The EU and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) joint project EU4Dialogue has announced that over the past four years, it has catalysed more than 40 civil society initiatives aimed at improving the living conditions of local people and stimulating community engagement.

On 27 June, UNDP representatives visited Georgia’s Samegrelo region to review the progress of several civil society initiatives promoting local growth and community engagement as part of EU4Dialogue.

In Zugdidi, they attended the official opening of newly restored mosaic murals relocated from the village of Rukhi, adding a new tourist landmark to the region. The restored murals, ‘Lady in Red,’ ‘Summer in Samegrelo,’ and ‘Musicians,’ are exemplary pieces of 20th-century public art heritage shared by communities across the conflict divide. Their restoration involved Georgian and French experts from the ‘Mosaica Studio’ Crafts Development Centre and the Ribirabo Foundation, supported by the EU4Dialogue project. Local youth from the conflict-affected regions actively participated in the restoration, assisting the experts and learning the craft.

The visit continued at the consultation centre established by the Charity Humanitarian Centre ‘Abkhazeti’ (CHCA), offering psychological support and counselling on various social services to people living on both sides of the conflict divide. In its first six months of operation, from January to May 2024, the centre provided over 120 face-to-face consultations and received more than 360 calls on the hotline.

The ‘EU4Dialogue: Support to Conflict Transformation in the South Caucasus and the Republic of Moldova’ is a joint initiative of the EU and UNDP under the broader EU4Dialogue programme. The project partners with local civil society organisations and grassroots groups to improve socio-economic conditions for people, build livelihoods, drive progress toward gender equality, promote youth engagement and support the peaceful transformation of conflict.

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Press release

EU4Dialogue