Meliora 2018 to Name Best Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives

In the frames of the EU-funded project ‘Georgian Civil Society Sustainability Initiative,’ the Awards Ceremony of Georgia’s Responsible Business Awards Meliora 2018 will be held. The contest, organized by the Center for Strategic Research and Development of Georgia (CSRDG), will be held on December 13, 8 PM, at The Biltmore Hotel, Tbilisi.

41 companies with 76 corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects/initiatives participated in Georgia’s Responsible Business Awards. The independent jury consists of leading Georgian and international experts from Great Britain, USA, Belgium, Denmark, Israel, Norway, Slovakia and other countries. Georgian jury members, who represent international and local civil society organizations, will be announced during the Awards Ceremony.

Approximately 250 guests will attend the Awards’ Ceremony. Among them are representatives of the diplomatic corps - Ambassador of European Union to Georgia Carl Harzzell, and Ambassador of Sweden to Georgia Ulrik Tideström; Georgian authorities represented by Tamar Khulordava, Chairperson of European Integration Committee of Parliament of Georgia; European field experts and international jury members of the contest - Anna Bolt, Awards Manager at Business in the Community, Prince’s Responsible Business Network and Pavel Hrica, Manager of prestigious CSR award in Slovakia ‘Via Bona’; and representatives of the participating companies, as well as civil society organizations and leading businesses in Georgia. Live music will be provided by David Evgenidze and his band and the anchors of the event will be Irakli Kakabadze and Salome Arshba.

“We welcome and support initiatives which endorse and appreciate businesses that do an amazing job in CSR and efforts which encourage other companies as well to take up social responsibility,” said Eka Urushadze, the Executive Director of CSRDG.

The Contest is supported by international and local business associations and the Government of Georgia, including: the Academy of the Ministry of Finance; Committee of European Integration of Parliament of Georgia; Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Labor, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia; Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia; Tbilisi City Hall; Embassy of Sweden to Georgia; United State Agency for International Development (USAID); Association of Communication Agencies of Georgia (ACAG); CENN; Georgian Business Association (BAG); Georgia’s Innovation and Technology Agency; Georgian Microfinance Association; Georgian Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Enterprise Georgia; European Business Association (EBA); EU-Georgia Business Council (EUGBC); International Chamber of Commerce (ICC); World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

The special ‘Waste Management’ category of Georgia’s Responsible Business Awards is supported by USAID-funded Waste Management Technologies in the Regions Program (Phase II) implemented by CENN and the special category of ‘Creative CSR’ is endorsed by the Association of Communication Agencies of Georgia (ACAG).

The names of the winning companies will be available after Awards Ceremony on the meliora site www.meliora.ge.

Georgia’s Responsible Business Awards Meliora is sponsored by: Dugladze Wine company; Micro Business Capital; Sarajishvili and Holliday Inn. The Awards Ceremony is hosted and supported by The Biltmore Hotel Tbilisi.

The ‘Georgian Civil Society Sustainability Initiative’, launched in January 2017, is a consortium led by Konrad Adenauer Stiftung in partnership with Georgian civil society organisations: Center for Strategic Research and Development (CSRDG), Civil Society Institute (CSI), Center for Training and Consultancy (CTC) and Education Development and Employment Center (EDEC), has been implementing the Georgian Civil Society Sustainability Initiative (CSSIGE) in order to address key challenges of Georgian civil society sector. The project is funded by the European Union and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany.

The Center for Strategic Research and Development of Georgia, which was established in 1995, has successful multi-year experience in the field of civil sector development in Tbilisi as well as in the regions of Georgia. CSRDG was the first Georgian organization that prepared and published: the sustainability report in accordance with GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) sustainability reporting guidelines; the first Georgian-language textbook on CSR for higher educational institutions; and comprehensive analytical research on “Corporate Social Responsibility and Public Sector’s Role” (analysis and recommendations for the Government of Georgia).