Tamar Gvaramadze

Tamar Gvaramadze has 17 years of work experience, mostly in the field of protection of human rights, including on managerial positions. Since January 10, 2018, after her appointment to the position of the First Deputy Public Defender of Georgia, she has been heading the Public Defender’s Office, and under her direct supervision, the Office's activities have been carried out in about 20 thematic directions. Tamar Gvaramadze also heads the Department of International Relations of the Office and represents the Public Defender’s Office in international relations, both in thematical and institutional directions. 

In the past, while working as the Executive Director, as well as the Program Manager, at the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association, the organization effectively protected the rights of hundreds of thousands of people. During the period of her leadership, a number of important legislative acts were advocated, important precedents were created in national and international courts. Tamar Gvaramadze's achievements include the protection of hundreds of vulnerable people while working as a human rights lawyer. In addition, Tamar Gvaramadze is the author of several studies for authoritative international organizations (Council of Europe, GIZ, DFG - and local - Bar Association). Along with her successful career in non-governmental and public sectors, Tamar Gvaramadze is a Doctor of Law and Associate Professor of Tbilisi State University. In addition, Tamar Gvaramadze is a member of the supervisory boards of leading human rights organizations - a member of the International Committee of the European Human Rights Advocacy Centre (EHRAC) and the Board of the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (2017-2022). In 2014-2016, Tamar Gvaramadze was also a member of the Consultative Council of the National Preventive Mechanism of the Public Defender of Georgia. In 2022, Tamar became a German Marshall Fund Fellow 2022.

 I. Professional achievements:

Protection of human rights: During her two years of work as a human rights lawyer at the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (2007-2009), Tamar Gvaramadze personally protected human rights (mainly social, economic and political) of hundreds of persons through successful litigation and consultation.

Effective management: During seven years of managerial experience (2009-2017), Tamar Gvaramadze planned and implemented a number of projects, thereby significantly increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of organizational systems in both public and non-governmental sectors. While serving as the GYLA Executive Director (2014–2016), Tamar Gvaramadze introduced sophisticated financial management systems and organizational regulations that enabled the organization to triple its funding (by increasing financial management capacity). Moreover, Tamar Gvaramadze significantly improved the management standards, introduced a new human resources management system and updated the organizational statute. While working as the Head of the Human Resources Department at the Ministry of Education (2009-2010), Tamar Gvaramadze introduced human resources data systematization mechanism, which enabled the Ministry to get complete information on the training needs of the Ministry's employees.

Result-oriented advocacy: When managing one of GYLA’s key projects (USAID-funded "Judicial Independence and Legal Empowerment Project") in 2011-2014, a number of important laws were changed in Georgia under her leadership, and national and international legal precedents were also established (along with personally protecting specific beneficiaries, as described above). Under her leadership, more than 400 strategic lawsuits were filed with national courts, 25 - with the Constitutional Court and more than 30 - with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Moreover, the Parliament of Georgia fully endorsed 10 recommendatory reports developed under her leadership, which significantly improved the standard of protection of human rights at the legislative level.

Fundraising: Under Tamar Gvaramadze's leadership, GYLA nearly tripled its funding and received funding from the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Through strategic fundraising, led by Tamar Gvaramadze, the organization received more than $3 million (which is 95% of the organization's budget for a three-year period). Through increased funding, the organization was able to provide legal aid to more than a hundred thousand beneficiaries, and establish important judicial precedents in national and international courts, which significantly improved the human rights situation in Georgia.

 II. Academic activity

In addition to professional achievements, Tamar Gvaramadze is actively involved in academic activities. Her experience includes a decade of teaching and research in universities:

Doctor of Law, Associate Professor of Administrative Law at TSU - Tamar Gvaramadze has been delivering lectures for students of Bachelor’s and Master’s degree programmes for many years, including at Tbilisi State University and Eastern European universities.

The author of 6 researches, 2 reviews, scientific articles and dozens of monitoring and consultative reports – given her rich research experience, Tamar Gvaramadze has been providing expert support to various international and authoritative organizations, such as the German Development Agency (GIZ), the German Research Foundation - Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Council of Europe and also - Georgian Bar Association (GBA) for years. Tamar Gvaramadze's expert areas include governance, administrative law, tax law and human rights, legal and European integration issues.

Head of the Law Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) - in 2016-2017, Tamar Gvaramadze developed a national education concept for higher education programmes of the security and law enforcement system. Under her leadership/authorship, significant changes were made in educational modules and overall regulation of the educational programme.