ACCESS supports policy research, analysis and advocacy through a Public Policy and Accountability Grants (PPAG) program. This program funds Tbilisi-based think tanks, watchdog CSOs, and CSO coalitions to conduct policy research, analysis and advocate for policy changes, and/or monitor policy implementation. PPAG activities should focus on policy issues relevant to Georgia’s continued democratic development, including:

• Open Government Partnership initiatives
• Local government
• Public administration
• Healthcare
• Euro-Atlantic integration
• Media independence and media reforms
• Gender equality and women’s empowerment
• Minority integration into civic and political life
• Access to public information

Every year ACCESS will fund up to 5 projects under PPAG. In 2015 ACCESS funded two projects through an open competition, each averaging $80,000 and three projects through a targeted competition, each averaging at $13,000. Projects selected though open competition focus on particularly important, difficult, and/or overlooked aspects of the Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic integration process. The targeted projects focus on the impact of government policies on media independence. Both topics were among the USAID priority areas for Georgia in 2015..

Information about the ongoing projects can be found at http://ewmi-activism.org/ongoing-grants/