Overview

Despite a period of limited development progress following the political and social turbulence of the 1990s, Georgia continues to be plagued by a centralized, executive-dominated authority, rampant corruption, and unresolved territorial conflicts, which obstruct attempts to improve the country’s overall development. A weak government unable or unwilling to implement laws and regulations throughout the country inhibits the ability of the state to govern and undermines serious political reform efforts. The arbitrary application of taxes and a large shadow economy hamper economic development by depriving the government of much-needed tax revenue.

Georgia in Action

The Fourth Edition of “Meet the Missions” features USAID’s Mission in Georgia

Assistant Administrator Kent Hill interviews Michael Farbman, USAID Mission Director in the Caucasus Region. Their discussion is focused on Georgia and examines the geopolitical significance of this complex, multi-cultural, turbulent region that possesses enormous oil and gas resources and, yet, still confronts humanitarian assistance challenges involving millions of internally displaced persons. With Russia on the northern border and Turkey, Armenia, and Azerbaijan on the south and with Iraq and Iran nearby, it is crucial that Georgia accelerate establishing a free market economy and a democratic, civil society following more than 70 years as a republic in the centrally-controlled Soviet Union. You are invited to watch this candid assessment of the intriguing country of Georgia. The interview is 14 minutes. Watch the Interview ...

Microfinance Brings Hope to Ethnically-Diverse Regions in Georgia

Brock Bierman, Chief of Staff for USAID’s Europe and Eurasia Bureau, and Jim Watson, Caucasus Team Leader within USAID’s Europe and Eurasia Bureau, joined residents of Akhaltsikhe, in the Republic of Georgia on May 20 in marking a day of new opportunity. On this day, a leading indigenous microfinance institution, the Constanta Foundation, opened the doors of its new branch office, offering shoemakers, hairdressers, bakers, traders, and other managers of local small businesses their first real chance to take out loans to improve their businesses and their livelihoods. Read More ...

Land Title Reform - Akhalgori, Georgia

For Rusudan Pavliashvili, it was going to be a big day. She stood with scores of her neighbors in the shade of the tall poplar trees sheltering from the hot July sun. They waited quietly, almost reverently in front of the run-down municipal building for what promised to be a truly memorable event. Today, the land that Stalin and the Bolsheviks had taken away decades earlier, was about to be given back to her by the Government of Georgia. Read more ...