Program Details: Georgia

Photo: Thatcher Cook for Mercy Corps

Georgia's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 was much desired, it also brought a multitude of social and economic hardships. The newly independent state lacked a legislative and financial framework for a true market economy. Living conditions drastically worsened and many communities faced starvation. Most families reverted to subsistence farming.

Georgia now has more than one million family farms producing more than 90 percent of the country's agricultural output — most of it being directly consumed by the farmers and their families. By the late 1990s, agricultural production in Georgia had declined by 20 to 30 percent. Georgia's agricultural production remains in crisis to this day.

Mercy Corps' goal in Georgia is to create stable and secure communities in regions impacted by poverty and conflict. We seek to reduce rural poverty and help alleviate lingering social and ethnic tensions due to recent political and economic upheavals. Our integrated approach includes collaborating with all levels of society and incorporates a strong focus on economic development.

Building Healthy Rural Communities

Many subsistence-level family farms are sorely lacking in even the most basic tools and knowledge needed for success. There is inadequate healthcare for livestock, and a lack of milk collection facilities and veterinary services available for small farmers. Access to agricultural markets and affordable financing is very difficult. And lingering discrimination, isolation and inter-ethnic feuds have led to tensions between local governments and communities, and even within the communities themselves.

Mercy Corps is helping Georgian farmers by using an integrated approach to address all these issues, rather than treating them as separate and disconnected problems. We have established a centrally-located Rural Service Center that provides communities and local farmers with important agricultural and economic information and training, as well as assistance in connecting with markets and buyers. Community members who need modern production facilities may also lease agricultural equipment.

Mercy Corps provides these small, rural and often isolated communities with the technical know-how to scale up agricultural production. We offer loan guarantees for farmers with viable business ideas, enabling them to access the financing they need — which they cannot access through more conventional or commercial avenues — through local microfinance institutions.

Mercy Corps also helps farmers from different villages to form associations. By coming together in this way, these small communities can then pool their resources and benefit from their new ability to buy agricultural necessities in bulk, as well as jointly selling their products in regional markets.

Mercy Corps also awards competitive grants to successful farmer associations that present the most viable business plans. A loan guarantee fund then provides these community members with easier access to micro-loans. In addition, Mercy Corps works with these farmer groups to better define their markets, identify potential customers and shift to a demand-based business strategy.

Shaping the Future in Georgia

While most of Mercy Corps' efforts in Georgia are focused on bringing about positive change in remote agricultural communities, we are also helping strengthen the leaders of tomorrow to shape a future for Georgia's diverse, multi-ethnic population.

We help youth acquire the leadership skills they need to help Georgia become more democratic, prosperous and capable raising its political and economic viability. This exciting new Mercy Corps initiative will ultimately provide a full range of training technologies to local Georgian partners &mdash eventually making Mercy Corps "obsolete" in Georgia.