U.S. Host Delegation Pays Reciprocal Visit to Georgia
The cross-cultural ties that USAID’s Community Connections (CC) program creates were demonstrated in late June when a delegation from the Center for International Understanding (CIU) paid a visit to Georgia. In November 2006, CIU hosted the CC professional group NGO Development, from the Samtskhe-Javakheti region of Georgia. The visit enabled the group to study important aspects of NGO management and how NGOs operate in the U.S.
 |
| The U.S. delegation visits alumnus Nugzar Tateshvili’s NGO in Akhaltsikhe |
The eight program participants developed strong ties with their host families and the organizations they visited in and around Bluefield, West Virginia, which endured long after the end of their visit. When the program alumni heard that CIU was planning to send a delegation of host families and organizations to the region, they immediately invited the delegation to visit them in Georgia.
On June 24, CIU president Sudhakar R. Jamkhandi and nine others arrived in Georgia. They spent several days with alumni, before working their way across Georgia to Tbilisi. They had opportunities to visit the alumni’s NGOs and observe the changes they had been implemented, thanks to CC.
During a meeting at the CC office in Tbilisi, with alumni and USAID representatives present, Jamkhandi spoke about the ties that his organization had made with the alumni and the region. He stated that CC was one of the best exchange programs he had worked with, in that it provides both Americans and overseas participants with a better understanding of the world around them. He stressed that he was very interested in supporting continued West Virginia-Georgia cooperation, with a focus on strengthening the Bluefield-Southern Georgia connections.
Back to Top ^ |
