Village Support Program to be Reinstated
The Government of Georgia has announced plans to reinstate its Village Support Program in 2019.
Georgia’s Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure, Maia Tskitishvili, explained over the weekend that the new iteration of the program will focus primarily on financing infrastructure projects.
“The Regional Development Fund finances projects worth over 50,000 GEL [approximately $18,400), but villages frequently need small projects such as arranging parks, road repairs, cleaning sewage channels and so on. The program has now been restored, but on a smaller scale. Furthermore, we have directed this program to infrastructure projects to increase its efficiency. The budget is 20 million GEL [$7.4 million],” said Tskitishvili.
Municipal governments will oversee the implementation of program-funded projects.
Last month, when talks of reinstating the program began, Deputy Minister Mzia Giorgobiani said that the program would be a sub-component of projects to be implemented throughout the regions. “At the present stage, we are working with self-governmental entities in order to, through the direct involvement of the population, ensure that projects are properly selected,” said Giorgobiani.
The concept was first developed in 2009, under then-President Mikheil Saakashvili.
In 2014, it was repackaged through a budget resolution on the Village Support Program, under Article 19 of the Law "On the 2014 State Budget." 50 million GEL [$18.4 million] was allocated from the state budget to implement various projects in rural areas, including infrastructure, water supply, and road repairs. The new budget allotted approximately 2,000 GEL ($735) per village.
To enhance the effectiveness of the program in 2014, the program introduced the new stipulation that the allocated funds must only be spent on the construction and rehabilitation of local infrastructure and amenities, for equipment of buildings for general use and procurement of long-term use equipment. There are other special state programs to fund projects related to historical monuments, social/cultural and religious facilities, and to purchase agricultural goods and services. The program also expressed the goal of reducing rural-urban migration by increasing funding to high mountain villages to improve infrastructure and promote job creation. Then-Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure Davit Narmania announced the program, saying “We call on the residents of the villages to participate in the process actively in order to resolve the problems they are facing in their own villages.”
The program was shuttered in 2016 during a round of government reforms.
“We have explored the program defects. All details will be specified in the discussion process,” Tskitishvili said in a statement on Friday.
The original program financed an average of 100 projects a year, which were chosen by the village residents themselves at community meetings. There has been significant demand from local authorities and politicians to resume the program, with claims that the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure has been neglecting rural infrastructure needs in favor of large-scale projects.
By Samantha Guthrie
Image source: Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure