Media Center Kakheti

Media Center Kakheti (MCK) is a non-governmental organization with fifteen years experience working on projects to support a more informed and active civil society and culture in the Kakheti region of Georgia. Their work promotes an independent media and civic participation through the fundamental principles of advancing socially excluded, marginalized groups, promoting media as an important means of public education and awareness, utilizing the cultural sphere to enhance the community’s civic participation, and increasing citizen’s awareness of their rights and responsibilities. Their vision is to become a strong financially and institutionally sustainable non-governmental organization in Georgia, and particularly, in Kakheti Region, that contributes in the implementation of successful democratic reforms. The organization is currently engaged in several programs providing educational and training services to the community largely focused on efforts to support agricultural producers. With support from the Politic Institute, MCK is raising awareness of the requirements of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA) with people engaged in farming. Additionally, through a partnership with People in Need (PIN), MCK operates a DCFTA Information Resource Center in Kakheti. This project helps local rural small and medium producers and farmers become better informed about DCFTA. MCK was selected by the European Union/Konrad Adenauer Foundation to be the Kakheti regional HUB for the Civil Society Development Initiative. Through this project, MCK works with EU and other partners to provide workshops, trainings, and forums on topics to strengthen the skills and work of local NGOs and CSOs. To date, there have been events on volunteerism and using Time Bank, project management and design, nongovernmental organization networking, EU Associative Agreement and local development. MCK also supports the journalism work of its media partner, Kakhetis Khma, with financial assistance from the National Endowment for Democracy. In this work, MCK is developing a series of multimedia projects to share information about agricultural issues and local government activities with the local population. The organization is also supporting a Farmer Women’s Club that was initially trained through a Peace Corps Small Project Assistance grant in March 2018. The grant funding trained 23 Kakheti area women who make agricultural products such as honey, candles, knitted items, wine, and cakes. The activities of the Club are continuing and MCK will host the group in its new resource/training room that is currently under construction.