Beautiful Borjomi Pilot Project

UNDP sector: Poverty Reduction and Sustainable Livelihoods
Duration: 18 months
Estimated Budget: USD 700.000

Georgia is in the process of administrative and democratic reforms aimed at decentralizing the government and creating better participation of the citizen to influence their own lives. Since July 2000, the Government is also in the process of preparation of Poverty Reduction and Economic Growth Program. The Beautiful Borjomi Project aims at working to advance the goals of both poverty reduction and active community participation. The project has been formulated in close cooperation with the Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Affairs, Ministry of Urbanization and Construction and local authorities in Borjomi. This is first such effort in Georgia, which builds on the successful realisation of the Beautiful Bulgaria Projects. Beautiful Borjomi is considered a pilot effort, which can be replicated in other towns of Georgia.

The BB seeks to achieve two important goals: reduce unemployment and create sustainable livelihoods. Unemployment is one of the reasons for poverty in Georgia, and the objective of social reintegration of the unemployed and other vulnerable groups can be achieved by regeneration of public buildings, parks and squares, which due to lack of public financing has been neglected and disregarded for many year. The BB pilots an institutional mechanism for direct employment, improve urban environment and construction skills, while refurbishing buildings of historical importance and cultural value. Some prerequisites include community participation in the local decision-making, preparation of Operation Manual (incl. guidelines for the selection of sites, and financial procedures), assessment of the socio-economic conditions, awareness of the scope of the unemployment.

The development objective is to pilot a mechanism of direct employment of the skilled and unskilled unemployed through refurbishment of building and public spaces. These objectives will be fulfilled by, among others, training of unemployed people, participation of the local community in decision-making and encouragement of sustainability initiatives, such as reconstruction of tourism infrastructure. The project is to design opportunities that benefit various groups of society, integration of IDP's and minority groups, improvement business skills for the local construction sector, creation of direct employment. The participatory management and decision-making structure introduced will contribute to a cultural change in the administrations creating self-confidence to further implement employment initiatives.

1. 10-15 sub-projects consisting of urban refurbishment directed towards the city centre locations, including renewal of public buildings, parks and squares through labour-intensive works and low costs projects.

2. Vocational training of the 400 long-term unemployed, the construction companies and entrepreneurs, including a high degree of women.

3. Direct employment of 350 unemployed through local construction companies contracted to carry out the refurbishment works.

4. Involvement of the community in the decision-making and selection of refurbishment sites.

At the end of the project, it is expected that:

1. social reintegration of the long-term unemployed, including IDP's has taken place;

2. cooperation between the authorities at central, district and municipal is improved to fulfill the common objectives

3. local community participates in decision-making involving their livelihoods

4. 10-15 buildings and public spaces are refurbished, providing the foundation for reconstruction of tourism infrastructure in Borjomi

5. training in business-skills is conducted for construction companies

6. training in business-skills is provided for businesses in tourism infrastructure, involving high percentage of women.