The UNDP Farmer Knowledge Project was carried out in two phases. Data on Georgian rural households1 was collected by the polling agency Analysis and Consulting Team (ACT) between February and July 2015. 2 This data was analyzed with the purpose of producing policy recommendations by the ISET Policy Institute between November 2015 and July 2016.

Supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry for Munich and Upper Bavaria, and working in partnership with the Georgian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), this project aims at strengthening entrepreneurship education in Georgian Vocational Education and Training (VET) institutions.

After a group of economics students and professors from UNIL visited Tbilisi earlier this year and undertook a course in Mechanism Design taught by ISET’s senior academic advisor, Professor Motty Perry (University of Warwick), a delegation consisting of ISET professor Florian Biermann, three second-year students (Mzia Giorgadze, Gela Gelashvili, Laura Manukyan) and two ISET alumni (Saba Devdariani and Aram Grigorian) paid a return visit to Switzerland.

In Central Europe, vocational education and training (VET) has a tradition that reaches back to medieval times. To become, say, a baker in 14th century Germany, one had to go through an apprenticeship of two years, working and learning in an existing bakery, where one was guided and supervised by a meister (master craftsman). The apprenticeship was standardized and – if successful – ended with the conferment of a certificate and admission to the baker’s guild.

Georgians have revealed themselves to have overall low levels of financial literacy. Only 6% of respondents to a new research survey were financially literate, which naturally negatively affects the economic situation in the country. ISET's Policy Institute, together with TNS and TBC Bank, conducted the first-ever large-scale survey on financial literacy in Georgia.