Closing Event: Strengthening local capacities for children’s rights protection in Georgia

On December 29, 2017, the closing event of the EU- funded action ‘Strengthening local capacities for children’s rights protection in Georgia’ took place in Courtyard Marriott hotel in Tbilisi, Georgia. The event summed up efforts undertaken throughout two years implemented with the support of the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) Country Based Support Scheme for Georgia and Open Society-Georgia Foundation.  The implementing partners included: Open Society – Georgia Foundation (Lead), Civic Development Institute, Society ‘Biliki’, Marneuli Youth Center (MYC) and the Regional Association ‘Toleranti’.

The action aimed to strengthen:

• Protection of the right to education in ethnic minority regions of Georgia;
• Co-operation between public schools, decision-makers, and CSOs to reduce the incidence of early marriage, child labor, and school drop-out; and
• The capacity of civil society actors to become an effective force for the protection of children’s rights.

The invited guests included project stakeholders, beneficiaries, representatives of local and national governments, education resource centers, civil society organizations and international donor organizations.

The opening remarks were made by Ketevan Elizbarashvili, Project Manager, Delegation of the European Union to Georgia and Ketevan Khutsishvili, Executive Director, Open Society-Georgia Foundation. The action implementers reviewed the progress made, presented the action’s preliminary results and discussed the anticipated impact. The action beneficiaries, including representatives of community-based organizations, regional media, participating schools, and children conducted presentations of their projects and activities implemented within the framework of the action.