The ruling Georgian Dream party has passed a law in its third reading that will allow the government to fund non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
The initiative was first introduced last year by Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze following the adoption of the controversial “foreign agents” law, which requires NGOs receiving foreign funding to register as “organizations carrying foreign influence” and imposes restrictions on their activities.
Presenting the bill in Parliament, Georgian Dream’s Parliamentary Secretary, Vakhtang Bachiashvili, explained that the amendments to Georgia’s Law on Grants would establish a State Grant Management Agency. This agency will employ up to 10 people and receive 20 million GEL from the state budget in 2025.
Kobakhidze first proposed the idea of government-funded NGOs on September 9, 2024. He stated that only organizations complying with the “foreign agents” law—those officially registered as entities under foreign influence—would be eligible for state grants.
This effectively means that Georgian Dream’s grant agency will fund NGOs that have been officially designated as carrying foreign influence.
A similar model exists in Russia, where the Presidential Grants Foundation for Civil Society Development was created by Vladimir Putin in 2017. Like in Georgia, the fund was established after the Kremlin passed restrictive laws targeting NGOs under the pretext of increasing transparency.
Political analysts argue that Georgian Dream’s objective is to replace independent civil society organizations with government-controlled pseudo-NGOs, similar to what has happened in Russia.
The opposition has strongly criticized the initiative, calling it an attempt to bribe NGOs. They also claim that the government seeks to establish so-called GONGOs (government-organized non-governmental organizations) to serve the ruling party’s interests.
