On July 12, 2019, the Georgian Alliance on Agriculture and Rural Development (GAARD) Rural Development Working Group meeting was hosted by the Association Rural Development for Future Georgia (RDFG), the coordinator of the group. The event was attended by the 12 representatives from various GAARD member organizations.

Within the meeting, the opening remarks were given by Keti Getiashvili, the founder and board member of the Bridge – Innovation and Development. After that, Nelly Revazishvili, RDFG rural development project manager spoke about the LEADER as the EU approach for rural development and presented main tools, characteristics, and the LEADER implementation principles. Furthermore, in the frames of the ENPARD I & II, she has also talked about the key achievements, main challenges, learned lessons, and the role of GALAG within the LEADER implementation in Georgia. Moreover, Nelly Revazishvili has also discussed the LEADER as a behavioural change platform for Good Governance and presented the audience main impact of LEADER. After each presentation, the members of the working group had an opportunity to get answers to the questions.

In conclusion, within the discussion around the table, they have also worked on defining the advocacy strategy and action plan.

The EU-funded project “Rural Development for Sustainable Growth in the Tetritskaro Municipality” is implemented by EU partner organization, RDFG. The project aims to improve the quality of life in the Tetritskaro municipality through the introduction of innovative social-economic models and engagement of local private and public sectors in the decision making. RDFG is partnering with the Agro-Technology Association and the Lithuanian Local Action Groups Network to carry out the action.