On April 12th, a Regional Civil Society The forum was held in Kutaisi with representatives of the local self-government,
civil society organizations, media and donor organizations of the Imereti
region.

The aim of the forum was to attract donor
organizations to strengthen Civil Society Organizations in Imereti. Several
panels were held and issues discussed, including the existing challenges and
needs of Civic Society Organizations.

The Education Development and Employment
Center (EDEC) organized a special panel dedicated to volunteerism. Moderator
was Natia Namitcheishvili, EDEC’s Executive Director.

Challenges and Opportunities for
Voluntarism in Georgia was presented by Lika Kiladze, Chairperson of the Board
of the Education Development and Employment Center (EDEC); successful Examples
of TimeBank by Maka Chinjishvili, a TimeBank Expert at EDEC.

The forum was organized in the frame of the
project ”Georgian Civil Society Sustainability Initiative”. The project was
developed and is implemented by a consortium led by the
Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in cooperation with four Georgian Civil Society
Organizations: the Civil Society Institute (CSI), the Center for Training and
Consultancy (CTC), the Center for Strategic Research and Development of Georgia
(CSRDG) and the Education Development and Employment Center (EDEC). The project
is funded by the European Union and co-funded by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung.