Human capital is the biggest asset of each and every think tank. In securing reliable and high-quality researchers, think tanks compete with much more powerful competitors—i.e., governments, state agencies, private companies, banks, and consulting companies. The region’s think tanks, therefore, have to devise special motivation strategies to retain existing staff and attract new talented individuals to opt for this career.

On May 20-22, 2015 Lasha Labadze, Deputy Director of ISET Policy Institute attended the Third Global Think Tank Summit in Manila, Philippines. The Summit was co-hosted by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the ADB Institute, and the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program of the University of Pennsylvania. The general topic of the summit was Inclusive Knowledge Partnerships for Development and it comprised panel discussions on best practices and innovative knowledge partnerships.

On February 19, 2014, ISET hosted a round table meeting on the World Bank’s draft of its Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) with Georgia for the FY 2014-2017. The purpose of the consultation meeting was to receive critical feedback from think tanks on the CPS to help determine the most effective country partnership strategy.

Supported by the German development organization, GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit), ISET-PI conducted a training program for participants from Georgian government organizations, the national bank, and think tanks.

The objective of the project was to review social and economic platforms of Georgian political parties in key reform areas during the 2012 parliamentary election campaign. This project, involving a coalition of Georgian think tanks and NGOs, sought to review political party platforms in key reform areas such as employment, rural development, and education during the 2012 parliamentary election campaign