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Georgia War-Recovery Progresses with EU, UNDP Help
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Tblisi, Georgia, February 2009-Repaired schools, municipal buildings and water pipes are among the signs of progress as Georgia continues to recover from last year’s war. Such recovery projects will now be expanded, with the help of fresh funding from the European Union and ongoing United Nations Development Programme support.
Thousands have benefitted so far from recovery activities in the Shida Kartli region of Georgia. Those numbers will grow as new projects are installed in Mtskheta-Mtaineti, east of South Ossetia, and Samegrelo, bordering Abkhazia. With the help of Euro 4.5 million contributed by the EU in January, future projects include rebuilding infrastructure, providing vocational training to the jobless and establishing small businesses through microfinance. These projects build on activities quickly put in place in the Shida Kartli region by the UNDP in September 2008 just six weeks after a ceasefire agreement. Local authorities and the UNDP have since restored public services and provided shelter for those displaced by the fighting. Since September, most of the 190,000 people who fled conflict-affected areas have returned to their homes and the Georgian government has built temporary housing for the 30,000 people still displaced. In the Shida Kartli region, bordering separatist Ossetia, 10,000 people have also benefitted from school and municipal building rehabilitation and repairs to water pipes and drainage systems. Short courses in masonry, painting, plumbing and other construction trades have also been held at the University of Gori to provide job skills. Additionally, by the end of 2008 1,100 farming families were provided with seeds, plowing and other services to sow winter wheat crops. With farming the major source of employment in war-torn areas, other farmers who have lost harvests, orchards, livestock or equipment have also been helped. To address human rights concerns, Georgia’s public defender’s office has been extended to the Shida Kartli region and a resource center for women established in Gori. All of these efforts to aid in Georgia’s recovery are now set to continue thanks to the EU’s new funding and ongoing cooperative activities between Georgian authorities and the UNDP.
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