Georgia: The final meeting of the project – “Promoting agricultural and environmental education and raising awareness”, was held by the Environmental Information and Education Center of the Ministry of Environment Protection and Agriculture.
The meeting was opened by the Deputy Minister of Environment Protection and Agriculture, Solomon Pavliashvili, the Deputy Head of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Georgia, Anna Chernishova, and the Head of the Economic Development Program of the Swiss Cooperation Office in the South Caucasus, Beka Tagauri.
“Promotion of professional education in the agricultural direction is one of the priorities of the centre. The Center for Environmental Information and Education has developed important programs such as extension, climate-smart agriculture, forest inventory and taxation programs. Within the framework of the project, a supporting manual for students of professional and higher education levels on climate-smart agriculture was developed, which is adapted for Georgia, taking into account the real problems that are observed in the conditions of climate change. In general, the centre has taken important steps in the direction of increasing extension opportunities, in order to provide farmers with information, as well as to help them get quality education,” said Solomon Pavliashvili.
“Together with the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture and the Center for Environmental Information and Education, we implemented a project that serves to introduce environmental education in professional educational colleges. Through this program, farmers will have a better understanding of what they should contribute to climate change and what kind of impact climate change may have on them. This project is very important, and I hope that this process will continue, become even more stable, sustainable and systematically introduced in Georgia to promote professional development,” said Anna Chernyshova, Deputy Head of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Georgia.
At the summary meeting, the participants got acquainted with the electronic platforms created and updated within the framework of the project to improve extension services, which help farmers to share information and experience and provide timely consultations.
Also, they received information about training programs developed within the project in the direction of climate-smart agriculture and extension. Introductory meetings have already been held in professional colleges and universities about the mentioned programs for its introduction.
The Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System (AKIS) and the Information Quality Standard in the field of agriculture were developed within the project. A knowledge and innovation system in agriculture helps people and institutions involved in agriculture to innovate, gain information and deal with challenges.
Activities to promote agricultural and environmental education and raise awareness within the project – “Modernization of Vocational Education Related to Agriculture in Georgia (Phase 2)”, were carried out by the Center for Environmental Information and Education with the financing of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).
The goal of the project was to strengthen the institutional capacity of the Environmental Information and Education Center of the Ministry of Environment Protection and Agriculture of Georgia, to promote agrarian education and to strengthen the mechanisms of training and retraining in the field of agriculture.
