2003 Embassy Events
October 30, AMBASSADOR MILES AWARDS GRANTS TO SUPPORT DEMOCRATIC REFORMS AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN GEORGIA
On October 30th, Ambassador Miles and PAO Rowena Cross-Najafi awarded U.S. Embassy's highly competitive FSA/Democracy Commission Small Grant Certificates to winners for FY-2003 in a small ceremony at the ambassador's residence. A total of $150,000 was awarded to 15 Georgian NGOs and media outlets to address challenges in private enterprise development, public administration and policy, civil society, and mass media. Successful projects included: Independent TV Lomsia from the ethnically diverse Samtskhe-Javakheti region in Southern Georgia, to expand local news production and area of broadcasting; Internet and computer resource centers in Chiatura, Northwestern Georgia, Gurjaani, East Georgia and Gali, Abkhazia (a break-away region of Georgia) to support the free flow and access to information; the Union of Azerbaijani Women in Marneuli, South-Eastern Georgia, to offer Georgian classes to local public leaders and help their integration within Georgian community; and the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs, to translate two American textbooks and introduce them into the Local Government Program curriculum. At the ceremony, held on the eve of Georgia's Parliamentary Elections, Ambassador Miles expressed his hope that endeavors of the NGO sector would lay a real and enduring foundation for the development of a democratic and market-oriented society based on the rule of law.