Project Name:Developing of Election Informational Website
Project Duration: December 2009 - June 2010,
Donor Organization: Open Society - Georgia" foundation
Main Goals:
Foster awareness on 2010 local self-government elections processes for voters and representatives of international organisations;
Creation of bilingual (Georgian, English) web-portal, hosting election related information, namely: election administrations of
all layers, constitution of respective administrations, members, locations and contact information.
Project Description:
In achieving the project goals and objectives "International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy" plans to undertake following actions;
ISFED central and regional offices and distinct coordinators will collect and analyze information regarding the following issues:
- Participating political subjects in 2010 local self-government elections.
- Election programs of political subjects for 2010 local self-government elections.
- Election districts and precincts for 2010 local self-government elections.
- 2010 local self-government election observation results ( pre-election period, election day and post election period)
- 2010 local self-government election final results.
Collected information will be uploaded on the web-site. The web-site will be created by experts and ISFED representatives.
ISFED will conduct the following actions to promote the web-site:
- Conducting a Press-conference for the regional and central media outlets,
- Spreading the information via mail-lists
- Uploading information at ISFED web-site
It has to be noted that the project is intended for long-term usage, therefore web-site upgrades will carry on after the project completion.
Project Name:Promoting Dialogue and Capacity for Effective National Electoral Processes
Project Duration: October 1, 2009 - December 1, 2010 (14 months)
Donor Organization: United Nations' Development Program - UNDP
Main Goals:
Organizing wide public information activities for the general public, including ethnic minorities, about the overall electoral developments and procedures.
Keeping the public informed about the basic electoral principles, which will ensure greater respect of electoral rules and thus enhance a responsive civil behaviour.
Project Description: Within the project ISFED intends:
Locating the Resource Centers in the district centers (2 resource centers will be located in the regions with predominantly ethnic minorities - the Azeris and the Armenians), which will regularly organize the discussion meetings with the representatives of local public on election related topics;
Establishing youth groups (youth for Fair Elections) - approximately 15 - 20 youth at each resource center, which will act as the agents of change in their communities inspiring their peers and other members of the communities to participate in the elections as well as enhance their awareness with electoral topics. Also they will be participating in various project activities- Bus Tours, Public Stands, discussion meetings, leaflets/brochures distribution.
Organizing the Bus Tour Campaigns, that will be held in the open air and will be attended by the representatives of general public. The bus tours will be interactive and will provide the public with the information on election legislation, electoral administration, Election Day procedures, Self-Government elections, importance on participating in the elections. The Bus Tour teams will distribute the specially prepared brochures and leaflets.
Organizing the Public Stands in every district of Georgia, which will provide the public with comprehensive information on election legislation, electoral administration, Election Day procedures, Self-Government elections, importance on participating in the elections, voters' list by public strands' team.
Organizing regular TV and Radio talk shows on the regional TV and Radio Stations. The participants of the talk shows will be ISFED central and regional offices staff, the representatives of electoral administration and civic organizations, which will talk about different topic, such as: election legislation, electoral administration, Election Day procedures, Self-Government elections, importance on participating in the elections, voters' list. The general public will have an opportunity to call to the studio and receive the answers on any election related issues.
Organizing the media campaign on election related topics. The media campaign will consist of a developing the special film on the elections and importance of participating in the elections. The film will be aired on the cinemas and regional TV stations; b) Developing the special inserts in the regional newspapers on electoral issues.
Project Name:Peoples' Manifesto
Project Duration: October 1, 2009 - March 1, 2011 (18 Months)
Donor Organization: European Commission (EC)
Main Goals:
To raise capacity of citizens and local Community Service Organizations (CSOs) in monitoring and controlling of actions of local self - government bodies;
To ensure transparency and accountability of local self government bodies towards tackling local problems;
To ensure accountability of political parties/single standing candidates towards eradicating or at least alleviating the problems and challenges being faced by local communities.
Project Description: Within the project ISFED will conduct the following activities:
Arrange round tables with relevant focus groups and stakeholders to identify local problems and concerns and elaborate best options to tackle those problems;
Conduct awareness-raising and capacity building of local civil society organizations and active citizens;
Monitor and carry out watchdog functions on the activities of local self government bodies through: requesting public information under Freedom of Information (FOI) laws; attending public meetings of Sakrebulos (local self-government representative organ, called City Council) and monitoring its activities as well as decisions being adopted by it; informing Sakrebulos of the identified problems and proposing options for tackling problems;
Organize dialogue and arrange agreement between political parties/single standing candidates and local citizens with the goal that political party/single standing candidate takes responsibility to address identified challenges, if elected
Project Name:Institutional Development of ISFED
Project Duration: April 1, 2009 - January 31, 2010
Donor Organization: National Endowment for Democracy (NED)
Main Goals:
Enhance the organization's long-term sustainability through strengthening its institutional and technical capacities;
Improve the election legislation by providing a technical expertise to the Election Code Working Group initiated by the Council of Europe and the OSCE.
I Phase (April 1, 2009 - July 31, 2009) Project Description: In the frames of I phase of the project ISFED aims to successfully carry out the following activities:
To assess the organization's strengths and weakness through conducting two assessment workshops with the participation of ISFED's board, central and regional staff and NDI. The focus will be paid of identifying the organization's strong aspects which will prove crucial in developing the organization's self-sustainability;
To hold a series of consultations with the international expert from the Eastern European civic organization such as CeSID, GONG and PDA to receive in-depth information and expertise on the methods and techniques for strengthening the organization's technical and financial standing and developing the self-sustainability;
li>To hold 3 workshops with the participation of ISFEDs board, central and regional staff and NDI on developing the organization's new structure based on the findings from the strengths & weakness assessment workshop and consultations with the international expert. The new structure will incorporate the new directions and priorities of ISFED outlining the path towards the organization's self-sustainability;
Organise 5 kinds of trainings for ISFED's central and regional staff based on ISFED's new directions and priorities in order to strengthen their expertise in the priority areas;
Hold two ISFED board meetings;
ISFED lawyers will be actively involved in the Election Code Working Group that is initiated by the Council of Europe and the OSCE.
II Phase (August 1, 2009 - January 31, 2010) Project Description: In the frames of II phase of the project ISFED aims to successfully carry out the following activities
In order to raise accountability of Majoritarian Deputies, elected on May 21, Parliamentary Elections, ISFED will organize 6 round table discussions in 6 regions of Georgia: Adjara, Samtskhe-Javakheti, Qvemo Qartli, Imereti, Samegrelo and Kakheti. The main goal of those round tables is to hold discussions about the work carried out by MDs and their bureaus during the one year period, after the Parliamentary Elections. The following stakeholders will be invited on the meetings: Majoritarian Deputies of Parliament of Georgia, representatives of their bureaus, civil society representatives, active members of the communities, representatives of the local self-government and Mass Media. Round table participants will have chance to evaluate the activities implemented by the MDs and their bureaus. Additionally, they can talk about the mechanisms, which are important to strengthen dialogue between the citizens and legislative bodies;
Organize 6 kinds of trainings for ISFED's central and regional staff based on new directions and priorities;
Hold three ISFED board meetings.
International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) started to conduct Round Table Discussions, within the project "Georgia: 2008 Parliamentary Elections".
