In today’s interconnected world, civil society organizations (CSOs) must be able to use a wide range of media tools effectively. Media platforms are essential to an organization’s public relations (PR) strategy, yet high-tech PR skills are often not well developed among Georgian CSOs.

To improve these skills, Partners-Georgia, EWMI’s local training partner, held a four-day PR Workshop in late February in Tbilisi. Representatives from 16 CSOs attended the workshop, which was funded through EWMI’s Policy, Advocacy, and Civil Society Development Program in Georgia (G-PAC).

“PR is a huge topic, but the workshop focused on how to improve things we already do each day,” said Geno Geladze, who works for the Institute of Democracy in Batumi.

Among other topics, the workshop covered the effective use of the Internet and social media in PR, tools for media relations, crisis management strategies, and report writing skills. As part of the workshop, participants drafted public outreach strategies for their organizations, which they can use to develop sup-port among their constituents and establish a positive image in their communities.

“There is generally a low level of trust in CSOs all over Georgia … PR plays an important role in addressing this problem,” said Davit Bagrationi, who works at Borjgalo, a CSO in Batumi.

Raising public trust in CSOs is a major concern in Georgia, according to a recent EWMI G-PAC survey. The results of this survey underscored the need for CSOs to improve their PR efforts.