EU Supports Job Fair in Tetritskaro Municipality

On September 28, approximately 20 employers and nearly 200 jobseekers from Georgia’s Kvemo Kartli region gathered at the community center of the Koda IDP (internally displaced persons) settlement, in the Tetritskaro municipality, for a regional job fair. The job fair targeted local IDPs and other vulnerable populations. There are few employment opportunities available in the municipality, and a lack of information sharing often leads to poor matching between employers and job seekers – the job fair helped both sides share information build connections. The event was attended by job seekers from Tetritskaro, Marneuli, and other municipalities of Kvemo Kartli, along with some of the largest employers in the region.

The job fair was organized by national development NGO Association for Rural Development Future Georgia (RDFG) under the European Union’s ENPARD-supported project “Rural Development for Sustainable Growth of Tetritskaro Municipality” and in cooperation with the Social Service Agency of Georgia.

A number of successful applications from the first grant call of the Tetritskaro development project participated in the job fair as employers.

The job fair opened with an introduction from RDFG Employment Program advisor, Lela Maisuradze, and the head of the employment department of the Social Service Agency, Mariam Bezarashvili, who spoke about the importance of the employment program and the job fair.

“Unemployment is considered a big challenge in modern society. Obviously, this problem is persistent in our country as well, especially in rural areas. Our organization has a more complex approach to unemployment. On the one hand, RDFG is helping the most vulnerable people in our society to become competitive in the labor market, and on the other, it is working with employers. Today’s job fair is one of the interventions in this direction,” said Maisuradze.

By Samantha Guthrie

Photo: ENPARD Georgia