Ambassador Riina KALJURAND (video): "Estonians want to see the result, so we just do it"

18.05.2021 (Caucasian Journal).  Today Caucasian Journal is honored to greet Her Excellency Riina KALJURAND, the Ambassador of Estonia to Georgia and Armenia. The interview is available in video format with Georgian subtitles, and as text. You may view the video discussion below. 

The full text of this interview is also available in English and Georgian:

▶ ქართულად: The Georgian text version is here.

▶ English text version is here.

To be first to view all our exclusive video interviews, please subscribe here to our YouTube Channel.

Ambassador Riina KALJURAND: "Estonians want to see the result, so we just do it"

18.05.2021 (Caucasian Journal). Today Caucasian Journal is honored to greet Her Excellency Riina KALJURAND, the Ambassador of Estonia to Georgia and Armenia. The interview is available in video format with Georgian subtitles, and as text - both in English and Georgian. Below we present the full English text version of interview. 

▶ ქართულად: The Georgian text version is here.

▶ For the video version, click here.

Alexander KAFFKA, editor-in-chief of CJ:  Hello and welcome to Caucasian Journal video interviews.  You are comparatively new head of the embassy in Tbilisi. How can you summarize your impressions so far?

Riina KALJURAND: Thank you very much for inviting me to this interview. Indeed I’m relatively new although I cannot say that that I arrived recently - it was already nine months ago, and I arrived in a quite unfortunate time - in the sense that it is or it was in the middle of pandemic. So the normal social life and communication with other diplomats has been very limited and restricted, and the traveling within the country has been very limited. Maybe I haven't done as much as I would have liked to have done by this time, and I haven't traveled as much as I would have liked to have traveled, but I still hope that the society and the country will open up, and I can catch up with this a little bit later. 

“The main pillar in our vision is the ethical aspect”: Guro RANES and Jan JOHANSEN explain why Norway’s roads are the world’s safest

04.05.2021 (Caucasian Journal). Today we want to present to our readers’ attention some literally vital statistics. In Georgia, the number of COVID-19 related fatalities in 2020 was 2,528. But during same year, 6,640 were injured in road accidents, and 450 people’s lives were lost – and that’s despite the curfew and other restrictions on mobility. 

Regrettably, the road safety gets modest media attention in contrast to tremendous coverage of COVID-related risks, while 6500 individuals have been killed in road accidents in Georgia over the past ten years. This death toll places Georgia on the very top of Europe’s most dangerous roads – see graphs below, based on two independent data sources: WHO and OECD. 

Norway has the Europe’s lowest road mortality level, according to the same graphs. That’s why we interviewed Guro RANES, Director of Road Traffic Safety at Norwegian Public Roads Administration (“Vegvesen”), and Jan JOHANSEN, General Director of Norwegian Council for Road Safety (“Trygg Trafikk”). 

▶ ქართულად:  The Georgian text version is here.

Alexander KAFFKA, editor-in-chief of Caucasian Journal:  Welcome to Caucasian Journal.  We are especially interested in the interview with you, because road safety is a particularly serious problem in our region. And you can see why, if you look at the graphs…

U.S. Fulbright Graduate Student Program opens for Georgian citizens

02.05.2021. The United States Embassy in Georgia has just announced the competition for the 2022-23 Fulbright Graduate Student Program. This program supports study in a master’s degree program at a U.S. university in all disciplines, including business administration.

The Fulbright Scholarship is one of the most prestigious scholarships offered by the U.S. Government. The recruitment of candidates for the Fulbright Graduate Student Program is based on an open competition held by the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy Tbilisi.

The program opening date for receiving applications is May 1, 2021.

 

“In Sweden, term “housewife” doesn't exist anymore”: Niklas LÖFGREN and Tiina BRUNO talk about paid parental leave and gender equality

18.04.2021 (Caucasian Journal). Is it good for the babies to stay at home with fathers? What are the benefits of gender equality? How generous are benefits paid to Swedish parents by the government? How are private companies motivated to contribute?

Within the framework of Caucasian Journal’s Best Nordic and Baltic Practice Program, our guests today are Niklas LÖFGREN, Spokesperson for family economics at Swedish Social Insurance Agency (Försäkringskassan) and Tiina BRUNO, a senior advisor and lecturer in methods for increasing gender equality, social sustainability and inclusion in companies and societies, CEO of the consultancy firm Föräldrasmart Sverige and founder of the concept Parentsmart Employers. 

▶ ქართულად:  The Georgian text version is here. 

Alexander KAFFKA, editor-in-chief of Caucasian Journal:  

Sweden was the first country in the world to introduce a parental leave giving both parents the same possibilities of staying at home with their child. I believe this happened in 1974, correct? In a few years you will mark 50th anniversary of this reform, which seems revolutionary even by the today’s standards. How effectively did it perform over the years?

Niklas LOFGREN: The first years after the 1974 reform was introduced men in Sweden were reluctant to use parental benefit even though they could. The right was equal but you could also give away that right to the other parent, and most fathers wanted to do just that. The first year 99,5% of all days were paid out to women and only 0,5% were paid out to men. The development towards an equal usage went slowly, and after 20 years it still was only a 90/10 split. That’s why the government introduced 30 days that you had to use yourself as a parent. It was “use them or lose them” 30 days. This was a small kick in the butt for the reform which increased the speed towards a more equal usage. From one year to another, more children got more fathers staying home with parental benefit, and also for a longer period of time. 

Laura Thornton becomes Director of the Alliance for Securing Democracy at German Marshall Fund

31.04.2021. The German Marshall Fund of the United States announced the appointment of Laura Thornton as director of the Alliance for Securing Democracy. Previously, Laura Thornton worked at leadership positions as the head of  National Democratic Institute in Tbilisi and International IDEA in Stockholm.

We are pleased to congratulate Laura, who is a member of Caucasian Journal's Advisory Board. She has contributed several articles to Caucasian Journal. The latest one, entitled “How does democracy work six feet apart?“, can be found here.

GMF President Karen Donfried said: “GMF’s mission, strengthening transatlantic relations in the spirit of the Marshall Plan, is rooted in the values of democracy. Laura’s wealth of experience promoting democracy will be an asset to our work at a time when threats to democracy are proliferating globally."

ახლა უკვე ქართულად - Now in Georgian: Our interview with Gunda TIRE on Estonia's school reform

28.03.2021 (Caucasian Journal).  ახლა უკვე ქართულად! Our interview with Gunda Tire on Estonia's super-successful school reform is now available in Georgian language. If you speak Georgian, you are welcome to visit Caucasian Journal's Georgian version here. For readers who have missed the original English publication, we republish it once again.  

School education  is basic for achieving progress in other directions. How South Caucasian students compare with peers? How well can they read? We talk not only about the best school reform experience, but also why South Caucasus is lagging behind. 

It is our pleasure to introduce Ms. Gunda TIRE, PISA National Project Manager at Foundation Innove. PISA is the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment, and Innove is an education competence center in Estonia. The reason why we invited an expert from Estonia is simple: Because Estonian students are the best in Europe. 

Read the Georgian language version here.

Alexander KAFFKA, editor-in-chief of CJ:  Indeed, according to recent PISA worldwide student assessment results, the Estonian 15-year olds have the Europe’s highest scores in all disciplines. First of all, please accept our sincere congratulations to Estonian friends with this excellent achievement! I know it was not unexpected, since Estonia’s results have been going up for some time, but anyway how was the top achievement perceived - by ordinary people and by professionals?

Gunda TIRE:  Thank you very much for the kind words, and we really appreciate your invitation to share the Estonian PISA experience with your readers!

Tina KHIDASHELI and Kristin Krohn DEVOLD (video): Female Defense Ministers from Georgia and Norway discuss NATO, gender, civil society

08.03.2021 (Caucasian Journal). On the eve of International Women's Day, Caucasian Journal has interviewed two female defense ministers and NGO leaders – Tina KHIDASHELI (Georgia) and Kristin Krohn DEVOLD (Norway), who discuss a wide range of issues - from NATO to gender equality.  You may view the video discussion below. 

The full text of this double interview is also available in English and Georgian:

▶ ქართულად: The Georgian text version is here. 

▶ English text version is here. 

To be first to view all our exclusive video interviews, please subscribe here to our YouTube Channel.

Tina KHIDASHELI and Kristin Krohn DEVOLD: Female Defense Ministers from Georgia and Norway discuss NATO, gender, civil society

07.03.2021 (Caucasian Journal). On the eve of International Women's Day, Caucasian Journal has interviewed two female defense ministers – Tina KHIDASHELI (Georgia) and Kristin Krohn DEVOLD (Norway). They are discussing a wide range of topics from gender issues to NATO.  

Our double interview can be watched or read in two languages. Below Caucasian Journal is pleased to present the full English text version of interview. 

▶ ქართულად: The Georgian text version is here. 

▶ For the video version of interview, click here.

Alexander KAFFKA, editor-in-chief of CJ:  Hello, and welcome to Caucasian Journal video interviews. Our guests today are Tina KHIDASHELI - leader of Civic IDEA, Georgian non-governmental organization, and former defense minister of Georgia, and Kristin Krohn DEVOLD - former defense minister of Norway, and currently head of Norwegian Travel Association, who joins us online.

Dear Tina, first thank you very much for giving this interview. Tina, you have many “hats”: an experienced politician and a legal expert, head of a leading Georgian non-governmental organization, and of course former defense minister – the first and actually the only female defense minister in this country.

ICC Secretary General appoints Fady Asly as Special Representative for Caucasus and Central Asia

22.01.2021 (Press release) The Secretary General of the International Chamber of Commerce Mr. John W.H. Denton AO announced the appointment of Mr. Fady Asly of Georgia as his Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia.

Mr. Asly is an international businessman with extensive experience in the Caucasus and Central Asia where he has operated since the 1990’s; Mr. Asly chairs the International Chamber of Commerce in Georgia, Channel Georgia Consulting and advises several multinational groups.