Adjara Autonomous Republic Rural Development Strategy

Project Description:

The objective of the project is to promote agricultural development in the Adjara Autonomous Republic (AR) by facilitating development and implementation of the rural development strategy of the Ministry of Agriculture of Adjara and by promoting rural tourism and investments in agriculture.

PMC Research Center will provide technical assistance and policy advisory services to the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) and Ministry of Finance and Economy of Adjara in developing a new policy for developing the region’s agricultural sector.

PMC RC’s assistance will be organized in four components:

Component I: Elaborating rural development strategy for Adjara AR and providing technical assistance to government entities to develop relevant action plans: In close cooperation with the Adjara AR, PMC RC will study and assess the opportunities and existing situation concerning the rural population. In addition, the investments needs, agriculture and non-agriculture goods production, rural tourism (Eco, agro, cultural, adventure and winter sports tourism) and living standards among the rural population will all also be taken into account.

As a result of the collaboration, PMC RC will design the most appropriate EU approaches-based rural development strategy that will cover:

• Agriculture
• Non-farm economic activities for rural people including food processing, agro tourism, small manufacturing, local services and forestry etc.
• Natural resources management

Component II: Facilitating development of the strategy (2015-2018) for the MoA of Adjara AR that reflects the priorities of MoA linked to the national agriculture development strategy: To support the MoA of Adjara in developing the Ministry strategy reflecting the priorities, policies and state programs concepts, as well as the resource, monitoring and evaluations mechanisms for the strategy’s implementation, PMC RC will carry out the following: conduct institutional assessment; organize strategic planning workshop and draft strategic plan outline; develop strategic objective and action and monitoring an evaluation plan; conduct consultation with relevant stakeholders.

PMC RC will develop MoA strategic plan covering the following:

• Organizational strategy, including institutional assessment and analysis of external factors
• Time-phased action plan with budgets
• Monitoring and evaluation plan

Component III: Developing marketing campaign for rural tourism development: In active collaboration with the Adjara Tourism Department and MoA, PMC RC will develop five marketing campaigns to promote rural tourism; increase the role of rural economy in regional development; raise economic capacity of population in rural areas; and promote the maintenance and care of natural sites.

Component IV: Revising existing investment promotion tools, developing agriculture investment profile and assisting investment promotion policy formulation for agriculture: PMC RC will revise investment promotion tools and open new frontiers by conducting the following activities:

• Analyzing and issuing recommendations for the adaptation and revising of investment promotion mechanisms (web-page information, events, outreach campaigns, published materials etc.)
• Assessing the state of affairs related to the investment attractiveness of Adjara agriculture sector, according to the OECD methodology for investment policy in agriculture
• Developing investment profile for Adjara, publication for investment promotion in agriculture sector

The cooperation will show that the development strategy is relevant to the priorities and the needs that exist in the rural population that will increase standards of living in rural areas of Adjara.