The second day of EAR-AER’s fact finding mission to Georgia from 19 till 22 of June started with a very interesting meeting with staff members of the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia, Mrs. Ekaterine Galdava, head of department of Infrastructure Policy and Relations with Development Partners and Mrs. Matsatso Tepnadze, head of the division in the same department.
Georgia decided since 2 years to apply a form of decentralisation and now contains 9 regions and 1 autonomous republic, and at the local level 64 municipalities. This requires a shift in authority and a transfer of budget to lower authorities. It requires also a training effort to regional and local level of many economic, social and political matters. The Ministry contains also 4 agencies:
– United water supply
– Solid waste management
– Road department
– Municipal development fund
The idea came then to organise a summer class for regional development, for lower administrations in order to stimulate skills and creativity in collaboration with EAR-AER. In the coming months to concrete output in a collaboration between the Ministry and EAR should take place.
