On December 21 2011 CIPDD and the Polish Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) have organized a discussion on ‘Developing Georgia's migration policy: lessons from Poland’ in Tbilisi, at the Holiday Inn. This event was the part of the IPA and CIPDD joint project co-financed by the Polish development cooperation programme 2011 of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland. The aim of the project is to improve the standards of creating and implementing Georgian policy in the area of border control and migrations through identifying areas for improvement in the Georgian migration management and sharing the best practices of Polish institutions.

In November 2011 CIPDD became a member of the Coalition VISA-FREE EUROPE. The coalition takes joint actions to speed up the process of EU visa liberalization with the countries of the Eastern Partnership - Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia - and Russia.

On November 4, 2011 CIPDD with Democratic Initiatives Foundations, Kyiv, organized the Video-Conference- "'Experience of  Ukraine and Georgia in the process of Euro-Atlantic integration" wi'th participation of Georgian and Ukrainian experts working on Euro-Atlantic integration issues.

On November 4, 2011 CIPDD with Democratic Initiatives Foundations, Kyiv, organize the Video- Conference - Experience of Ukraine and Georgia in the process of Euro-Atlantic Integration, Tbilisi-kyiv - with participation of Georgian and Ukrainian experts working on Euro-Atlantic integration issues.

On 25 September CIPDD, GYLA and Saferworld started in Akhaltsikhe 2nd round of engagement meetings ‘Planning for Peace Together’. The main topic of the discussion was "Creation of common interests between different ethnic groups in the economic, social, political and cultural spheres". This issue was named as one of the preconditions for civil integration, hence for peace and stability in the region and the country as identified in the national strategy produced in the framework of the CIPDD/GYLA/Saferworld joint project funded by the UK Conflict Pool.

On September 9 representatives of Georgian civil society and media gathered in CIPDD to discuss prospects for visa liberalization between EU and Georgia and advocacy plans for supporting this process. In the first half of the workshop Macedonian guest speaker Dr. Zhidas Daskalovski (School of Public Policy “Mother Theresa) made an introduction to advocacy techniques in public policy process. Dr. Marija Risteska (Center for Research and Policy Making CRPM) talked about Macedonian visa liberalization advocacy experience and best practices in monitoring of Road Map implementation. The second half of the meeting was dedicated to discussion about Georgia’s prospects for visa liberalization, current state of art and plans for visa liberalization advocacy.

On September 9 CIPDD is hosting a workshop 'Transfer of Macedonia NGOs experience on visa liberalization'. The event is part of the PASOS-CIPDD project Paving the Road towards Visa-free Travel between the Eastern Partnership countries and the EU supported by the Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative (LGI) of Open Society Foundations.

CIPDD together with its partner - the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS, the Netherlands) launched a new website PARTICIPATE.GE. The website is a part of the joint project Civil Society for Development, Decentralisation and Participation in Georgia (CSD).

CIPDD/GYLA/Saferworld with help from the Go Group Media have produced 4 documentary films of the public discussions held in March 2011. The main aim of the events was to allow government and community representatives to share perspectives on the key challenges for future peace, security and stability in Georgia, and to plan for how they can be most effectively managed.

On April 14-15, 2011, the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority and the Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development organized joint workshop in Tbilisi titled “Georgian and Sweden in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Regime: Global, Regional and Practical Issues”.  The event took place at the Tbilisi Marriott Hotel on 14-15 April 2011. The draft agenda of the Workshop is attached. The main objective of the Workshop was to discuss prospective and new approaches to strengthening nuclear security and creating a common agenda for cooperation on nuclear security and nuclear non-proliferation issues between Sweden and Georgia.

The war in August 2008 affected the lives of many people - they lost loved ones, homes, jobs and sources of income. In other cases, the influence may be indirect but still painful. Two years after the war, the issues that lay at the heart of the conflict are still unresolved and the sense of uncertainty about the future adds to the damage inflicted by the war.

CIPDD, GYLA and Saferworld initiated public discussion took part in 4 regions of Georgia - Shida Kartli, Samtskhe-Javakheti, Kvemo Kartli and Samegrelo. Around 30 participants representing local and central governments, media and local civil society gathered to discuss key national challenges related to peace, security and stability. The final discussion was organized in Tbilisi Marriott on 31st March.

‘Planning for Peace Together’ is a series of five public discussions held across the country by CIPDD, GYLA and Saferworld to allow government and community representatives to share perspectives on the key challenges for future peace, security and stability in Georgian and the region, and to plan for how they can be most effectively managed. The discussions will take place in Shida Kartli, Kvemo Kartli, Samtskhe-Javakheti and Samegrelo, with a final discussion in Tbilisi.

Training for Trainers in Participation and Principles of Decentralization was held in The Hague, The Netherlands, on October 18 – 30, 2010. The ToT was organized by the Institute of Social Studies (ISS) and CIPDD. 20 Georgian participants attended the ToT, 16 of which were representatives of regional civil society organizations from 8 regions of Georgia. Training was carried out with financial support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands in the frame of the MATRA program Georgian Civil Society for Development.

Today religion is playing a growing, and certainly “visible” role in public and intellectual life of even distinctly secular European nations. CIPDD presents its new product a monthly foreign press review, which is specifically focused on religious problems and related public discourse in USA and Europe. First issue of the foreign press review Islam in European Context is compiled by Dimitri Paccaud, a CIPDD intern.

In the framework of the project "Improving Environment for Minority Integration in Georgia through Supporting Reforms in the School Education System" CIPDD continued a series of training workshops Learning to Accept and Recognise Cultural Diversity. The training aims to promote major principles of democratic citizenship in secondary educational institutions of Georgia. It is also designed to help teachers acquire respective knowledge and skills, and teach them how to avoid and prevent conflicts in multi-cultural environment. The training workshops were conducted in 2009/10 in Kvemo Kartli, Samtskhe-Javakheti and Ajaria.

0n 25 October 2010 in the Hotel Tbilisi Marriott the Caucasus Institute hosted a round table, where the results of the project “Effective mechanisms and practices for fighting against corruption in the Black Sea Region: lessons learnt and further steps for Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey and Georgia” were summarized. Among the attendants were representatives of the Ministry of Justice, the Parliament of Georgia, NGOs and media, students of the Ilia State University.

Eleven local schools took part in a pilot program to celebrate Cultural Diversity Day in the Bolnisi municipality. The event was organized in the framework of the CIPDD project "Improving Environment for Minority Integration in Georgia through Supporting Reforms in the School Education System" (EED). The program, spearheaded by a Bolnisi-based private school Davitiani, was intended to draw attention of Armenian, Azeri, Georgian, and Russian schools to celebration and encourage them to adopt Cultural Diversity Day in their schools.

In the framework of the project "Improving Environment for Minority Integration in Georgia through Supporting Reforms in the School Education System" CIPDD launched a contest in the spring 2010 for the best methodology to organise and celebrate a Cultural Diversity Day in school. On the basis of the winner project, which was selected by the contest commission in January 2010, CIPDD prepared a guide for teachers and school administrations to help them arrange and carry out various interesting educational activities on Cultural Diversity Day and designed a respective poster. The guide and the poster will be distributed in schools for free.

On May 4 CIPDD and Pro NGO! (Germany) organized the Second Round Table on Shida Kartli. Aim of the meeting was to present the monitoring results and to discuss the situation in Shida Kartli, most urgent problems of the region and actions required in the short-term period.

On January 28 CIPDD organized a round table meeting to discuss expectations of Georgia’s Civil Society towards the Eastern Partnership and new opportunities this initiative will provide to Georgia as one of the partner countries.

The expected normalization in Turkish-Armenian relations may turn out to be the most momentous change in the security set-up of the South Caucasus since the break-up of the Soviet Union. Its results may even overshadow those of the August 2008 Russia-Georgia war which did not lead to a substantive shift in the region’s geopolitics. Many within the Georgian expert community think that the impending Turkish-Armenian deal implies inherent dangers for Georgia’s economic and security interests. Can Georgian government influence the process of normalization? CIPDD organized a discussion on January 20, 2010 in order to discuss this issue and to assess implications for Georgia.