This project covers the Imereti Region.Itsaim was to promote the realization of political and electoral rights of people with disabilities and to increase the accountability of the public agencies responsible for fair and democratic conduct of elections. This was done by analyzing the electoral processes and bringing the applicable legislation in conformity with international standards and with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

LDA Georgia conducted comprehensive research on legislation and best practices for how to include people with disabilities in the electoral and political process. As part of the project,we researched international standards that Georgia is
obligated to comply with in order to ensure the protection of disabled people’s electoral rights.

During the project, LDA Georgia prepared research in three phases.The first contained an overview of international and national legislation that determines the political rights of persons with disabilities, as well as information on the challenges and barriers that exist in practice and hinder the realization of these rights.
 
As part of the second phase, we conducted three focus group discussions with different stakeholders in three municipalities of Imereti – Kutaisi, Baghdati, and Zestaponi – and involved 30 peoplewith disabilities. Project: “Strengthen the Capacity of People with Disabilities in Elections and Politics”.

At the end of the second and third parts of the study, we presented recommendations that were developed with the direct involvement of people with disabilities,from lessons learned during the project, and from our research into thebest practice of various countries.

This project was funded by USAID and GYLA.