Integrating Georgia’s minorities into the country’s social, economic, and cultural life is critical for successful nation and democracy building. Regardless of the presence of state civic equality and integration strategies, social, economic and political strategies, ethno-religious nationalism and inequitable linguistic policies further deepen social, economic, and political exclusion of the country’s minorities. In addition, there is no effective mechanism (quotas, lower threshold, reserved seats, etc.) that would strengthen political participation of minority groups. Moreover, no consultative mechanism exists on executive or legislative levels of the government, while this is a critical tool to support minority participation in decision-making processes and give them opportunity to influence policy-making. The only body that sustainably exists is National Minority Council under the Public Defender’s office. However, government’s cooperation for consultation purposes with this council is not regular and systematized and carries only an ad-hoc nature.  

Media organizations have a fair share in creating this paradigm: central media outlets often turn a blind eye to minority issues and when they do not, their coverage of such issues lacks sensitivity, depth, and knowledge. On the other hand, media outlets in minority regions lack capacity to become, along with other civil society actors, active advocates of greater participation of minority communities and groups in decision-making process and promoting the urgency for more effective integration of local communities in the country’s political life.

Recent years have seen considerable changes in the mindset of young people with ethnic and religious minority background who have become increasingly vocal and active in raising integration and participation issues affecting their respective communities and hampering the country’s democratic development. However, they need considerable support to forge desired changes with regard to resolving pressing issues and greater integration of their communities and in partnership with state, non-state, and international actors.

The project has the following objectives:

1. Strengthen inter-ethnic cooperation and integration issues in political and public agenda
2. Empower and build capacity of local media and minority grassroot organizations and local activists by supporting locally informed initiatives
3. Increase knowledge on critical aspects of minority integration by supporting interdisciplinary research

The project is being implemented by the Social Justice Center in cooperation with the community organizations – Solidarity Community and the Salam Platform.

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