On May 3, ISET Policy Institute co-hosted a public event organized by World Bank Georgia where representatives of the World Bank and co-authors of the study, Jamele Rigolini and Sarah Call-Black, presented the resilience report "Protecting Human Capital in Times of Shocks and Crises".

Under the Georgian Constitution, the country's strategic objective is to join the European Union. The vast majority of citizens agree with and support this objective. The European future is not only the country's historical strategic choice but also the hope for the prosperity and well-being of the country's population and the promise of a better future for future generations.

World economies hampered by the pandemic; countries facing public healthcare crises, with millions killed by COVID-19; thousands of cities under lockdown; social distancing and transformed social practices; countless institutions functioning online; the youth spending endless days and nights in front of computer screens; and, globally, over a year of online education. This is the reality in many countries around the world, including Georgia, in the spring of 2021.

Covid-19 has exposed many countries to severe healthcare and economic crises, which have disproportionally adversely affected the most vulnerable and low-income parts of society. The current pandemic crisis, however, has also brought some interesting opportunities to light.

Beyond its impact on the healthcare system, the COVID-19 pandemic via economic shocks has already reached labor markets throughout every economy. As of 1 April 2020, ILO estimates indicate a substantial rise in global unemployment, leading to 6.7% decline in working hours in the second quarter of 2020, which is equivalent to 195 million full-time workers.