Giorgi GOGUADZE, Georgia
PROJECT: Capacity Building of Regional CSO and Local Stakeholders in the EU Affairs

Skilled in policy analysis and organizational management, Giorgi’s professional interests lie in the security and strategic areas. Over the last five years, he has been engaged in several research projects to raise awareness about the European Union in the Georgian community. As a Director at the Georgian Center for Security and Development, Giorgi researches counter-terrorism and the prevention of violent extremism more extensively. To develop an academic discourse of the above areas, he holds teaching positions as an Assistant Professor at the Caucasus University (Module on Counter-Terrorism) and Visiting Lecturer at the Tbilisi State University (Module on Counter-Terrorism and Prevention of Violent Extremism) and the University of Georgia (MA Module on Global Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism).

Currently, he is doing a Ph.D. in International Relations at the Caucasus University and recently joined the National Defense Academy of Georgia. In parallel with his academic activities, Giorgi is a fund Coordinator for Alinea International, managing the UK/FCDO Good Governance Programme.

“Within the fellowship, I traveled across the country and delivered training for the nine different communities of Georgia. The interactive meetings and discussions with hundreds of people were extremely stimulating and thought-evoking to me. Therefore, I am tremendously excited to read the recent public opinion polls, as the vast majority of our nationals support Georgia’s European choice. This result accounts for the hard work of my colleagues in cities and regions communicating unbiased information about the European Union. The statistics are fascinating, but the campaigns must go on!” – Giorgi Goguadze.

Capacity Building of Regional CSO and Local Stakeholders in the EU Affairs

The project comprised the field visits and interactive seminars in the nine regional cities of Georgia, including Kutaisi, Zugdidi, Batumi, Telavi, Gori, Akhalkalaki, Akhaltsikhe, Lagodekhi, and Lanchkhuti. The training aimed to equip the target audience with necessary empirical and theoretical knowledge and understanding to grasp, explain and analyze the dominant topics on the European Union from the prism of the EU-Georgian relations. Hence, the above field-visits contributed to the promotion of Georgia’s successful convergence with European values. Finally, in cooperation with the NATO-EU Info Center, Giorgi developed a brochure on Ten Myths and Realities About the European Union in Georgia.

The project increased awareness about the European Union and promoted the European values in the nine regional cities of Georgia. Therefore, meetings facilitated networking among the local civil society organizations. During the seminars, the project participants discussed the insights about EU-Georgia relations, including past experiences, future cooperation perspectives and challenges at the policy level. In total, more than 400 people attended the training delivered in all target cities. Also, the brochures about 10 Myths and Realities About the European Union served as a tool to overcome prejudices related to the perceptions of the EU in the Georgian regions and bust most widespread EU-related myths through educated, well researched and argumentative responses. Overall, 11,000 copies of the brochures (6000 in Georgian and per-1000 in Russian, Azerbaijani, Armenian, Abkhazian and Ossetian) were printed and disseminated during the EU days in May 2018.

Fellowship Programs 2017
Country Georgia
Areas of Interest Awareness raising
Topics Democratic participation
Mitigating misinformation
Project duration November 2017 - April 2018

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