Eka Gigauri


Eka Gigauri is a public figure and a civic activist who has served as the Executive Director of Transparency International Georgia, the national chapter of the global Transparency International anti-corruption movement, since December 21, 2010.
In 2019 Eka Gigauri was elected as a board member of Global movement.

Education

Gigauri graduated from Tbilisi State University in Tbilisi, Georgia in 1999 with a degree in International Relations. She continued her studies at the Caucasus School of Business, where she obtained her master's degree in Business Administration in 2001. In 2010 Gigauri completed her second Masters and received LLM from VU University Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
In addition to degree programs in 2007 she attended the Senior Executive Seminar Course at George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies.
In 2017 Eka Gigauri became the fellow of Stanford University "Draper Hills Fellows Program on Democracy and Development".

Career

Early career

Gigauri started her career in 1996 as an intern in the Parliament of Georgia and Georgian Public Broadcaster. She continued her early work with the Georgian government as an Officer in the International Relations Office in the Ministry of Transport of Georgia during 1998 and 1999. She then worked in the Department of International Organizations, UN Office, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia.

Public Relations and Marketing

Gigauri started working in PR and marketing in 2002, when she joined the Institute of Polling and Marketing as a Public Relations Consultant. Later, in 2003 she was hired by Marriott International as a Public Affairs Coordinator in Tbilisi.

Border Security

In 2004, Gigauri joined the public service and became the Head of Border Policy Provision Department in the Border Police of Georgia. She was promoted in 2005 to Deputy Head of the Border Police. She oversaw modernization of the force and cleaned up corruption. She also participated in negotiations with the EU on European Neighborhood Policy Action Plan. Gigauri worked on a long-term development strategy for the Georgian Border Police, as well as the enactment of the Integrated Border Management Strategy and the State Law on Border Police of Georgia.
In the following years, Gigauri worked as an expert at Caucasus Interconnect in the Hague, Netherlands. She provided recommendations in the field of security, including border security and migration in South Caucasian countries.

Transparency International Georgia

Since November 2010, Gigauri has been serving as the Executive Director at Transparency International Georgia.
Under Gigauri's leadership TI Georgia greatly expanded both in terms of the people employed, but also in terms of donor funding attracted. Respectively, the portfolio of activities and projects of the organization was also increased.

Activism

Gigauri has been actively involved in various civic activism movements, including "Must Carry/Must Offer," which was eventually adopted into the Georgian Law on Broadcasting 14. She was also one of the founders of the campaign "This affects you- They Are Still Listening," which petitioned the Georgian government to legislate against illegal surveillance.

Memberships