The purpose of this research was to identify and document the ways in which gender plays a part in the value chains of rural communities in Armenia and Georgia, so as to help inform gender-oriented programming in the JOIN Project.

The objective of the research was to provide an overview of the meat and dairy sector in Racha with an aim to assessing the viability of both sectors and the various ways that the project could work with the sectors to improve them.

The report combines a survey of 22 new settlements and their neighboring communities with an analysis of infrastructure and economic development in each of the settlements and a review of both the government’s and international community IDP projects.

We highlighted four main domains where action could be most clearly directed in order to achieve CARE’s goal of alleviation of economic need and the enhancement of social justice and security amongst poorest rural communities.

This report presented an overview of the Georgian economy, state of governance and sociopolitical climate in December 2007 in advance of a Strategic Planning Mid-Term Review for CARE International in Caucasus.