On December 7, at a meeting of the Committee on Culture of the Parliament, a presentation and public discussion of the ACT study "Assessment of the creative industries in Georgia on the collective management of intellectual property rights" took place. The dialogue was held within the framework of the Committee of Culture, the National Center for Intellectual Property of Georgia - Sakpatent, USAID in Georgia and the Commercial Law Development Program (CLDP) of the US Department of Commerce and with the involvement of representatives of the cultural sector.

Before the discussion, ACT Analyst Ketevan Antadze presented the results of a study on collective governance in the creative industries in Georgia. After the presentation, the audience discussed the challenges and ways to overcome them in terms of collective management of copyright and related rights in Georgia. The parties also discussed recommendations developed by CLDP on improving the system of collective management of copyright and related rights in Georgia.
		The purpose of the event was to identify the prospects for changing the legislation of Georgia on copyright and related rights within the framework of the working group on copyright and related rights of the Committee of Culture, involving a wide range of stakeholders, in order to manage intellectual property rights in Georgia on a collective basis and edit the relevant legislation in line with international best practices and the market, to solve problems, provide a more favorable business environment for rights holders, and promote the development of creative industries.

On November 18, the Tbilisi Marriott Hotel hosted the annual conference of the Georgian Public Opinion Research Association, organized by the International Republican Institute (IRI).

Representatives of research organizations, researchers and scientists discussed at the conference important topics for improving the reliability of public opinion polls.

At the conference, ACT Co-Founder and Vision Leader spoke about the importance of the methodological procedures disclosure rule in public opinion research.

According to the organizers of the conference, adherence to ethical principles and ensuring methodological transparency with the help of research organizations will help develop an effective mechanism that allows researchers to correctly present and interpret the findings or results of the survey. It is the value of transparency and scientific openness and the goal of realizing these values that unites the Georgian Public Opinion Research Association and those organizations of the United States of America whose goal is to develop democracy in Georgia

Sopho Chachanidze, ACT Managing Partner and Head of Development Consulting, has been elected a board member of the Global Compact Georgia network.

Membership on the board of the Global Compact Network in Georgia means:

• Involvement in the process of making strategic decisions.

• Overseeing the activities of the secretariat and the head of the organization.

• Provide oversight of the governance, vision, mission, strategy and financial management of GCNG.

• Approval of the charter, annual work plan and financial statements.

• Leading the overall strategy of the GCNG, with clear and consistent priorities.

• Finding time to participate in board activities.

• Legal compliance and accountability to UN Global Compact Headquarters and its members for recommendations and actions taken by board members.

On November 10, representatives of the research and management consulting company AСT presented a new study "Study of technical / non-academic professions in the civil service of Georgia." The study corresponds to the 2nd direction of the public administration reform roadmap and is an analysis of the transformation of classical professions into the administration or civil service of Georgia, as well as a study of the needs of technical/non-academic professions in the civil service in the near future.

		Stakeholders from technical and non-academic professions and representatives of partner countries got acquainted with the results and recommendations of the study in the field of human resource management in public administration in Georgia. The event is organized by the Regional Eastern Partnership Foundation and the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ).
The study represents the first attempt to examine the technical and non-academic occupations and education levels of the civil service; To observe the transformation of professions from the classical ones as a result of the introduction of technologies, the development of services or the reform of public administration; How is the legislation of Georgia regulated in this direction; What are the qualification requirements for persons entering the civil service, and how are the prerequisites determined; How well developed are these approaches.

The study is part of the project “Professional Civil Service and TVET in the EaP” and is planned to be replicated at the regional level.

On November 2, ACT, a research and management consulting company, published a Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) document, Labor Law Amendments Concerning Labor Rights and Conditions.

The project assessed various aspects of economic and social impact.

The (RIA) framework considers two policy alternatives:

Alternative 1. "Do nothing", the so-called. The baseline scenario is to maintain the status quo until changes to labor laws are introduced in 2020. 

Alternative 2: Implementation of the new labor legislation adopted on September 29, 2020, and relevant related regulations in practice.

In the presented RIA, two alternatives were compared using multi-criteria analysis (MCA). The alternatives were compared in terms of both monetized and non-monetary impact. According to the analysis, the preferred alternative is Alternative 2 – implementation of post-amendment legislation in practice that better achieves policy goals and objectives and is in line with the country's sustainable development agenda.

The RIA document includes an assessment of a number of changes made to the Labor Code that came into force on September 29, 2020.

As part of the consultation project, the assessment was carried out in several stages: after desk research and analysis of best practices, in-depth stakeholder interviews and quantitative surveys of employers and employees were conducted, and in the next stage, initial results were obtained and presented to key informants participating in the study, and at Based on the recommendations received, a final document was prepared.

ACT has been nominated for the Global Compact Network Georgia Corporate Social Responsibility Award in the Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions category (SDG16).

The nomination of AST in the nomination "Peace and Justice" is another recognition of the project "Voice of the Georgian people to Ukraine", which is based on a study of the attitude of Georgian citizens to the Russian-Ukrainian war

According to the results of the mentioned study, 87% of Georgians believe that the war in Ukraine is also the war of our country, and this message has become a message for Ukraine and the whole world. The Corporate Responsibility Award - Business for Sustainable Development was organized by the Georgian Global Compact Network with the support of the Government of Sweden and the USAID Civic Engagement Program.

The competition was held for the fifth time, and the nominations were selected in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the UN in 2015. This year, 128 companies took part in the competition, and the applications were evaluated by a jury consisting of Georgian and foreign members. The purpose of the Corporate Responsibility Awards is to raise awareness of corporate sustainability and the sustainability agenda in general.