Ancient Greeks’ fascination with Georgia was not limited to the Golden Fleece. Legend has it that ‘Georgia’ comes from the Greek γεωργός (Georgios), reflecting the advanced land plowing practices of Georgian tribes, which distinguished them from their nomadic and yet unsettled neighbors. The Georgians (Colchians and Iberians, to be more precise) must have really made a formidable impression on the Argonauts to deserve such recognition.

On November 12th, President of ISET and ISET-PI, Eric Livny moderated a panel discussion on “Competing Water Needs” organized by the USAID policy-advocacy project Governing for Growth in Georgia (G4G). Representatives of all water-using sectors were invited to participate. The discussion included the viewpoints of stakeholders in the agriculture, environment, and energy sectors.

Tea Lobjanidze, an education specialist and writer, works at the Avchala juvenile prison. She is a member of the Education and Management Team (EMT), a group of professionals committed to the formal and informal education of children. In an interview she gave to ISET-PI’s Lasha Lanchava, Ms. Lobjanidze tells about the realities faced by Georgia’s at-risk youths and her vision of how Georgia can improve a lot of its children.

On October 6th, ISET-PI research fellow, Levan Pavlenishvili of the Energy and Environment Policy Research Center, participated in a panel discussion organized by World Experience Georgia (WEG) at Ligamus Book shop of Ilia State University. The panel discussed Discussion subsidies in the energy sector and it was attended by representatives of academia and other sector stakeholders including WEG representatives Mr. Murman Margvelashvili and Mr. Giorgi Mukhigulishvili.

On Tuesday, September 15th, Levan Pavlenishvili, research associate of Energy & Environment Research Center, visited Eastern Partnership Youth Camp in Kvareli. Levan leads a session on the Market Economy. He conducted a Competitive Bazaar simulation with camp participants to give them a sense of how the market works. As this simulation requires, Levan divided participants into two groups of buyers and sellers.