Project Monitoring Mission in the ABL Communities in Georgia

From August 6 – 13, 2024, the Project Monitoring Mission in the ABL Communities in Georgia took place, focusing on planning and assessing the next steps of the project. During this mission, our team visited the capital city of Tbilisi, areas near the Administrative Boundary Line (ABL), and future project activity sites, including the mountain resort of Gudauri, where the summer school will take place.

On August 7, 2024, our team met with the partner organization Populus Rei in Tbilisi. This full-day meeting was crucial for the strategic planning of the next phases of the project. Together, we discussed detailed steps to improve project implementation and identified potential risks that could affect its success. These discussions resulted in a clear timeline and task allocation among all partners. We also focused on expanding cooperation with both international and local partners, laying the groundwork for more effective future activities.

Another important aspect of our mission was finding suitable venues for upcoming project activities, specifically for organizing the summer school. In Gudauri, we visited several hotels and negotiated with their managers to find the most suitable location that would meet our needs. This selection was important as the summer school will be a key activity aimed at increasing civic engagement among young leaders from the ABL communities.

In the following days, we focused on meetings with farmers and producers from ABL communities. These meetings took place in the cities of Gori (from Shida Kartli region) and Mestia (from Svaneti – Racha- Lechkhumi region), where we discussed opportunities for developing their businesses and integrating them into the project. In Mestia, we also held negotiations with suppliers from the Racha region, where we concentrated on the potential to expand their products to more lucrative markets. This initiative was aimed at supporting local producers to distribute their products both within Georgia and internationally more effectively.

Supporting the export of products from these regions to more profitable markets was one of the main topics of our discussions. We focused on establishing networks and logistics that would enable local farmers and producers to market their goods successfully. In this way, we strengthened the project’s and supported the economic development of ABL communities.

Overall, this mission represented a key step forward in advancing the project, which is focused on improving living conditions and economic opportunities in the ABL communities of Georgia.

The activity was part of the project: „Building economic resiliency of communities adjacent to the occupation line along Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia in Georgia (SAMRS/2023/GE/1/1)“.