July 16, 2009
Nino Gogoladze
Increasing the awareness of the population of Georgia on the issues of political participation is of paramount importance for the development of civil society in the country. With this in mind the Heinrich Boell Foundation embarked on the way of reaching out the local population in the regions and raise the issues of relevance to their daily lives. The rationale is to provide the population with the information about such issues as women’s particiaption in the elections, the role of the elections in establishing the democratic and liberal society; human rights of the IDPs, impact of migration on social conditions of women, importance of the political participation of ethnic minorities, etc.
The Foundation chose the debates as a way to increase the awareness of the local population on the issues of relevance to the needs of the local public. Through debates participants learn not only new information and are able to receive the expert knowledge on the subject matter, but also receive first hand information on how the public opinion is formed through the discussions. As this method proved to be successful in other projects on the Foundation, the project “Building public confidence and maximizing participation of disadvantaged groups in democratic processes through transparent elections in Georgia” replicated the format. In order to develop the local capacity and expertise the debates bring together an expert from Tbilisi and two from the region. This not only contributes to the local capacity development but also provides more comprehensive view of the situation. The Foundation tries to bring the Government, local civil society actors and representatives of international organizations together for the debates, where possible.
In the frameworks of the project, supported by the European Union programme (DDH/2006/117-645) on 18 June debates were organized in Gori. The debates focused on the human rights of the IDPs, their needs and the ways to address them. On 20 and 21 June debates were organized in Batumi and Kutaisi respectively, focusing on the effects of migration on social conditions of women. On 10 July debates were organized in Akhaltsikhe about the representation of ethnic minorities in the decision making. During the debates the emphasis was made on the education opportunities for the representatives of ethnic minorities, as this is the issue of concern for the local population in Samtskhe-Javakheti region.
The debates show the gaps which need to be filled in order to achieve the sustainable development of the regional capacities. For example, the debates show that local civil society actors are not informed about each other’s activities in such small communities as Batumi. Therefore, it is a good opportunity for networking for the local civil society actors themselves. The Foundation will conduct another series of debates in autumn, with support of the local partners to address the needs of the local communities. Debates prove to be a successful endeavor as they provide avenues for the local population to express themselves, get answers to their questions and to form a point of view regarding certain issues of importance for their daily lives.