On May 31, ISET organized an excursion to an agricultural cooperative called “Gift of Forest” in Tsinamdzgvriantkari, in the Mtskheta-Mtianeti region of Georgia. The purpose of the excursion was to learn more about a successful cooperative and understand how this success could be replicated in other contexts and value chains in Georgia.
On May 23, 2014, ISET hosted a presentation by Dr. Ira Gang from Rutgers University, who presented his paper titled: “Is women’s ownership of land a panacea in developing countries? evidence from land-owning farm households in Malawi”.
“Jewelry you can pawn whenever you encounter financial difficulties", we were told by a friend. In our circles of acquaintances, there are quite a number of people who enjoy the services of pawnshops. The reasons range from renovating apartments, paying tuition for children, and buying new hi-fi systems for the car, to repaying the 1000 lari that the 18-year-old son had lost in gambling.
There are many reasons to love the concept of farmer cooperation (and cooperation more generally). To begin with, there is a great aesthetic value in seeing people coming together, sharing resources, and helping each other. After all, instinctive collectivism was the basic condition of human existence from time immemorial. But, there are also powerful economic reasons for farmer cooperation.
On May 2, 2014, the Georgian parliament unanimously passed the law on the elimination of any form of discrimination. The stated objective of the law is to ensure that any physical or legal entity equally benefits from all rights defined by Georgian legislation, irrespective of race, skin color, language, sex, citizenship, place of origin, birth or residence, wealth or class status, religion or belief, national, ethnic or social belonging, profession, marital or health status, disabilities, sexual orientation, gender identity, political or other considerations, etc.