The Civil Society Engagement Program in Georgia is a five-year, 17 million USD activity funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by East-West Management Institute, Inc. (EWMI) in partnership with the Center for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies (CANVAS), Zinc Network, International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL), European Community Foundation Initiative (ECFI), Center for Civil Society Studies at Johns Hopkins University (JHU/CCSS), Center for Training and Consultancy (CTC), Orbeliani Georgia, Global Compact Network Georgia (GCNG), and Network of Centers for Civic Engagement (NCCE).

The Program aims to strengthen Georgian civil society through building the capacity of new and existing civic actors to act as trusted, legitimate, and effective representatives of citizens’ interests, empower and mobilize communities to advocate for their rights, and build an ecosystem for civic actors to diversify their resource base. The Program will support civic movements, civic activists, and civil society organizations (CSOs) from across the country to put forward and advance citizen-vetted solutions to citizens’ key concerns and priorities.

To achieve its goals, the Program will bring together co-creative processes, tailored and learning-by-doing capacity development assistance, opportunities for building horizontal and vertical partnerships, e-tech solutions, and flexible grant programs through the following three key objectives:

Objective One: Enhance the capacity of civic actors to address citizen identified issues

Objective Two: Foster partnerships among civic actors and between civic actors and other sectors

Objective Three: Develop an ecosystem for the sustainability of civic actors

More detailed information about program components see in separate sections.

Civil Society Engagement Program started on November 1, 2021, and will be completed on October 31, 2026.