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"Starting a social enterprise - a small bakery in Gori - has been a great opportunity for us,” said Pati Bukhrikidze, head of Women and Development Association, established in 2004. The association has been working to promote gender equality and gender education in Georgia. The programs are focused of women’s rights protection and their empowerment and involvement in social, economic, and political life. Through EPF’s Social Enterprise project, the Association established the First Social Enterprise LTD and purchased equipment to start a small bakery in Gori that employs six people, including three women displaced by the August was of 2008. “In addition to the employment opportunities that the bakery has created, we have started to think about our future as a truly successful business enterprise. Effective and targeted consultancy, applicable foreign experience, donations from a Czech charitable foundation and a grant support from EPF allowed us to get our business idea off the ground,” Ms. Bukhrikidze continues. EPF organized a study tour for two employees of Gori bakery at Entrée café in Tbilisi to learn how to improve service and product quality. The Gori Bakery staff was introduced to the high-quality products and services that Entrée cafés offer and learned about Entrée’s initial marketing and sales strategy. The Gori Bakery staff also took part in baking bread, croissants, and other pastries. Recently, the Gori Bakery LTD reached the breakeven point and is now generating small but consistent profits through catering of baked goods and salads to local schools and companies

Following the philosophy of its long-established Open Door program, EPF constantly seeks opportunities to support newly established organizations and innovative projects that address local needs and have potential of replication. In this context particular attention is paid to the empowerment of vulnerable groups and underserved regions. During the two decades the program have contributed to the development of a social capital through creating resource of responsive, knowledgeable and devoted people in almost all regions of Georgia. These people then became a valuable source for community driven projects, educating peers, providing services to the various institutions, as well as strengthening private sector and governmental agencies through qualified cadres.

As part of its youth integration activities, EPF’s project Increasing Youth Engagement in Political Processes in Georgia is providing opportunities to local youth initiative groups in 7 municipalities of Georgia to (1) develop skills to serve as agents of social transformation, (2) gain experience in awarding grants in a fair and transparent manner, and (3) implement voter education projects targeting first-time voters in their respective communities.

In late 2008, the regional newspaper Kakhetis Khma began a project to promote citizen oversight of the spending of the central budget transfers and subsidies for the Vintage-2008 program. This program allocated eight million GEL to support viticulture in Kakheti, but program beneficiaries had little understanding of the program. After receiving training from experienced budget experts in covering budgetary issues, Kakhetis Khma began journalistic investigations of the local budget spending for the program and began covering the issue in designated newspaper inserts.

“Youth Bank taught me that there is nothing impossible in this world. We had been devastated and depressed after the war. Now I am different: Youth Bank trusted us to design and run a project ourselves, allowing us to address an issue of direct importance to us.” Zurab Mdzinarishvili, 16, student of Gori Public School.

During the post-communist transition period, Georgian women took on numerous responsibilities to support their families. In rural areas, however, patriarchal social systems limited women’s role outside the home. But the lack of opportunities did not reduce women’s desire to think of innovative, entrepreneurial activities.

Eighteen years ago, Mtvarisa Sakheishvili, a doctor from Abkhazia, fled her home in Sokhumi in what remains an occupied territory of the Georgian state. She came to Kutaisi and began working as a medical specialist. Soon, however, she found herself unemployed; but rather than despair, she saw an opportunity to devote her skills and enthusiasm to civic activism. By 2000, Mtvarisa and a team of other physicians who had fled their homes in Abkhazia had founded the NGO Medical Sector of Abkhazia to focus on issues affecting internally displaced persons (IDPs), especially healthcare. In 2009, the organization was reregistered as the Medical Workers Initiative.

We have built a mini ‘Caucasus home’ in the Bolnisi Youth Bank,” says 16 year old ethnic Armenian Robert Sargysyan about the seven member Youth Bank (YB) grant making committee established in Kvemo Kartli by Eurasia Partnership Foundation (EPF).

In 2008, EPF funded the NGO Green Alternative to focus on the decentralization of forests, which were being transferred to the authority of local governments. During the project, Green Alternative conducted four trainings in the underserved regions of Oni (two), Ambrolauri, and Lentekhi to educate both representatives of the communities and the local authorities on the basics of forest sector decentralization.

EPF’s Youth Bank project increases the capacity and provides the opportunity to local youth aged 16 to 21 to engage as active citizens in the development of their communities in Georgia. Through comprehensive training, EPF teaches participants how to manage small pools of grant money (approximately 300-500 USD) that are distributed to support small-scale youth-led development projects in their communities.

Tuesday, 21 February 2012

Terms of Reference - Evaluation of the TV Program

Eurasia Partnership Foundation is seeking an evaluation consultant or team of consultants to undertake an evaluation of a television talk-show, the European Choice. The talk-show is produced with financial support of Eurasia Partnership Foundation and is broadcasted on 1st TV Channel of the Georgian Public Broadcaster.

Monday, 23 January 2012

The Georgian Media: Popular Assessments and Development Perspectives

On January 23rd, 2012, Eurasia Partnership Foundation (EPF) organised a presentation of the Georgian Media Landscape Survey report:The Georgian Media: Popular Assessments and Development Perspectives.

Friday, 13 January 2012

Knowledge and Attitudes toward the European Union in Georgia

On January 16, 2012, Eurasia Partnership Foundation (EPF) is holding a presentation of the survey report: Knowledge and Attitudes toward the European Union in Georgia. EPF’s Caucasus Research Resource Center (CRRC) carried out the baseline survey to study Georgia’s knowledge and attitudes toward the EU in 2009 and in 2011, conducted a follow-up assessment. Using the results from the 2009 and 2011 surveys, the EPF/CRRC will present an overview of public’s knowledge of and attitudes toward the European Union and provide information on if and how things have changed over the past two years. At the same time, the report will highlight Georgian public’s attitudes toward their own political system, charting changes in this area as well. For more information about the event, see the press release attached: