The presentation of the second phase of the project “Increasing awareness and engagement on Western integration in the regions of Georgia” funded by the U.S. Department of State was held at the NATO and EU Information Center, for which the U.S. Department of State allocated an additional grant worth $250,000 USD.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, Davit Zalkaliani and the U.S. Ambassador to Georgia, Kelly Degnan spoke before the guests invited to the event. Tamara Tsuleiskiri, the Director of the Information Center on NATO and EU made a presentation on the results of the first phase of the project, and highlighted the priorities and challenges relating to the second phase.
Increasing awareness and engagement on Western integration in the regions of Georgia is the first large-scale project which the Government of Georgia implemented to strengthen the resilience of the Georgian population against threats posed by anti-Western propaganda and to ensure the effective communication about the country’s European and Euro-Atlantic integration processes.
Within the framework of the project, the regional network of the Information Center strengthened and expanded, and today it includes 11 regional bureaus working on the communication of European and Euro-Atlantic integration issues. It needs to be highlighted that only within the framework of the project, a total of 526 events were organized by the Information Center, and as a result, direct communication was established with 19,000 people. 20 regional media involved in the project have already prepared 280 media products on the issues of Western integration of Georgia.
The results achieved within the first phase of the project significantly contributed to providing the information about Georgia’s Western integration process to the public in all ten regions of Georgia; As a result of such an intervention, the population of Georgia living in the regions gets regularly updated on the benefits and opportunities of European and Euro-Atlantic integration.
The second phase of the project is aimed at consolidating the results achieved, and not only informing citizens, but also actively involving them in the processes of Western integration.
The project is implemented by LEPL Information Center on NATO and EU under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the financial support of the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Embassy to Georgia.