European Union making a difference in Georgia

As Georgia moves ahead towards a European future, the European Union is making every effort towards the upliftment of Georgia in every sector, be it education, agriculture or rural development. In a recent video shared by the European Union that features Mziuri Markoidze, the EU’s delegation emphasized the significance of the European Neighbourhood Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development (ENPARD) Programme in transforming the lives of the citizens of Georgia.

Mziuri Markoidze, a small sewing shop owner from Tsalka, narrated her entire story from her days of struggling to expand her business of sewing and remaking clothes or anything related to sewing. While she continued to manage her business with everything she had, the output could hardly meet her capabilities.

 However, with the apt financial assistance from the European Union’s project, i.e. ENPARD, she had enough to invest in the equipment, like a new sewing machine and other items. Not just the quantity of output improve, but the quality of the goods also turned out to be much better.

Markoidze has now also hired employees and assistants and further aspires to expand her business and recruit more citizens for her enterprise. Such has been the impact of the European programmes that have been running in Georgia.  

There are many more such instances that exemplify the difference that the European Union has made in the lives of Georgians.

About ENPARD 

The ENPARD has been running since 2013 with the aim to alleviate rural poverty through assistance to the government as well as NGOs functioning together with the communities. The major three goals of the programme include:

1: Strengthening the government institutions to reform the agriculture and rural development sector

2: Enhance the employment and living conditions of the rural population by providing them with enough skills and resources.

3: Promote diversified socio-economic opportunities for women and youth in rural areas

The European Union’s Ambassador to Georgia, Pawel Herczynski, publicized the success of the ENPARD-3, with the creation of more than 2500 jobs, out of which 1700 jobs were held by women. The phase three of the programme included another component, LEADER, which provided training and skills to more than 7000 people. 

Additionally, numerous initiatives were launched for the holistic development of the economic and social activities and environmental and climate change activities in the regions of Mestia, Tskaltubo, Akhmeta and Tsalka.

In four years, an investment of more than one million Euros has been made under the programme for the diversification of the economy. The budget for phase ENPARD-III from 2018-2022 stood at € 77.5 million.

Nino Karashashvili, a Georgian farmer, noted that the EU Programme has helped them with enough skills and resources to increase their yield of healthy agricultural products. 

The Georgian leadership is heading towards the acquisition of the membership candidate status of the European Union. The 12-point recommendations that the European Union has put forth are being positively fulfilled by the government. Thereby providing hope to the citizens for an even better future.