$4.7M in expenses
Usaid rule of law (rol) program in georgia - see schedule o.the rule of law (rol) program in georgia has three objectives: (1) to strengthen the independence and effectiveness of justice system institutions, including the courts, the georgian bar association (gba), the legal aid service (las), the public defender's office (pdo), and law faculties; (2) to enhance equal access to justice for all, in particular women, ethnic minorities, and persons with disabilities, among other marginalized groups; and (3) to increase citizen and institutional oversight of justice institutions. Other key elements of the rol program include building the capacity of individual judges throughout georgia, promoting alternative dispute resolution (adr) mechanisms, and promoting a people-centered approach to legal and judicial reforms. The following are a few examples of the activities undertaken in year 2024:efforts to strengthen justice system institutions, include *supporting three rule of law practice groups (women's rights, rights of the child, freedom of expression), with 30 judges and 17 court staff participating in eight meetings; advancing the drafting of three georgian benchbooks by 19 practice group member judges (work paused in august 2024 due to u.s. State department pause on direct technical assistance towards georgian government institutions) and holding a workshop for their judicial assistants and secretaries; *supporting public outreach by judges through five meetings with secondary school students and releasing six videos explaining landmark judgments, which garnered over 290,000 views and plays across various social media platforms. *assisting the constitutional court in adopting a new rule of procedure, based on an international expert's recommendation, aimed at speeding up court functioning by addressing delays in opinion drafting. *facilitating u.s. Study tours and secondments for 19 georgian judges (10 judges visited the u.s. To learn about labor and employment law, 6 judges were seconded to u.s. Courts, and 3 judges participated in the national association of women judges annual conference). *supporting three long-term shadowing missions by u.s. Judges in georgian courts (samtskhe-javakheti, shida kartli, and kakheti regions), observing numerous cases and mentoring 17 georgian judges, 12 clerks/assistant judges, and engaging with many lawyers and students. *awarding a grant to the georgian bar association (gba), supporting initiatives such as the development of new software for the bar entrance exam (used by over 1,000 test-takers), creation of an online training module on the law on entrepreneurs (completed by 529 gba lawyers), a training-of-trainers on effective communication, and a study tour for gba leaders to the u.s. To study judicial selection processes. *partnering with 11 universities, leading to the development of new, the publication of three new georgian textbooks (on human rights, contract drafting, and patient rights), and student involvement in research resulting in amicus curiae briefs and a constitutional claim, as well as strengthening clinical legal education by establishing four new clinical courses for bachelor's and master's level students, with more than 60 students participating in these clinics during the year. *implementing street law courses at five georgian law schools (located in batumi, kutaisi, zugdidi, telavi, and tbilisi), which were all made a permanent part of the schools' curricula. As part of this, 45 law students conducted 138 street law lessons for over 1,500 students in public schools and youth centers, many in remote villages.efforts to enhance access to justice, include: *supporting the public defender's office (pdo) by assisting in the implementation of three recommendations from a program-sponsored report concerning the child's relationship with both parents, launching a three-month public awareness campaign to discourage workplace sexual harassment, and conducting capacity-building workshops for pdo staff on strategic litigation, mediation (22 lawyers), and legal writing (23 staff). *funding strategic litigation grantee organizations that provided legal aid to over 2,337 beneficiaries and appeared in 627 court representations. This support resulted in eight significant legal precedents nationally and internationally, including victories at the european court of human rights. *promoting alternative dispute resolution (adr) by supporting efforts to improve arbitration legislation, developing a continuing professional development (CPD) concept, and by conducting "try mediation" meetings for 89 new gba lawyers and 87 local stakeholders, experience-sharing meetings for 74 mediators, and three bench-bar meetings. *enhancing court-annexed mediation by hosting workshops on mediation for 37 judges and 54 judicial assistants, which contributed to an increase in cases referred to mediation to 463 (160 more than in fy2023), as well as supporting arbitration awareness through events like the "tenth annual arbitration days conference" (160 participants).efforts to increase oversight of justice institutions, include: *supporting civil society organizations (csos) in their advocacy for justice sector reform, including developing a policy paper on reforms aligned with EU recommendations, engaging with the president's office on the selection of a high council of justice (hcoj) member (whose appointment was later suspended by a court), challenging the "foreign influence law" at the constitutional court, and monitoring of criminal trials, the hcoj, the special investigation service, and election-related disputes. *promoting people-centered justice (PCJ) and legal awareness among youth and academia by organizing an "innovative justice school" for 26 students from 10 universities, delivering PCJ lectures and workshops at multiple universities engaging over 360 students and academic staff, supporting a legal clinic that monitored 92 court cases involving violence against women, and organizing a "democracy and justice summer school" for 29 high school students. *expanding regional activities to include:o the "make justice accessible for all paralegal initiative," which trained 54 law students who then provided legal consultations, organized mock trials for 125 public-school children, and reached approximately 450 residents in various regions with information about their rights and las services.o organizing numerous thematic talks, panel discussions, and career talks through the hubs, reaching 280 students and 296 professionals; launching a "human rights public talk series" which attracted 626 participants; and conducting 10 workshops for 261 regional lawyers on topics like labor law, land registration, and loan agreements.o training 14 regional journalists on "how to cover legal issues."
$3.9M in expenses
Georgia civil society engagement program - see schedule o.the civil society engagement program (csep) in georgia has four objectives: (1) resilience building and strategic communication support for civic actors; (2) enhance the capacity of civic actors to address citizen-identified issues; (3) foster partnerships among civil actors and between civil actors and other sectors; and (4) develop an ecosystem for the sustainability of civic actors. The following are a few examples of the outcomes of csep-supported initiatives.efforts to resilience building and strategic communication support for civic actors, include *providing strategic communication, legal analysis and advocacy support to civil society actors to explain to the public the implications of the draft law on transparency of foreign influence that was re-introduced in april 2024. *to address increasing smear campaigns against civic actors across the country, supporting efforts to advance proactive communication and public outreach campaigns showcasing the critical role that csos play in georgia, including top priority areas like education, social issues, and women's rights, which served to increase public awareness around critical issues in the country and highlight how they had been solved in EU countries. *providing crucial legal analysis and advocacy support as csos navigated the new regulatory environment created by the law on transparency of foreign influence, and assisting them as they worked to ensure the continuity of their operations.efforts to enhance the capacity of civic actors to address citizen-identified issues, include *supporting 20 innovation and challenge grant projects, as well as two strategic support and policy grants that addressed citizen-identified issues throughout georgia, and assisting these grantees with legal information and tailored assistance, as they navigated operational challenges brought on by the introduction of restrictive legislation. One notable success was a project evaluating how government reforms to the pharmaceutical sector have impacted georgian households' access to medications - achieved a policy success in expanding health coverage to offer full medication coverage for those with chronic cardiovascular diseases, chronic lung diseases, chronic thyroid diseases, type 2 diabetes, glaucoma, parkinson's disease, and epilepsy. *supporting eight grantees to provide rapid and flexible support to address the complexities of the newly enacted law on transparency of foreign influence through legal consultations and educational initiatives. *supporting 30 new initiatives to facilitate discussions between civil society representatives and local populations about pressing local issues. Efforts to foster partnerships among civic actors and between civic actors and other sectors, include: *facilitating two wellness retreats for civic activists, watchdog and human rights defender csos as they faced an increasingly hostile working environment, as well as conducting offline and online psycho-emotional support workshops for more than 100 civic actors affected by the adoption of new restrictive legislation. *facilitating the production of videos highlighting efforts to promote the first ever school meals week in georgia, which aimed to raise awareness about the significance of school nutrition and advocate for the implementation of a free school meals program in georgia.efforts to develop an ecosystem for the sustainability of civic actors include: *developing local capacity to crowdfund as a form of domestic resource mobilization. In addition to regional presentations and the release of a resource mobilization and crowdfunding guidebook, creating a comprehensive training program on crowdfunding and developing an improved crowdfunding platform. *promoting stronger linkages between civil society and the private sector, by hosting several trainings to increase the capacity of csos in pitching their ideas to businesses and offered several opportunities for csos and businesses to explore partnerships. As a result, csep facilitated 17 partnership projects between civil society and the private sector, resulting in financial support in the amount of $53,145. *promoting stronger linkages between civil society and the private sector, csep hosted its third partnership fair in tbilisi, resulting in $9,100 in private sector support for civic initiatives, while also producing 29 episodes of the series business and EU talks to promote georgia's EU integration by raising awareness of the benefits for the business sector.
$3.6M in expenses
Uganda civil society strengthening activity (cssa) - see schedule o.the civil society strengthening activity (cssa) supported the capacity strengthening of ugandan civil society organizations (csos) in four thematic areas: (1) health, with particular attention paid to achieving the country's HIV/AIDS reduction goals; (2) education, youth, and child development; (3) agriculture and food security; and (4) democracy, rights, and governance. Assistance included: (i) strengthening the advocacy capacity of csos to influence national and local development; (ii) improving the organizational capacity of advocacy and service delivery-oriented csos to sustainably fulfil their stated missions; and (iii) promoting a more supporting enabling environment that sustains a vibrant civil society. Cssa's target direct and indirect beneficiaries included umbrella and individual csos, women, youth, vulnerable populations, people living with HIV/AIDS, and other underserved communities. Cssa's priority geographic areas included gulu, kaabong, kotido, lamwo, lira, masindi, mbarara, moroto, omoro, nwoya, and rubirizi districts.cssa provided grants to 25 leading csos and cso networks in uganda to support advocacy initiatives that engaged multiple stakeholders including government actors, media and the private sector, and advocated for improvements in policy. The following are a few examples of the outcomes of cssa-supported initiatives: by empowering communities to legally protect their communal land and to negotiate with investors, cssa also ensured the inclusion of women in community land associations (clas) management committees, thus giving women decision-making power on land matters and investments, and equipped them with skills and knowledge so that they can participate actively in clas. Supporting the efforts of young farmers, who successfully advocated the nwoya district local government for an irrigation facility, which was installed at the young farmers-managed youth agricultural park. The advocacy of the national association for women's action in development resulted in the approval by the local government of mbarara of a supplementary budget for its production department that reinstated extension services to smallholder farmers, bringing them closer to resources and markets. Supporting social media and advocacy campaign on protecting women and girls rights, fighting violence against women and girls, fighting HIV stigma and discrimination and know your HIV status that reached over one million people. Providing technical assistance to the NGO bureau, the government agency that manages all issues related to the csos in uganda, to hold its second round of the regulatory impact assessment. This assessment set the stage for further civil society-state collaboration, thereby ensuring east-west management institute, INC. 13-3586432 that uganda's NGO regulatory framework complies with international legal standards protecting civic freedoms.supporting legal and digital compliance clinics that provide training and mentorship to over 80 csos in eastern and west nile regions, thereby strengthening of their operational capacity to effectively respond to legal and digital gaps and challenges. Providing extensive capacity development support to 17 csos and cso networks resulting in: (i) increased effectiveness of grantees' advocacy; (ii) increased knowledge, skills, and practice in strategic advocacy, digital media engagement, financial management practices, resource mobilization, and governance practices; and (iii) strengthened capacity of ugandan csos to engage and improve cooperation with government of uganda institutions on addressing csos' concerns.
