On June 21, 2003, Caucasian Institute for Peace Democracy and Development (CIPDD) arranged a panel discussion on information strategy of the CSOs and their ability to penetrate the information space. The discussion was organized in framework of the series of meetings under the aegis of the Citizens’ Advocate! Program (CAP).
Representatives of the CSOs are concerned by the lack of communication between the organizations, lack of access by the researchers and common citizens to the body of research and information generated in the civil sector. Panelists have argued this situation has to change, as unlike early 1995, there are technical and professional possibilities for developing CSO information database and facilitating better outreach.
Jaba Devdariani, of UNA-Georgia, spoke about the problems of shaping the common information space in Georgia, arguing there are few possibilities to make information available for the majority of the citizens, as the information space is fragmented geographically and politically.
He also said, CSOs should overcome what he called an “island mentality” – a propensity to create the outputs for internal use of a single organization or the fellow CSOs only. He said the CSO managers should learn to market their information and make it as usable as possible. Devdariani was optimistic in saying CSOs have sufficient capacity and the body of knowledge which can make them an influential player in information field.
George Gotsiridze, of center of “Geo-Information” systems, spoke about the lack of data collection standards, and highlighted the problem of publicity, reliability and accuracy of information. Gotsiridze suggested developing the information “meta-base” which would contain the information about existing databases in various fields.
Davit Kipiani of IFES pointed out the problem of standard Georgian fonts for computer applications persists, although the situation has improved compared to the beginning of 1990s. Kipiani also proposed to create CSO internal information resource centers.
Valeri Chitaladze, from Information Communication Technologies for Civil Society of OSGF, spoke about opportunities that their organization provides for developing information service for civil society representatives. The program includes the Internet literacy and web-design classes as well as teaching management of the information resources.
Participants expressed hope that CSOs will increase the quality and outreach of their information services.
By Julie Giorgadze, CAP Information Officer