• Ambassador’s day in Ambrolauri started with a working meeting with the Deputy Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia, Mzia Giorgobiani and local government in Racha to discuss development opportunities in the region, including under the EU-funded and Government implemented Pilot Integrated Regional Development Programme (PIRDP) which will develop regional infrastructure. The EU has invested over 200 million GEL into this programme, which will support local infrastructure developing in four regions in Georgia, including Racha.

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• Ambassador Hartzell then visited the EU supported Konrad Adenauer Fund (KAS) project “Civil Society STAR Initiative: CSOs as Sustainable, Transparent, Accountable and Resilient Development Actors in Georgia” and held a meeting with the representatives of local CSOs and CBOs. The project, implemented by the Fund “Abkhazintercont” (AIC), targets several key dimensions of civil society development: its environment, organizational and institutional capacities, linkages to other actors and the broader public, social activism, and public participation. The project aims to strengthen civil society as an independent, sustainable, transparent, and accountable development actor across Georgia.

https://twitter.com/CarlHartzellEU/status/1408138366927912972

• Ambassador Hartzell also visited the EU’s Skills4Jobs project “Learn, Exercise, Achieve, Receive, Network for Employment! (LEARN for Employment!)” implemented by Education Development and Employment Center (EDEC) in partnership with the fund “Abkhazintercont” in Ambrolauri. The overall objective of the project is to promote an efficient transition model from education to the labour market largely supporting increased employment, social integration and decreased poverty and vulnerability levels. As part of the project, the Employment Service Center has been established and operating since February 2021. The center offers employment intermediary services to job seekers in Racha-Lechkhumi-Kvemo Svaneti regions. At the moment 78 job seekers and 18 potential employers are registered in the data base maintained by the center. Ambassador Hartzell held a meeting with the project representatives, attended CV training session and met several potential employers representing local businesses.
• In the framework of the same project, Ambassador Hartzell also visited Professional Education College “Erkvani”, which provides professional education courses in livestock farming, horticulture, fruit growing, beekeeping and fishing to the residents of Racha-Lechkumi-Kvemo Svaneti region. Ambassador Hartzell met with the college management, saw the college facility and learned about the ongoing courses. At the end of the visit, an official signing ceremony of the tripart memorandum between the college “Erkvani”, the Fund “Abkhazintercont” and the Education Development and Employment Center (EDEC) took place.  

https://twitter.com/CarlHartzellEU/status/1408152424938889217

• Ambassador Hartzell completed his visit at dried fruit and medical herb producer LTD “Geo Flower” supported by EU and EBRD under the EU4Business programme which supports the development of small and medium enterprises in Georgia.  Geo Flower received a loan of EUR 129,147and qualified for a EUR 19,336 grant (15% of the loan amount). The support was used by “Geo Flower” to invest in new machines, construct a new production plant, a training center and a warehouse for raw materials. With this investment, HACCP practices and ISO22000:2005 certification was achieved and compliance with EU and international product standards was reached. The increased product quality resulted in a higher sales price for the end product and increased exports.

https://twitter.com/CarlHartzellEU/status/1408140363995430912

For more information please contact:

• Inga Nikagosian, Team Leader, EU4Georgia III, inga@commwithus.eu, 577 293979
• Tamar Khuntsaria, Strategic Communications Lead, EU4Georgia III, tamar@commwithus.eu, 595 989916

Additional Information on EU projects and programmes

Pilot Integrated Regional Development Programme (PIRDP)

The aim of the programme is to promote a more balanced territorial development and improve living standards and conditions of the population in the regions through inclusive, smart and sustainable socio-economic means. The grant programme will be implemented in the municipalities of four focal regions in Georgia: Kakheti, Imereti, Guria and Racha-Lechkhumi-Kvemo Svaneti.

In 2020, the Government of Georgia, with the support of the EU, awarded the first 11 municipalities (Vani, Sachkhere, Tkibuli, Samtredia, Baghdati, Tsageri, Sagarejo, Telavi, Akhmeta, Ozurgeti and Chokhatauri) under the Pilot Integrated Regional Development Programme with a total of GEL 5 million in grants in the area of local infrastructure and business development. These grants are part of the Government’s GEL 220 million Pilot Integrated Regional Development Grant Programme, of which GEL 186 million will come from EU funding. 

The funding will allow the winning municipalities to realize important projects covering various areas, such as support to SMEs, improvement of key infrastructure and municipal services, improvement of human capital, education and research institutions, increase the quality and effectiveness of institutions, etc. These initiatives, in line with ongoing sectoral EU-funded programmes and projects, will boost investment and employment in targeted regions.

For more information please visit: https://eu4georgia.ge/gel-5-million-awarded-to-first-municipalities-under-pilot-integrated-regional-development-programme/

Project “Civil Society STAR Initiative: CSOs as Sustainable, Transparent, Accountable and Resilient Development Actors in Georgia”

Civil Society has become an increasingly important political and social actor in Georgia. Therefore, support to and engagement with civil society in all of its diversity is an essential part of the EU programming in Georgia. The Civil Society STAR Initiative is the major project implemented with the EU and KAS support and targeting several key dimensions of civil society development: its environment, organizational and institutional capacities, linkages to other actors and the broader public, social activism, and public participation.

The ultimate goal of the project is to strengthen civil society as an independent, sustainable, transparent, and accountable development actor across Georgia. To this end, we have an ambition to mobilize around 80% of the active CSO-community in Georgia (800 CSOs, including approximately 150 CBOs, as well as initiative groups, and other forms of grassroots). Our special targets are youth and schoolteachers (up to 3000 and 600 individuals respectively), up to 5000 social activists and citizens, including the elderly and those from vulnerable groups. The project also targets approximately 200 public authority representatives (including all levels of authorities), 100 business entities, and 250 media representatives. The action will involve eight universities across the country, both public and private.

The project is implemented by the Fund “Abkhazintercont” with the support of EU and Konrad Adenauer Fund (KAS).

For more information about the project visit: https://eu4georgia.ge/civil-society-star-initiative-csos-as-sustainable-transparent-accountable-and-resilient-development-actors-in-georgia/

Skills4Jobs Project “Learn, Exercise, Achieve, Receive, Network for Employment! (LEARN for Employment!)”

The project is part of the EU’s Skills4Jobs Programme, implemented to enhance Georgia’s economic resilience and sustainable growth through human capital development and skills matching. It is focused to meet the challenge of labour imbalance in tourism and maritime industries and promote an efficient transition model from education to the labour market in the mentioned industries, largely supporting increased employment, social integration and decreased poverty and vulnerability levels.

The project covers six regions in Georgia (Imereti, Racha-Lechkhumi, Guria, Adjara, Shida Kartli and Kakheti) and will build on two pillars 1) to introduce services to address key of the employment and education sectors in the country and 2) contribute to development of labour market infrastructure through research. In terms of the first pillar key challenges which will be addressed are inaccessibility of relevant skills-matching services; insufficient capacity of vocational education training providers; poor career orientation and consultation services for job seekers; irrelevant Work-Based Learning and Life-Long Learning skills provision with a focus on youth; and lack of coordination and Public-Private Partnership (PPP).

Within the project, 3,240 job seekers will gain the skills and knowledge necessary to apply to jobs in the open labour market; among them, at least 720 beneficiaries will participate in vocational education training (VET), on-the-job training and internship programmes, and a minimum of 50% of them will become employed for at least 3 months.

The project is implemented by Education Development and Employment Center (EDEC) in partnership with the fund “Abkhazintercont” in Ambrolauri.

For more information about the project visit: https://eu4georgia.ge/learn-exercise-achieve-receive-network-for-employment-learn-for-employment/

EU4Business

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Georgia are crucial to create jobs and drive economic growth – but they often face obstacles such as limited access to finance, burdensome legislation and difficulties entering new markets.

Since 2009 the EU has been supporting SMEs in Georgia through our EU4Business programme.  With almost 50 different projects active with a total budget of over EUR 320 million, the EU is proud to be the largest foreign supporter of private sector development in Georgia. These efforts are bringing results – in 2019 alone, over 36,000 SMEs in Georgia were supported, resulting in an estimated 30,000 new jobs and generating an estimated EUR 400 million of extra income. EU4Business is one of the key tools of the EU to support the economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, with many programmes receiving financial top ups and lowering eligibility criteria to assist as many SMEs as possible. 

The EU provides funding to key partners such as EIB, EBRD, and KfW, who then work with local partners to support SMEs in Georgia with three types of interventions: Access to finance, Business Development Services, Business Enabling Environment.

For more information about EU4Business programme visit https://eu4georgia.ge/eu4business/ and https://eu4business.ge/