On October 19, 2014, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) conducted a seminar on “Citizens’ Rights and Civic Engagement Mechanisms,” at the Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University.
Over 50 students and university lecturers attended the seminar, which featured presentations by two experienced leaders from Georgia’s civil society sector—Transparency International Georgia (TI) Project Manager Levan Natroshvili and Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) Director Giorgi Kldiashvili.
The speakers discussed the rights and responsibilities that define democratic citizenship; the importance of being active and well informed citizen in a democratic society; and highlighted ways citizen’s could be more active; etc. The speakers also highlighted one such avenue in particular, focusing on a citizen’s right to public information as a government oversight mechanism.
The seminar also provided students and lecturers with an opportunity to learn about the activities of non-governmental organizations in Georgia, and the critical role they play as a partner and watchdog of the government.
This seminar is the first in a series of IFES discussions that will be conducted at universities throughout Georgia that will feature guest speaker presentations on a wide-array of civics topics ranging from active citizenship to gender equality.
