Israel expertise benefits businesswomen, farmers
By Christina Tashkevich
The Messenger/GE
Thursday, July 15, 2004, #131 (0655)
>From July 13-15, a seminar for women in small business and management
is being held in Tbilisi thanks to the initiative of The Golda Meyer
Mount Carmel International Training Center from Israel.
The seminar is supported by the Embassy of Israel and the Center for
International Technical Cooperation (MASHAV).
The Israeli Ambassador to Georgia Rivka Cohen said at the opening of
the seminar on Tuesday, “this seminar is our dream.” According to her,
the strengthening of the role of women in Georgia is an important step
for the country at the moment.
The training, the first in this field, is being conducted by two
Israeli experts from Mount Carmel Training Center in Haifa. Fannette
Modek specializes in gender and development issues while Dr Dalia
Fisman specializes in Economic Cybernetics and Technical Sciences.
The Israeli trainers say that there are many programs for women in
business in Israel. The Georgian Minister of Refugees Eter Astemirova,
who also visited the seminar, hoped that the successful experience of
Israeli women can help Georgian women “to reach a higher level” in
every possible field.
Tbilisi City Hall helped in organizing the seminar. Tbilisi Mayor
Zurab Chiaberashvili expressed his full support in the event. “We have
the example of Israel of how a small country can rise to its feet,”
says Chiaberashvili. He adds that while studying in educational
institutions Georgian women are more successful than men, but once the
enter the professional world this trend is unfortunately reversed.
The main topics of the seminar are marketing of small business,
credits, management and types of support activities for women in
business.
Created in 1958 by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, MASHAV
works to share Israel’s social, educational and technological
expertise with other countries. The areas of trainings organized by
the center include agriculture, education and community development,
medicine, and so on.
MASHAV reports that over 400 Georgians have visited Israel with the
help of the center and trained in different fields. According to the
center, this figure is the highest among the post-Soviet countries.
One of the most recent events organized by MASHAV was the visit of
Gadi Moses to Georgia on July 5-9. Moses conducted seminars in Dmanisi
and Tsalka regions as part of a project in Georgia, Armenia and
Azerbaijan to introduce new Israeli potato growing techniques that
guarantee an increase of crops.
The project was started last year in Dmanisi and Tsalka regions by
MASHAV. It was supported by a Eurasia Foundation grant. Whereas before
the introduction of the Israeli techniques the potato crop normally
amounted to 10-15 tons per hectare, in 2003 this rose to 55-60 tons.