The Parliament of Georgia has fast-tracked and approved a bill in its third reading, which grants the government’s public legal entity the authority to issue grants to non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
The amendments to the “Law on Grants” were passed with 80 votes in favor.
Once the law comes into effect, a State Grant Management Agency will be established, which will be responsible for distributing grants to civil society organizations.
The government claims that 20 million GEL has been allocated in the 2025 state budget to support civil initiatives. This funding will cover both the creation and operation of the agency as well as the grant distribution process.
The State Grant Management Agency is expected to employ around 10 people.
The Georgian Dream’s State Grant Management Agency will fund non-governmental organizations that officially have the status of conduits of influence for foreign interests.
Like many recent initiatives, Georgian Dream copied this one from the Russian “cheat sheet”: a similar institution in Russia is called the Civil Sector Development Grant Fund, and it was created by Vladimir Putin back in 2017. As in Georgia, the fund was created in Russia after the adoption of a law restricting NGOs.
Some political analysts claim that Georgian Dream’s goal is to replace the real civil sector with pseudo-civil organizations controlled by them, just as happened in Russia after the Kremlin adopted a repressive law restricting the activities of NGOs under the pretext of transparency.
