New ENPARD Development Project Launched in Akhmeta Municipality
On Friday of last week, EU Ambassador to Georgia Carl Hartzell visited, along with a retinue of NGO representatives and press, the Akhmeta Municipality. In particular, he spent time in Pankisi Gorge. The group was also accompanied by Ketevan Tsikhelashvili, State Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality.
The Pankisi Gorge is an area of Georgia north of Telavi, in the Akhmeta Municipality of the Kakheti region, nested between steep mountain ranges. It is populated mainly by the Kist people, ethnic Chechens who have lived in that part of Georgia since the mid-19th century. The Kists practice Islam and largely speak Chechen in the home, but the language of instruction in schools is Georgian. The area is famed for its beauty, but in recent years it has also become connected with terrorism, accused and confirmed. During the hottest years of the war in Syria, several fighters joined the so-called Islamic State from Pankisi, and there have been several anti-terrorism sting operations conducted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Pankisi villages. Many residents of Pankisi say their people are persecuted and unfairly accused of radicalism, over-generalizations of the actions of a few extremists.
In the first week of February, 20 public school teachers and principals from Pankisi visited Brussels. The main themes of the meeting were European values, Georgia's aspiration to Euro-Atlantic structures, and EU-Georgia cooperation. The Georgian representatives were introduced to the characteristics of the Belgian education system and teaching methods. The study visit was funded by the EU Delegation to Georgia and implemented by the Office of the State Minister of Georgia on Reconciliation and Civic Equality and the NATO & EU Info Center, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
While in Pankisi, Hartzell and Tsikhelashvili met with the group of educators who had recently returned from Brussels while at a public school in the village of Birkiani. They “engaged in a lively conversation with both teachers and local schoolchildren,” reports EU Neighbors.
“Earlier this month, teachers from Pankisi travelled to the European Union. Today the European Union visited Pankisi,” Ambassador Hartzell told the gathered crowd. “I am truly grateful for the warm hospitality that I encountered here, and I am convinced that the teachers will spread their newly gained knowledge about the EU among their students and communities.”
After speaking with the public, Hartzell and Tsikhelashvili met with representatives of local authorities, the Council of Elders and the Women's Council to discuss current social, economic and political issues in the area.
The visit was part of the launch of a new project for rural development in the area: ‘Promoting Inclusive and Participatory Local Development in Akhmeta Municipality.’ As EU Neighbors explains, the project “introduces a bottom-up, inclusive rural development approach that fully engages all communities in the municipality,” the so-called LEADER approach, and aims to improve the socio-economic integration of disadvantaged rural communities in the municipality and contribute to poverty reduction. The project will be implemented by Action Against Hunger, along with local partner organization Kakheti Regional Development Foundation (KRDF).
It is under the umbrella of the 179.5 million EUR European Neighborhood Program for Agriculture and Rural Development (ENPARD), which has already funded the establishment of Local Action Groups, and other activities, implemented by local NGOs, in Borjomi, Lagodekhi, Kazbegi, Dedoplistskaro, Tetritskaro, Akhalkalaki, Keda and Khulo. This year, ENPARD projects will also expand to Tsalka, Tskaltubo and Mestia.
By Samantha Guthrie
Image source: ENPARD