Conference on ABL Communities’ Needs with the Emphasis on Local Administration and Regional Development

During the one-day Conference on ABL communities' needs the results of the field research will be presented to the 70 participants, who will be self-government representatives, local administration representatives, small businesses owners, NGOs/CSOs representatives, local journalists, and representatives of the central government, experts and representatives of the Georgian decision-making sphere. Representatives of the implementing consortium from the V4 countries will also be present to share their experience with the selected topics (regional development, micro-entrepreneurship, SMEs, renewable energy and green innovations, agrotourism, social entrepreneurship, and social agriculture). In addition, the conference will serve as a platform for the presentation of the results of field research - studies and will be a space for a final discussion on the recommendations and solutions from the perspective of local governments located along the ABL in Georgia. The result of the field research will be a study of the needs of ABL communities prepared in the form of recommendations for representatives of the decision-making sphere, which will identify 10 main problem areas and at least 5 recommended solutions for each area from the perspective of specific target groups - women and young people. Thus, a total of 50 recommendations for the decisive sphere, other donors or for further intervention. Field research will take place until almost the end of the project implementation period - it will also serve as feedback for measuring the progress of project implementation and how effective the activities have been and have had an effective impact. The conference is co-financed by the SlovakAid. This project proposal wishes to give it a V4 dimension to joint efforts.