Georgia’s Grants Management Agency is operating in a phase-out mode and will be closed by the end of the year, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze told journalists.
Kobakhidze also reiterated his view that non-governmental organizations are an “artificial phenomenon” created for political intervention by one state in another. He said the establishment of the agency demonstrated, in his view, the role of foreign funding in the NGO sector.
“NGOs are an artificial phenomenon, artificially created for foreign political intervention,” Kobakhidze said, adding that the sector did not exist a century ago and later became, in his characterization, a tool for foreign intervention.
The Grants Management Agency was established on April 15, 2025, following the adoption of legislation initiated by Georgian Dream that restricted certain foreign funding for media and NGOs. Tamar Zodelava was appointed to head the agency; she had previously held various positions with the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) since 2003 and worked as an adviser on a Council of Europe project and as a project manager for a regional public administration reform fund under the Eastern Partnership.
