In November, ISET Policy Institute conducted a training series for civil society organizations (CSO) and private sector associations (PSA). This course was one part of the “Develop the advocacy capacity of civil society organizations and private sector associations” project, supported by the USAID Economic Governance Program.

The training itself included four main components: 1) advocacy, 2) research methods, 3) policy analysis, and 4) communications.

The first advocacy module was delivered by Liza Sopromadze, Director of the Regional Development Center, and it focused on building expertise within advocacy services to help them achieve their advocacy goals.

The policy analysis module, delivered by Mariam Lobjanidze and Mariam Tsulukidze from ISET Policy Institute, covered the principles of policymaking and offered an overview of how evidence-based policymaking can be enforced with the help of regulatory impact assessments.

The module on research methods, delivered by Salome Deisadze and Salome Gelashvili from ISET Policy Institute, discussed qualitative and quantitative research, impact evaluation techniques, and the development of policy documents.

The last module on communications was delivered by Sophio Gujabidze and Guranda Darchidze from ISET’s Communications team, and it focused on effective organizational communication practice as well as media relations.

The aim of the training was to strengthen advocacy, research, policy analysis, and the outreach capabilities of the participating CSOs and PSAs, which in turn will naturally help them offer better services to their communities, while also being more engaged in policy design and its implementation.