U.S. international development policy includes supporting civil society.  This is the backbone of any democracy, but some are weaker than others. USG’s Digital APEX program provides civic capacity-building, training, and cybersecurity support for countries across the global south and post-Soviet space including the Republic of Georgia.  Working with the International Republican Institute in Georgia, USG’s stabilization strategy seeks to strengthen local and national capacity to promote good governance. But these partners needed additional expertise to achieve their goal.

Agenda’s international civil society support capabilities include training in communications, messaging, managing disinformation, online security, social media usage, and crisis management.  This expertise was brought to bear for Georgia’s minority political parties and their staff leading up to national parliamentary and municipal elections. Agenda trained nearly 150 political activists, party leaders, staff, and related officials and provided proprietary cybersecurity tools for use during the election season.

Civil society is critical to democratic countries. Agenda has demonstrated its commitment to supporting these civic actors by establishing a regional office in Tbilisi where we continue to provide strategic communications guidance to partners and local actors in the region.