Project profile — Building hybrid threat resilience within the Central Election Commission of Georgia

• Developing countries, unspecified (100.00%)

• Government And Civil Society, General: Elections (15151) (100.00%)

• Gender equality (significant objective)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (not targeted)
• Participatory development and good governance (principal objective)
• Trade development (not targeted)
• Biodiversity (not targeted)
• Climate change mitigation (not targeted)
• Climate Change Adaptation (not targeted)
• Urban issues (not targeted)
• Desertification (not targeted)
• Children's issues (not targeted)
• Youth Issues (not targeted)
• Disaster Risk Reduction(DRR) (not targeted)
• Indigenous Issues (not targeted)
• Disability (not targeted)
• Nutrition (not targeted)
• ICT as a tool for development (not targeted)

This project aims to improve the enjoyment of civic rights and freedoms for rights-holders in Georgia, including meaningful and informed participation of vulnerable societies in democratic and transparent parliamentary elections. Project activities include: (1) delivering training to the Georgian Central Election Commission (CEC) on dealing with cyber-influence activities and disinformation during elections by external actors; (2) supporting development of election management risk strategies for the CEC; (3) mounting a disinformation election observation mission during the election, including policy, technical, and Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA+) specialists to study and assess relevant activities and impacts; and (4) tracking and monitoring results and impacts of the initiative and convening an after-action review forum in Tbilisi to synthesize the various hybrid threat lessons learned.

The expected outcomes of this project include: (1) improved state resilience to hybrid threats to democracy by domestic and foreign influence; (2) improved societal resilience to threats to democracy and reduced the impact of disinformation campaigns; and (3) increased effectiveness of accountability and transparency measures implemented by the global community and oversight bodies on electoral processes.

Results achieved at the end of the project (April 2022) include: (1) the Information Protection Centre (IPC) was established by the Central Election Commission (CEC) in the lead-up to and on election day. They also created the tangible Gender Disinformation Guidelines for the CEC based on lessons learned; (2) the IPC provided an integrated, single-source entity for rapid identification of real-time election-related disinformation. This system enables the CEC’s leadership and media team to counter disinformation; (3) publicized the Gender Disinformation Guidelines which enables women in the Georgian electoral administration to benefit from the digital space while minimizing risks; and (4) implemented an Election Risk Management Tool, a software that tracks real-time physical events and online election-related disinformation during an election.

• Proactive disclosure