Tracking status
P Approved/JP Activities Operational
Team note
Joint Programming was initiated in Georgia in 2013, and a Roadmap was proposed already in December of that year. Preliminary Shared Analysis and Response Documents were drafted by May 2014 with the assistance of an external EEAS consultant. The main development partners involved have been Sweden, Germany, the Czech Republic, while other EUMS and Switzerland have been following the process closely.
A key event was a Joint Programming seminar held in Tbilisi in April 2015, which included the main development partner stakeholders in the country, representatives from NEAR and staff from the Government. During this seminar, the participants concluded that the previous drafts needed revision, and that in light of capacity issues, a team of external experts should assist in this process of preparing updated Joint Analysis and Response documents. This team was deployed in August 2015 and concluded with a seminar in Kakheti in March 2016.
Joint Programming was relaunched in May 2016. The main principles agreed and followed since then have been:
- Agreement to avoid designating formal sector leads and instead work in sector drafting teams
- The overall aim would amount to Joint Analysis and elements of a Joint Response, but not seeking full specialisation or division of labour among EUMS and Switzerland
- Joint Programming will be structured along the Government's six thematic areas, with each area addressed with one sector fiche. Each fiche contains a brief analysis of the situation in the sector including of the national strategic framework, map ongoing EU Member State and Swiss interventions, and lay out common goals and joint priorities for future support, as well as, to the extent possible, indicators of achievement;
- These documents would provide a framework within which EUMS and Switzerland plan to work. The Joint Programming documents will be 'living' documents, evolving as the EU Member States and Switzerland each roll out their own interventions and determine their financial allocations.
- The Joint Programming would be an EU and Swiss document at local level
In 2017 European partners developed and agreed a joint European analysis, called "the EU+ Joint Approach to Programming in Georgia".
Joint Programming: State of play
European partners (EU, Member States and Switzerland) in Georgia agreed in 2013 to have a joint analysis in place for the period 2017-2020, to both better coordinate their aid and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of programming. A joint programming roadmap and an interim joint programming 'reference document' were prepared in 2014.
Key sectors identified for future EU+ intervention include:
Political Situation
Finance Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze took over as prime minister in June 2018, when his predecessor Giorgi Kvirikashvili resigned following disagreements with governing Georgian Dream party leader Bidzina Ivanishvili.
Salome Zourabichvili stood for the post of President as an independent in 2018, with the backing of Georgian Dream, beating pro-Saakashvili opposition challenger Grigol Vashadze in the run-off. She is due to serve a six-year term.