Sustainable Development in Georgia's Regions: Time to Accelerate

The first thought that comes to mind when I think about Georgia’s regions is their diversity. Each region is different and unique, yet they also share many traditions and customs. They also have similarities and variances when it comes to their development challenges.

In 2020, when we were developing a new five-year sustainable development strategy for the United Nations Country Team, we held numerous discussions with the government, civil society, academia and the private sector. In those deliberations it was emphasized that the UN’s work should be more focused on supporting development in the regions – we got a clear message to move beyond the capital Tbilisi.

Together with colleagues from the eighteen UN entities in the Country Team in Georgia, which I lead as the representative of the UN Secretary-General, we have already organised seven dedicated visits to the regions of Georgia to understand their priorities, challenges and opportunities. We are determined to move towards fulfilling the goals we have jointly declared with the Government, primarily improving the people’s wellbeing, capabilities and promoting social equality. The open discussions with local stakeholders – government officials, civil society representatives, scientists, entrepreneurs, farmers, and young people – always provide opportunities to identify concerns, reaffirm commitments to address challenges and to align the UN work in Georgia with the current national and local policies and priorities.

Some regions are growing, in particular those with a big tourism development potential, whereas in some others growth is not as fast or as inclusive as needed. Almost all regions have been experiencing demographic decline, not least due to internal and external migration. The share of young people who are neither in employment, nor in education or training is something that we are trying to address through the UN programmes. Regional economies continue to mostly rely on low productivity sectors. On the positive side, many local actors initiate new businesses and social innovation initiatives and explore new financing mechanisms tailored to the needs of their communities.

Meaningful and sustained progress on development remains challenging given the current situation in the world. Along with our national and international partners, the UN is helping to strengthen the capacity of the central and local authorities and other institutions to provide essential services to all people. Together with our Georgian partners, we are working to protect human rights and the wellbeing of all.

Our efforts are directed towards creating economic opportunities in the agriculture sector for farmers along various value chains, supporting local small and medium-sized enterprises, engaging people in entrepreneurship through increasing their capacities and engaging them in peer education and community activities. People across Georgia obtain the skills to start or expand their tourism-related and small agricultural business activities, to transform their ideas into real projects, and to generate income. For example, the ‘Fostering Regional and Local Development’ programme implemented by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) from 2018 to 2021 with funds from the governments of Austria and Switzerland helped create much-needed employment opportunities, bringing direct benefits to over 14,000 citizens in 23 municipalities.

We also have worked to improve living standards by upgrading basic social and healthcare services and infrastructure. Our team established a solid and sustainable foundation for integrated social services for persons with disabilities and older persons in the regions. The UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and UNDP joined forces to improve access of persons with disabilities to social services and employment. Two Social Inclusion Centers were opened in Ambrolauri and Khobi ensuring that the local population, including women and girls with disabilities, benefitted from improved knowledge on their rights, better policies and more inclusive public attitudes. Through the EU-funded initiative on digital health, the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS), WHO, UNFPA, and UNICEF together with the Government of Georgia ensure access to primary health care by promoting the use of digital health and telemedicine services among healthcare providers and the population, especially in rural areas.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I returned from Adjara, where the decade-long support of the UN is focused on promoting strong, open and transparent local governance and achieving sustainable rural development. The UN focuses on preserving the extraordinary natural heritage, promoting environmental tourism and bio-farming, piloting innovative approaches to the usage of renewable energy sources and improving welfare. Georgia’s mountains, rivers and coastlines, cultural and historical heritage, exquisite cuisine and friendly people provide a huge potential for tourism development. Sustainable tourism is an important industry for my home country Austria, and I believe there is room for sustainable tourism to expand and move up the value chain in Georgia as well, benefitting many communities across the country. Another area that I would like to highlight is waste management: reducing, reusing and recycling of waste is important for the environment globally. In Austria, waste is sorted and sent for re-use preparation or recycling even in small villages. We are glad that with our support Batumi municipality has taken the first steps in the same direction and started building a sophisticated system of collection, separation, and recycling of waste. We are committed to further supporting regional and local innovative, environmentally friendly initiatives. In this regard, it is important to emphasize that recycling is not only about technology and logistics, but also about incentives for individuals to make efforts to recycle.

To help advance the local government reform, the UN has been working closely with the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure, development partners, and municipal governments around Georgia. In particular, we are proud of our efforts to help Georgia develop policies and legislation, regional and municipal strategies and action plans, improve the quality of municipal service delivery and data collection and, most importantly, support positive changes to the livelihoods of local residents. At the heart of all these activities is building capacity of the local governments to to effectively manage territorial and urban development, make more strategic public investments, and increase direct access at the local level to funding from international donors. In 2022, UNDP and the German development agency Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit in close partnership with the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure and local authorities started implementing the EUR 9.5 million ‘Integrated Territorial Development’ (EU4ITD) programme to support decentralized governance, social cohesion and inclusive economic growth in Georgia’s regions.

To strengthen prosperity, democracy and resilience, Georgia needs to fully equip local governments with powers to promote local development, engage local communities in decision-making, develop public-private and region-to-region partnerships to realize effective public investments that help to meet the Sustainable Development Goals. Regions need to have a voice in decision-making for their sustainable future as they best understand their unique challenges and what is important for them to build greater outcomes for the people who live and work there.

Local governance reform presents the Government of Georgia with an opportunity to reduce regional inequalities and relative poverty, to harness the benefits of economic diversification, and to strengthen civic capacities. We look forward to continuing our work in close partnership with our national and local partners all over Georgia to achieve real impact and to foster development that creates more opportunities for all.