Revitalizing Communities through Employment and Infrastructure

With funding from USAID, CHF has been implementing projects since 2004 in Georgia that offer vocational training and employment opportunities in construction while rehabilitating community-prioritized major infrastructure. The goal is to help Georgian communities to achieve greater self-sufficiency and stability by improving essential infrastructure services and enhancing local economic development.

At the community level, CHF initiatives have helped to support agriculture and tourism, two sectors which have tremendous potential for substantially impacting the economic well-being of Georgia’s rural population. CHF has also helped facilitate public-private partnerships with the government, private sector and civil society. For example, CHF partnered with the local NGO Civitas to implement a Municipal Economic Development Planning program in 20 municipalities in the regions of Guria, Imereti, Samtskhe-Javakheti, Shida Kartli, and Mtskheta-Mtianeti to encourage local economic development initiatives.

CHF projects in Georgia have resulted in:

• More than 30,000 person days of employment and the creation of nearly 3,500 long-term jobs
• Generation of more than $7 million in income
• Training of 6,700 entrepreneurs in Local Economic Development
• Completion of more than 500 projects benefiting more than 400,000 people.

Rehabilitating and Upgrading Schools

Since 2009, CHF has also been helping to upgrade and rehabilitate 20 schools in the former conflict zones of Gori and Kareli, within the Shida Kartli region, so that children can learn in a safe and energy-efficient environment. Even before conflict broke out in South Ossetia in 2008, 68 percent of children living in Georgia’s region of Shida Kartli were living in poverty, and many schools had not been repaired in over 20 years. During the conflict, 25 percent of schools were affected through looting or building damage, including fire.

Through the program, CHF is rehabilitating schools with items such as new roofing, insulation, energy-efficient windows and doors, replastering/repainting, heating and toilets with water tanks. CHF is also ensuring use of energy efficient materials and removal of all toxic building materials in all school structures, including lead paint and asbestos.