On Thursday and Friday, 28-29 of January, ISET Policy Institute hosted CARE consortium workshop under the ENPARD project (Cooperation for Rural Prosperity in Georgia). The workshop was attended by all four consortia members: CARE International in the Caucasus, ISET Policy Institute, Regional Development Association (RDA), and Georgian Farmers Association (GFA). During the meeting past achievements of the project were highlighted as well as the strategy for moving forward was agreed upon. After two years of its launching, consortium members discussed the challenges and opportunities the program is facing at the moment, the lessons learned during the past two years, and the ways to better facilitate cooperative development across the consortium target areas in Western Georgia.

The two-day meeting was very productive, all the participants came to acknowledge that they share a similar vision and agreed on the common strategy for future operation. The project lasts until the end of 2017 and intends to support more than 40 agricultural cooperatives in 9 municipalities of Western Georgia (particularly, in Guria, Samegrelo, Racha-Lechkhumi, and Kvemo Svaneti regions).