Georgia
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Georgia
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Samtskhe-Javakheti Integrated Development Programme UNDP sector: Background: Samtskhe-Javakheti is one of 12 administrative regions in Georgia. It is located in the southern part of the country, bordering Armenia and Turkey. Geographically, the region is an isolated high plateau, with a harsh climate, set off from the rest of Georgia by the Lesser Caucasus Mountain Range. Samtskhe-Javakheti is comprised of six administrative districts: Adigeni, Akhalkalaki, Akhaltsikhe, Aspindza, Borjomi, and Ninotsminda. The administration of Samtskhe-Javakheti region is headquartered in Akhaltsikhe. During the Soviet era, Samtskhe-Javakheti was an agricultural region, focusing on livestock, dairy production, and potato cultivation. Some building industry and textile factories did function, however, in the region. As a result of the Soviet Union’s collapse and the transition from a planned to a market economy, the region suffered a host of difficult economic problems common in post communist countries including the disruption of established trade patterns and rapidly decreasing production. At present, conditions for the population of Samtskhe-Javakheti are similar to conditions elsewhere in Georgia due to this economic collapse. Unemployment is high. Credit, investment and training is needed to stimulate the economy. Fragmented land holdings and decayed agricultural infrastructure lends itself to subsistence rather than commercial agriculture. Extremely bad roads, which isolate the already geographically remote area, further limit economic opportunities and growth. As result of the depressed economy, the majority of the male population have become so-called "seasonal migrants" working in Russia during the summer Javakheti has sometimes been identified as a possible future hotbed for ethnic unrest and secession, therefore the Georgian government and some international organizations have been reluctant to initiate projects that could be perceived as aimed at preventing ethnic conflict and would thus lead the local population to believe that there are indeed reasons to start a conflict. While most of the assessments of the region conducted by various international institutions suggest that these fears are largely ungrounded and the population does not perceive itself as an endangered minority, yet recent statements made by some ethnic Armenian nationalistic groups residing mostly outside Georgia call for some kind of autonomy and the splitting up of the province of Samtskhe-Javakheti Objective: The Samtskhe-Javakheti Integrated Development Programme will provide a flexible mechanism for UNDP and other donors to contribute to conflict prevention and the reduction of ethnic tensions in Samtskhe-Javakheti by promoting social cohesion among different ethnic and confessional groups, strengthening the capacity of the local and central governments to respond to community needs and interact with different stakeholders, improving communication and access to information for the population in the region, reducing the risk of tensions related to access to productive assets and resources, improving the socio-economic situation and reducing the isolation of the region from the rest of Georgia Expected outcomes: OUTCOME 1: Increased social cohesion through good local governance, particularly improved relations between local government and civil society, increased involvement of and interaction between different ethnic groups in planning and implementation of community development activities and strengthened local government capacity to be aware of and respond to community needs in a transparent and accountable manner OUTCOME 2: Increased opportunities for different ethnic groups to participate in all spheres of society through improved communication and access to information, particularly provision of information in minority languages, improved language education and the development of independent and representative media OUTCOME 3: Equitable and expanded access to productive assets and resources as well as accelerated local economic development through increased agricultural productivity and value-added agricultural processing OUTCOME 4: Improved access to and quality of basic social and other community services through improved community infrastructure |
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