal education are one of the main priorities for CDD. In this regard, the organization was actively advocating engagement of youth within the four priorities outlined by Georgia under the presidency in the Council of Europe.

Our Erasmus + direction allows young people to participate in local or international training and youth exchange projects on a variety of topics.

Erasmus+ is the European Commission’s  Programme for education, training, youth and sport for the period 2014–2020, succeeding the previous Lifelong Learning Programme. CDD is actively engaged in the KA 1 direction of Erasmus +.

Key Action 1: Learning Mobility of Individuals

• Youth Exchange
• Mobility of Youth Workers
• European Solidarity Corps (ESC)

CDD hots and sends young people to participate in youth exchange programs, trainings courses, seminars, study visits, conferences, etc.

The European Solidarity Corps is an EU Youth Volunteer Program for young people (17 to 30 years old), volunteer work is fully funded by the Erasmus+ program
On the basis of this accreditation, CDD is entitled to support Georgian youth to volunteer in various European countries and also to host Europeans.

The project “Informed Voters 2018” was implemented by CDD in partnership with the regional media and radio company “Rioni”. The main objective of the project was to inform voters, raise electoral awareness and promote the level of civic engagement in the electoral process, with the involvement of regional broadcasters in Imereti, one of the regions in Georgia.

In the framework of the project, for the 2018 presidential elections, the media product was created – Rubrics for already existing successful TV shows, street surveys, guest invitations, conversations and interviews with them. These activities aimed to inform voters about elections and the importance of each citizen’s role in these processes.

The project was focused on creating the information space, encouraging and promoting voters in the thoughtful decision-making process. 

The project “Strengthening Political Party Resources for Promoting Democratic Processes-2008” was aimed at promoting the political parties' electoral capacity for the 2018 presidential election.

The objectives of the project were to: improve electoral qualifications of representatives of political parties in 5 self-governing units in Samegrelo and Zemo Svaneti (Abasha, Martvili, Senaki, Chkhorotsku, Khobi); Enhance the skills and abilities of political party representatives by implementing an interactive educational program; Encourage internal party democracy, to refine democratic processes, political culture in the country and create a competitive political environment.

Project Objectives in the five self-governing units / constituencies of Samegrelo and Zemo Svaneti Region (Abasha, Martvili, Senaki, Chkhorotsku, Khobi): Implementation of relevant educational-informational events for representatives of political parties entitled to appoint members to election commissions; Implementation of relevant educational-informational events for representatives of qualified political parties. Implementation of relevant educational and informational events for the representatives of the political parties running in one of the general elections of the last four years.

Why is the youth engagement in elections so important? What is our responsibility on election day? Is a single vote really important for the election results?

To answer these questions, CDD has been implementing a project for the youth – “Decision is yours” - in 2013-2018. The overall objective of the project was to strengthen the youth engagement in the election processes, raise electoral and political awareness, increase civic responsibility and activate the role of young voters in the election.

Within the framework of the project educational and interactive events were organized for young people who lived in Tbilisi and in different regions of Georgia (Rustavi; Telavi; Akhaltsikhe; Gori; Kutaisi; Zugdidi; Poti; Batumi; Ozurgeti).  CDD holds the photo, video and slogan contests on these issues, countrywide.

The project was implemented by CDD in cooperation with the Council of Europe (CoE) and with the financial support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Norway.