The European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
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ECMI Newsletter No. 33
Spring 2004
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We introduce. Defusing interethnic tensions and promoting
regional integration – the Javakheti Region of the Republic of
Georgia
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In November 2003, ECMI was granted funding for its project on “Defusing
interethnic tension and promoting regional integration – the Javakheti
Region of the Republic of Georgia”. By establishing a network consisting of
civil society actors that includes representatives for most ethno-religious
groups as well as government officials in two predominantly Armenian
districts in Georgia’s Samtskhe-Javakheti Province, the project seeks to
improve inter-ethnic relations, to broaden the consultative process of
decision-making, and to increase effective public participation and public
awareness on local governance. The project will promote regional integration
of the region by involving province and state level policy-makers in the
network, thereby creating firmer links between regional actors and central
levels of authority. In conjunction with the network, the project will
enhance the capacity of less advanced regional communities through capacity
building training and community mobilisation efforts in order to encourage
broad participation in the consultative process.
The project grants, amounting to 35,000 EUR by the Danish Ministry of
Foreign Affairs and 35,000 EUR by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
has been provided to cover the initial 3 month project phase. Due to the
revolutionary events in Georgia in November 2003, the initiation of the
project was postponed to February 2004.
We hope you enjoyed this thirty-third issue of the ECMI Newsletter,
and we hope you will remember to tell interested colleagues about it.
If you have any comments or suggestions for improvement of this
newsletter, please contact William McKinney at:
mckinney@ecmi.de