USAID funds more than 35 programs to strengthen Georgia's resilience to malign influence, consolidate democratic gains through enhanced citizen responsive governance, and enable high-value employment through increased economic growth.
Current Programs:
Agriculture Program
Partner: CNFA
The Agriculture Program co-invests with key Government ministries and an array of private sector partners to increase production capacity, efficiency, and compliance with international standards of quality. The activity targets agricultural value chains that show the most potential to generate revenues and create high-value jobs in rural Georgia, including the production and processing of fruits, vegetables, herbs, and other horticulture products. USAID assistance enables producers and processors to add value through modern production, processing, storage, and distribution techniques, while building regional and international market linkages.
Assistance to the Public Defender’s Office
Partner: Public Defender’s Office
USAID developed the Government-to-Government (G2G) direct support program to the Public Defender’s Office (PDO) in partnership with the PDO to support a major Georgian independent human rights and oversight institution, boost its internal capabilities, and communicate USG commitment to democracy and human rights. The program aims to enhance the promotion and protection of human rights in Georgia. USAID’s support will enable the PDO to expand its coverage of and presence in the regions and improve its abilities to monitor and react to human rights violations throughout the country.
Basic Education
Partner: RTI International
Basic Education promotes innovative approaches to learning, building on the successes of previous U.S. Government investments in Georgia’s education system. The activity supports the implementation of sustainable, inclusive, and student-centered education reforms in line with the priorities of the Government of Georgia. The activity aims to support all primary school students and teachers in Georgia’s public schools, emphasizing interactive learning methods to help students develop skills in reading, mathematics, critical thinking, and problem-solving to establish a foundation for lifelong success.
Bridging the Gap: People to People Initiatives for Conflict Resolution
Partner: Cultural-Humanitarian Fund “Sukhumi” (FS)
USAID’s Bridging the Gap Program is a four-year initiative that aims to foster the resolution of Georgia’s conflicts by facilitating people-to-people interaction between members of key target groups (youth, civil society representatives, entrepreneurs, and healthcare workers). Program activities are designed to promote civic activity, private sector engagement and business linkages, and access to quality healthcare services.
Business Development Service Program
Partner: Gazelle Fund LP
The USAID Business Development Service Program, implemented by Gazelle Finance Georgia, is a three-year program to help SMEs strengthen their ability to attract future private sector investment through improved business planning, financial management and reporting, and marketing. The Program will support beneficiary SMEs through a combination of zero-interest loans, grants, and direct technical assistance from Gazelle Finance.
Capacity Building the State Audit Office of Georgia
Partner: Government Accountability Office
Georgia’s Public Finance Management oversight institutions ensure that government agencies are transparent and accountable in their use of public funds. Democratic development requires trustworthy public institutions. Through this activity, the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s Center for Audit Excellence introduces the State Audit Office of Georgia to approaches and methodologies for quantifying and estimating the potential or actual effects of its findings, and assists it to develop policies and procedures to do so.
Civic Education Program
Partner: Project Harmony International
The Civic Education Program exemplifies how USAID is transforming how we catalyze civic education development. The program will strengthen Georgia’s civic education by 1) improving student-led civic and democratic engagement in schools; 2) strengthening the engagement of the private sector in civic education at the school level; and 3) improving students’ ability and proficiency to responsibly use and harness technology to advance their civic agendas and participate in public discourse.
Civil Society Engagement Program
Partner: East-West Management Institute
The USAID Civil Society Engagement Program supports Georgia's civil society sector to become stronger and more sustainable, and better able to build community resilience and citizen-centered democratic development outside of Georgia’s major cities. By partnering with civil society to give Georgia’s citizens more opportunities to engage with the issues that affect their communities, the program will foster improved governance and greater citizen participation and oversight of political processes.
Developing Regional Information and Voter Empowerment for Democracy in Georgia (DRIVE Democracy)
Partner: Eastern European Centre for Multiparty Democracy (EECMD)
DRIVE Democracy empowers voters to meaningfully engage in political processes and hold elected officials accountable for responding to issues that matter to citizens. The activity equips active citizens with the skills, tools, and knowledge to effectively engage elected representatives on behalf of their interests. DRIVE Democracy is part of USAID Georgia’s shift from the “supply-side” of responsive politics to the “demand-side.
Economic Security Program
Partner: DAI Global LLC
The Economic Security Program supports economic sectors with the highest long-term potential. These include intellectual services, light manufacturing, creative industries, and tourism. Through the activity, USAID provides technical assistance and cost-share grants to enhance growth and productivity in these four target sectors. This assistance helps develop value chains; enhances the viability of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises; supports a more skilled workforce; and facilitates public-private partnerships. The activity leverages local resources and facilitates collaboration between government and the private sector to help Georgia build the capacity to plan, finance, and implement its own solutions to development challenges.
Economic Governance Program
Partner: Deloitte Consulting LLP
The Economic Governance Program improves economic governance and leadership in Georgia. The activity increases Georgia’s ability to attract private sector investment by building the sustainability of the consultative economic reform-making process, and promoting the formulation, adoption, and implementation of priority economic reforms that will make Georgia’s business environment more transparent, predictable, consistent, inclusive, and cost-effective. With this increased capacity and commitment to attracting domestic and international private sector investment, Georgia will be able to access the resources it needs to finance its development priorities.
Elections and Political Processes (EPP)
Partner: Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening
The EPP activity aims to ensure that the needs and interests of Georgian citizens are better represented through the democratic process. The activity strengthens the capacity of political parties, citizen groups, municipal governments, and Georgia’s election administration to solidify the foundation for citizen-centered politics and governance in Georgia. EPP joins six other USAID elections and political processes activities implemented by local Georgian organizations to assist Georgia for the 2020 Parliamentary and 2021 Local Elections.
Facilitating Accountability, Integrity and Reforms in Elections (FAIR)
Partner: ISFED
FAIR Elections in Georgia contributes to more equal, free and fair electoral and political processes in Georgia by facilitating accountability, integrity and policy reforms in elections. With USAID’s support, ISFED contributes to efforts to bolster a robust electoral framework through comprehensive recommendations and evidence-based advocacy for electoral reforms.
The activity also provides the public with independent and impartial assessments of elections and related political processes with sophisticated and innovative methods and facilitates confidence in electoral processes through timely detection and reaction to electoral irregularities and tracking the handling of violations by the election administration and relevant agencies.
Free, Fair and Equal Electoral-Political 2019-2022 Cycle in Georgia
Partner: Georgian Young Lawyers Association (GYLA)
Free, Fair and Equal Electoral-Political 2019-2022 Cycle in Georgia promotes competitive and transparent electoral processes in Georgia. It conducts monitoring and research of political-electoral processes in between, during and after elections, and addresses the problems identified with robust advocacy, awareness raising, and strategic litigation to shape the regulatory environment towards a fairer and more equal electoral environment.
Georgia Hazelnut Improvement Program (G-HIP)
Partner: CNFA
G-HIP leverages the technical and financial resources of USAID and the global confectionary company Ferrero to advance the development of Georgia’s hazelnut sector. The activity increases the quality and quantity of Georgian hazelnut production, improves processing capabilities, and establishes market linkages that will allow smallholder growers to reach lucrative end markets.
Georgia Information Integrity Project
Partner: Zinc Network Limited
The Georgia Information Integrity Project helps Georgia build societal resilience to disinformation. USAID partners with the Government of Georgia, civil society, academia, and the private sector to develop a comprehensive, “whole-of-society” approach to protecting Georgia’s information space. USAID will cultivate a network of domestic actors who actively combat disinformation to ensure that Georgia’s citizens have access to fact-based information about key issues. By engaging these domestic partners, USAID leverages local expertise and ensures domestic ownership of development outcomes.
Human and Institutional Capacity Development
Partner: The Kaizen Company, LLC
The Human and Institutional Capacity Development (HICD) Activity in Georgia will achieve lasting results in the human and institutional capacity development of key strategic partner institutions in Georgia that play an important role in advancing the country’s ability to plan, manage, and finance its own development. These include governmental, non-governmental, and private sector entities for all types of HICD services. USAID technical assistance under this contract will increase the organizational integrity, operational effectiveness, and long-term viability of these key partner organizations.
Independent Living Program (ILP)
Partner: McLain Association for Children (MAC Georgia)
The Independent Living Program helps Georgian society build on the progress it has already made protecting the rights of persons with disabilities, promoting the independent living model so that persons with disabilities can participate more fully in Georgian society. The activity works with local governments in six Georgian municipalities to build capacity, deliver improved public services, and promote independent living as a development objective for supporting persons with disabilities. The activity also promotes the independent living model of support in other municipalities around Georgia.
Industry-Led Skills Development Program
Partner: International Executive Service Corps
The USAID Industry Led Skills Development Program supports professionals to obtain skills identified as necessary for economic growth by the private sector. Working with private sector partners, the Program co-invests and co-establishes training programs designed to lead directly to employment opportunities. The Program will train roughly 5,000 individuals, incentivize 30 businesses to develop long-term partnerships with training providers, mobilize $7 million in cost-share from the private sector, and ensure that at least 35% of trainees come from rural areas and/or ethnic minority communities, and at least 45% are women.
Information Integrity Program
Partner: Zinc Network Limited
The Information Integrity Program helps Georgia build societal resilience to disinformation. USAID partners with the Government of Georgia, civil society, academia, and the private sector to develop a comprehensive, “whole-of-society” approach to protecting Georgia’s information space. USAID will cultivate a network of domestic actors who actively combat disinformation to ensure that Georgia’s citizens have access to fact-based information about key issues. By engaging these domestic partners, USAID leverages local expertise and ensures domestic ownership of development outcomes.
Local Governance Program
Partner: Tetra Tech ARD
The Local Governance Program funds more effective and accountable local government in Georgia as part of its ongoing decentralization reforms. The new activity recognizes the potential for elected officials and civil servants to more effectively manage service provision and to ensure local government is accountable to members of their community. It also prioritizes the role of local civil society and citizen engagement in decision-making at the local level. The program will support the implementation of the Government of Georgia’s 2020-2025 Local Government Decentralization Strategy, selecting 22 municipalities to receive targeted assistance.
Media Program
IREX
The USAID Media Program seeks to increase media quality by building capacity to create well-researched, evidence-based content that adheres to journalistic ethics and is relevant and engaging to citizens. To achieve this vision of success, the activity works to preserve and strengthen an enabling environment that fosters press freedom and access to information and protects the rights of journalists to work safely and without harassment. Simultaneously, the program seeks to develop more effective self-regulation among media professionals and information producers to raise the standards for quality and ethics.
Monitoring Electoral Processes in Minority Regions
Partner: Public Movement Multi-National Georgia (PMMG)
Monitoring of Electoral Processes in Minority Regions increases the political participation of ethnic minorities in Georgia and builds awareness of minority voters about electoral rights and procedures, electoral systems, and the need for informed participation to generate greater participation of ethnic minorities in the electoral process. The activity will conduct full-cycle monitoring of electoral processes in the ethnic minority-populated communities of Samtskhe-Javakheti, Kvemo Kartli, Shida Kartli, Mtskheta-Mtianeti and Kakheti, implement ethnic minority voter educational programs, and research how ethnic minorities exercise their political and electoral rights.
Monitoring Political Party Finances and Misuse of Administrative Resources during Election Processes
Partner: Transparency International Georgia
Monitoring Political Party Finances and Misuse of Administrative Resources During Election Processes monitors transparency in election campaign funding, political financing and use of administrative resources for electoral purposes. The activity tracks developments related to political finance, including assessing financial reports of political parties, tracking and assessing any relevant amendments to legislation, and the work of the State Audit Office; conducts Parallel Expenditure Tracking of leading political parties; and publishes reports on the misuse of administrative resources in elections.
National Governance Program
Partner: DAI Global LLC
The purpose of the USAID National Governance Program is to work in partnership with the Government of Georgia to deliver citizen-responsive governance based on greater accountability, transparency, and institutional independence. The Program will strengthen accountability systems, procedures, and mechanisms within both governing and independent oversight institutions and enhance their ability to serve and communicate effectively with the public. This includes strengthening the “demand-side” of citizen-responsive governance, supporting localization efforts, and empowering Georgian civil society and the private sector to demand accountability of governance institutions. This program aligns directly with the U.S. Administration’s initiative for Democratic Renewal, a landmark new set of policy deliverables and foreign assistance programs that will significantly expand and update the U.S. government’s work to bolster democracy and defend human rights globally.
National Parks and Eco-tourism Program
Partner: The Department of the Interior (DOI)
The National Parks and Ecotourism (NPE) Program, implemented by the U.S. Department of the Interior’s International Technical Assistance Program (DOI-ITAP), assists the country’s efforts to preserve and protect Georgia’s national parks and protected areas for current and future generations while generating sustainable economic opportunities in surrounding communities. NPE provides technical assistance and training to improve the organizational capacity, tourism and economic development of Georgia’s parks, and build Georgia’s reputation as a regional leader for professionally managed national parks and protected areas.
Partnering for Resilience
Partner: UNDP
Partnership for Resilience is a flagship initiative to address a key challenge in Georgia: creating grassroots opportunities for engagement between people living on opposite sides of the occupation line. This program demonstrates that the United States is delivering critical assistance, including lifesaving emergency aid to fight COVID-19, in Russia-occupied Abkhazia despite false narratives to the contrary, and emphasized the development of cross-boundary connections, particularly economic linkages. The program was co-created with local non-governmental organizations, Georgian government partners, and UN family organizations with proven expertise and access to Russia-occupied Abkhazia. The resulting program is implemented by UNDP, FAO, UNICEF, UNFPA, and UN Women to facilitate durable social, professional, and economic connections between individuals and communities on both sides of the conflict line. The connections created will counter malign Kremlin influence and enhance prospects for peaceful reconciliation.
Promoting Youth Transformational Leaders in Georgia
Partner: Georgian Institute of Politics
Promoting Youth Transformational Leaders in Georgia supports the next generation of transformational young political leaders in Georgia, enhancing their participation and representation in public life. The activity equips young leaders with necessary skills for political participation, including leadership, communication, networking, and knowledge of Georgia’s political landscape.
Resilient Communities
Partner: CNFA
The USAID Resilient Communities Program will increase socio-economic engagement within and between communities alongside the Administrative Boundary Lines with Abkhazia and South Ossetia and the more affluent regions of Georgia. It seeks to promote inclusive, sustained, and private sector-led development while supporting linkages to regional and national markets and ensuring gender equality and the empowerment of women and youth. To counter malign influence, the program will strategically work with the Georgian government and the private sector to increase positive engagement with people living in communities administered by the Georgian government along the occupied territories.
Rule of Law Program
Partner: East-West Management Institute
The USAID Rule of Law Program is a five-year initiative designed to help Georgia strengthen its justice system by consolidating and building upon past judicial reforms. Through 2026, USAID will help build a culture of engagement between Georgia’s courts and respective communities, considerably expand partnerships with regional courts, judges, and legal professionals working at the sub-national levels, and increase peer-to-peer learning and in-court mentoring between Georgian and American legal professionals.
Securing Georgia’s Energy Future
Partner: Deloitte Consulting LLP
Securing Georgia’s Energy Future helps Georgia diversity its sources of energy while building a resilient, competitive, and transparent market attractive to international investors. It does this by increasing investment in energy infrastructure to diversify sources, including renewable power generation; incentivizing new domestic generation capacity and catalyzing increased energy trade with Georgia’s neighbors in line with Georgia’s commitments under the European Energy Community; strengthening the energy sector’s cybersecurity capabilities, protecting key energy infrastructure from malign influence including cyberattacks; and supporting improved energy planning and forecasting, ensuring that Georgia’s energy system is capable of meeting growing demand for energy.
Supporting Youth and Women Entrepreneurship in Georgia (YES Georgia)
Partner: Crystal Fund
YES-Georgia supports economic growth and empowers Georgia’s youth and women by encouraging innovation, promoting entrepreneurship, and enhancing youth and women’s employability. The activity provides emerging entrepreneurs and professionals with skills development, business training, mentoring, and access to finance. With support from the White House Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative, YES-Georgia has a renewed focus on supporting women, launching new activities designed to meet the needs of women entrepreneurs, providing more than 2,500 women with business management training, access to legal and accounting services, and mentoring and networking opportunities.
Unity Through Diversity
Partner: United Nations Association of Georgia
The USAID Unity Through Diversity Program supports the Government of Georgia, civil society, and the private sector to create a comprehensive national framework for addressing political, social, and societal resilience to malign influence by involving Georgia’s ethnic and religious minorities in national and local policy development and by strengthening mutually beneficial social, civic, and economic linkages between minority and majority populations. Ultimately, the program aims to broaden Georgian identity to allow for and celebrate the inclusion of diverse ethnic and religious affiliations.
USAID-WHO COVID-19 Response Program
Partner: World Health Organization
The USAID-WHO COVID-19 Response Program improves Georgia’s COVID-19 response through a focus on health and safety, data privacy, and real-time data analysis. The activity improves waste management procedures at vaccination sites, especially mass vaccination sites, and introduces safe injection programs in Georgia to reduce needle stick injuries associated with improper waste handling and management. The USAID-WHO COVID-19 Response Program will also optimize Georgia’s Health Information System (HIS) by expanding the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and data visualization capacities of the Ministry of Health and National Center for Disease Control and strengthening the security of the HIS system through auditing, identifying vulnerabilities, and cyber-hardening. These system improvements will result in improved real-time decision making for COVID-19 infection prevention and control, and also for other infectious diseases.
Youth-Led Civic Dialogue and Action
Partner: International Alert
Youth-led Civic Dialogue and Action empowers young people in conflict-affected communities to lead civic activities; diversifies and strengthens civil society; and normalizes relationships across the dividing line. The activity targets young people interested in building bridges between communities divided by conflict. Activities equip the next generation of civic leaders with tools to transcend existing conflict narratives and forge better futures for their communities.