Additional Context: This information was collected by Human Rights Watch, or HRW, in an interview with a former staff member of the East-West Management Institute, which implemented a five-year USAID-funded project working to increase citizen oversight and legal accountability Georgia. Disability inclusion initiatives were implemented by the Partnership for Human Rights, or PHR.

According to HRW, this USAID project was the main source of legal aid funding in the country, circumventing restrictions on foreign aid that were signed into law in 2024. Civil society organizations had been particularly impacted by this law, which forced organizations receiving foreign funding to accept the label of "foreign agent", work from exile, or abandon work altogether.

Devex Researcher Note: With this funding, PHR had successfully litigated a case in which discrimination of people with disabilities was compensated with moral damages, setting a precendent for future cases in the country.

Source: Human Rights Watch