ISET's prominence in the agricultural development sector has been displayed once again with the institute's participation in a meeting led by the Georgian Alliance on Agriculture and Rural Development (GAARD) on October 26 at Tbilisi's Courtyard Marriott hotel. Led by Oxfam, GAARD is one of four ENPARD implementing consortia. Representatives of GAARD attended the meeting, along with three ENPARD implementing consortia (CARE, People in Need (PIN), Mercy Corps), ACDA, and ISET-PI's Agricultural Policy Research Center (APRC).

During the meeting, based on the ENPARD supported cooperatives’ Monitoring and Evaluation Survey Data, Irakli Kochlamazashvili of APRC/ISET delivered a presentation on:

• The main findings from the comparative analysis between 2014 and 2015;

• Efficiency figures from the performance of the cooperatives;

• The main challenges and opportunities the cooperatives face.

The presentation was followed by a discussion to elaborate policy recommendations to foster the future development of cooperatives in Georgia, in order to eliminate the challenges Georgian cooperatives currently have to deal with.

ISET Policy Institute is part of the CARE consortium, which implements ENPARD projects in several regions of western Georgia, namely Guria, Samegrelo and Racha-Lechkhumi, and Kvemo Svaneti (part of it). In addition, ISET is leading the monitoring and evaluation process of ENPARD supported