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IREX Georgia

IREX began administering training projects and associated grant programs for professionals throughout Georgia in 1994. The programs and projects encompass a variety of fields, including university research and teaching, corporate management and commerce, government policymaking and diplomacy, journalism and the media. Program participants are leaders in their fields and are instrumental in establishing democratic principles and civil society in Georgia today. The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State (ECA), U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Carnegie Corporation of New York and other private sou rces have also funded IREX – administered programs over the past several years.

IREX currently administers following programs in Georgia:

1. G-MEDIA (Georgian Media Enhance Democracy, Informed citizenry and Accountability) Program

G-MEDIA program seeks to assist in the improvement of the quality and availability of news and information on new and traditional platforms, produced by professionals with improved skills and new citizen contributors. The program will lay groundwork for continuing improvements in the Georgian media environment by supporting systematic, evidence-based advocacy for improved media law and regulation driven by Georgian stakeholders. Underpinning G-MEDIA will be the drive to turn distrustful audiences into an active constituency for diverse, professional media.

2. Georgian Media Partnership Program (GMPP)

The Georgian Media Partnership Program (GMPP) aims to support Georgian media’s professional development by creating and fostering long-term professional relationships between Georgian and U.S. media outlets via professional exchanges, individual consulting and sharing of best practices that will result in improved journalistic, technological, and business management practices among the Georgian partners.

3. Global Undergraduate Exchange Program

The Global Undergraduate Exchange Program (Global UGRAD) in Eurasia and Central Asia is a program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the United States Department of State. UGRAD provides opportunities for undergraduate students from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan to spend one academic year of non-degree study in a US university or community college. Participants are selected through an open, merit-based competition.

4. Edmund S. Muskie Graduate Fellowship Program

The Edmunds S. Muskie Graduate Fellowship Program (Muskie) is a program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the US Department of State, administered by IREX. The program provides opportunities for graduate students and professionals from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan for one-year non-degree, one-year degree or two-year degree study in the United States.

5. Teaching Excellence And Achievement Program (TEA)

The Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program (TEA), a program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the US Department of State, provides secondary-school teachers from Eurasia, South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Western Hemisphere with unique opportunities to develop expertise in their subject areas, enhance their teaching skills, and increase their knowledge about the United States.

6. ECA Alumni Small Grants Program

The ECA Alumni Small Grants Program provides grants to alumni of select Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) –sponsored programs, allowing them to conduct activities aimed at furthering their professional development.

7. The University Administration Support Program (UASP)

With primary support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, IREX has designed the University Administration Support Program (UASP) to contribute to improving administration in a selected number of universities in Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Ghana, Russian Federation, and Ukraine. IREX provides competitively awarded short-term fellowships for mid and senior-level university administrators to spend approximately eight weeks with counterparts at respected US public universities to work on specific university administration reform projects.