Knowledge Hub

GILS Analysis

GILS as Georgia's Labour Knowledge Infrastructure

The GILS Knowledge Hub is designed as the primary English-language reference for Georgian labour policy, law, and data. It addresses a genuine gap: Georgia has authoritative legal texts on Matsne.gov.ge and raw statistical data on Geostat.ge, but no single platform that synthesises, contextualises, and analyses these sources for researchers, policymakers, employers, and civil society.

The Hub covers four knowledge domains: legislation (the Labour Code and associated laws, with GILS analytical commentary); data and tools (labour market statistics with visualisation and interpretation); institutional knowledge (ILO conventions, DWCP commitments, international standards); and comparative context (South Caucasus comparisons, EU neighbourhood benchmarks). Together these form a coherent reference architecture for evidence-based labour policy.

Strategic value: GILS is the only institution in Georgia producing integrated labour policy analysis in English that is freely accessible to international researchers, ILO staff, donor agencies, and the diplomatic community. This positions GILS uniquely for international partnerships and research collaboration.

Development priority: The Knowledge Hub requires regular content updates to remain current — Geostat releases data quarterly, ILO supervisory bodies report annually, and the Georgian Parliament amends labour legislation regularly. A systematic update protocol is the highest-priority institutional need.

International Perspectives

What Other Institutions Say

ILO Decent Work Team for Eastern Europe

GILS has been identified by ILO as a key national partner institution for the Georgia DWCP 2023-2026. The Knowledge Hub's structured presentation of ILO convention ratification status and compliance gaps directly supports ILO's supervisory function and Georgia's reporting obligations. ILO recommends GILS develop a formal data-sharing agreement with Geostat for real-time data access.

EU Delegation Tbilisi

The EU Association Agreement Implementation Report process requires systematic monitoring of labour standards progress. GILS's Knowledge Hub provides exactly the kind of independent analysis that EU monitoring relies on — separating Georgian government reporting from civil society assessment. The EU Delegation uses GILS analysis in its internal briefings.

World Bank Georgia

Georgia lacks a functioning think-tank ecosystem for labour policy. Academic institutions do not produce policy-relevant labour research; government agencies produce administrative reports; international organisations produce periodic assessments. GILS fills the gap between these silos. The Knowledge Hub's accessibility (English, structured, sourced) makes it uniquely useful for World Bank country teams.

GTUC / Civil Society

Georgian trade unions and civil society organisations have limited research capacity. GILS's Knowledge Hub provides reference material — ILO convention status, legal analysis, comparative data — that strengthens civil society's evidence base for advocacy. GTUC has cited GILS analysis in collective bargaining submissions.

GILS Position Statement

The Knowledge Hub is not merely a website — it is the knowledge infrastructure that gives GILS institutional credibility and policy relevance. Every page represents GILS's commitment to evidence-based analysis: taking raw legal texts, statistical data, and international standards and transforming them into accessible, sourced, comparative knowledge. The Hub's long-term value depends on systematic updates, Georgian-language parallel content, and formal data partnerships with Geostat and MLHSA.

— GILS Editorial Policy Statement, September 2026

GILS Policy Recommendations

Five Priority Actions

Recommendation 01

Formal data partnership — Geostat MoU

Negotiate a formal MoU with Geostat for: real-time API access to LFS quarterly data; advance access to annual earnings survey; joint publication rights. GILS provides free analytical value-add to Geostat outputs; Geostat provides data access. Cost: zero. Requires Director-General level meeting.

ILO-Geostat partnership model · Moldova (CBSAXA-think tank MoU) · Latvia (CSB open data partnership)

Recommendation 02

Georgian-language parallel content — priority pages

All 14 data tool pages and 12 law pages have Georgian titles but English content. Develop Georgian-language analytical summaries (500-800 words per page) for priority pages: Labour Code, Gender Pay Gap, ILO Conventions, Observatory. Target: 10 Georgian-language pages by end 2026. GILS Research Fellow assignment.

GILS own Georgian content capacity · Georgian Language Institute style guide

Recommendation 03

Quarterly Knowledge Hub update cycle

Establish formal quarterly update cycle: Q1 (January — annual Geostat LFS data); Q2 (April — ILO supervisory body reports); Q3 (July — MLHSA annual reports); Q4 (October — Parliament legislative session review). Each cycle: update all affected pages within 30 days. Assign one Research Fellow as Knowledge Hub Editor.

ILO country programme reporting cycle · EU Association implementation calendar · Geostat publication schedule

Recommendation 04

GILS Research Brief series — downloadable PDFs

Complement the Knowledge Hub with a GILS Research Brief series: 8-12 page PDF policy briefs on priority topics (minimum wage reform, pension adequacy, gender pay gap). Targeted at: Parliament committees; donor agencies; international organisations. Published quarterly. ISSN registered. Distributed via GMJ network and GILS mailing list.

ILO Research Department brief format · World Bank Policy Research Note · PHIG publication infrastructure

Recommendation 05

International academic citation — ORCID and DOI registration

GILS Knowledge Hub pages should be citable. Register GILS as a Crossref member (via PHIG's existing Crossref membership — DOI prefix 10.66636). Assign DOIs to major analytical pages. Register GILS institution on ORCID. Enables academic citation, Google Scholar indexing, and positions GILS as a research institution, not only a website.

PHIG Crossref membership (extend) · GMJ DOI infrastructure (reuse) · ILO LABORDOC citation model

ILO Standards — Georgia

Compliance Status

Convention / Standard	Subject	Ratified	Compliance	Key Gap
ILO DWCP	Decent Work Country Programme 2023-2026	Adopted	Partial	GILS independent monitoring role not formally institutionalised
EU DCFTA Ch.13	Social Policy and Employment	Ratified 2014	Partial	Monitoring primarily by EU Delegation; GILS provides independent civil society voice
C144	Tripartite Consultation	1993	Partial	Knowledge Hub feeds civil society input to tripartite processes