Europe-Georgia Institute

Europe-Georgia Institute

ევროპულ-ქართული ინსტიტუტი
Abbreviation	EGI
Formation	1 July 2015; 8 years ago (2015-07-01)
Founder	George Melashvili, Shalva Chkheidze, Revaz Topuria
Type	NGO / think tank / Foundation
Tax ID no.	404 496 700
Legal status	Nonprofit organization
Purpose	Advancing democracy, human rights, peacebuilding, promotion of good governance, support the involvement of youth in democratic process.
Headquarters	Tbilisi, Georgia
Methods	Lobbying research consultancy
Official language	Georgian, English
President	George Melashvili
Executive Director	Shalva Chkheidze
Main organ	Board
Affiliations	European Liberal Forum
Website	egi.ge

Europe-Georgia Institute (EGI) (Georgian: ევროპულ-ქართული ინსტიტუტი) – is a non-governmental organization in Georgia. The Europe-Georgia Institute was founded by George Melashvili, Shalva Chkheidze and Revaz Topuria in 2015.^[1]

The EGI states its mission is to advance democracy, the rule of law and free markets in Georgia and the Caucasus and empower a new generation of leaders to find solutions that are essential for Georgia’s development and for successful common future of the Caucasus. The EGI focuses its campaigning on issues, such as human rights, peacebuilding, promotion of good governance and supporting the involvement of youth in democratic process.^[1]

Together with EGI's volunteers and partner organizations all around Georgia and the Caucasus, and with support from different donors, the EGI works hard to improve Georgia's political culture, to provide a platform for policy level discussions and to enable citizens to make their voices heard. The EGI is the only organization in Georgia that implemented a nationwide Get out the vote campaign in 2016.^[1]

An essential area of the Institute's work is cooperation with youth. The Europe-Georgia Institute recognizes that young people have a specific role in society and face particular challenges. The Institute focuses on youth work and supports equality and non-discrimination and aims to ensure that all policies and activities concerning young people uphold young people's right to participate in the development, implementation, and follow-up of policies affecting them. To achieve this aim, the EGI encourages and promotes inclusive democratic participation of all young people in society and democratic processes, actively engages young people in the development, implementation, and evaluation of policies affecting the lives of young people. The EGI cooperates with all major Universities in Georgia and supports specific frameworks and activities to empower youth and ensure youth participation.^[1]

The Europe-Georgia Institute also analyzes Georgian and international politics, creates policy recommendations, and develops projects which contribute to a more open, democratic, and free society. A crucial area of work of the Institute is integration with European and Euro-Atlantic partners. The Institute aims to facilitate a broad civil consensus regarding foreign political issues. The EGI implements different actions to increase political literacy among various communities and created methodologies to increase civic participation.^[1]

The EGI emphasizes "independence and impartiality", and explicitly precludes political, economic, or religious factors in its decision making. EGI's principles and operational guidelines are highlighted in its Charter.^[1]

The Europe-Georgia Institute is an affiliate member of the European Liberal Forum, a political foundation at European level.^[2]