February 5- February 12, 2022

Nine representatives of the region Shida Kartli participated in the Study trip in Slovakia, representing communities along the Administrative Border Line in Georgia. The office of the Governor in Shida Kartli, office of Kaspi, Khashuri, Dusheti, Gori municipalities, the Rural Development Agency and the project´s partner Kartlosi NGO were represented in the delegation. The delegation was accompanied by the project´s manager, Alexandra Tóthová, Tomáš Baranec, who serve as the project´s researcher and Ján Cingel, CEO and Founder of Strategic Analysis, who is one of the project´s experts.

During the Study trip, representatives of the MESA10 coordinated meetings with the representatives of the state institutions, four self-governing regions, and four cities. The five working days full of intensive meetings with Slovak experts and inspiring personalities active in the field of local self-government aimed to a more intensive exchange of experience and knowledge with Slovak local governments and professional institutions in the areas of regional development, application of green innovations, social entrepreneurship and social agriculture, development of local visibility and local media.

On Monday, February 7th, 2022, the delegation met with representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Slovak Republic, the City of Bratislava/Office of the Mayor of Bratislava, followed by a welcome by the Bratislava Self-Governing Region/Governor of the Bratislava region and the Ministry of the Environment of the Slovak Republic.

On Tuesday, February 8th, 2022, the delegation travelled to Nitra to meet the representatives of the City of Nitra and its Office of the Mayor, followed by a meeting at the Nitra Self-Governing Region/Governor of the Nitra region and academic representatives of the Slovak University of Agriculture.

On Wednesday, February 9th, 2022, meetings in Banská Bystrica took place where they met with City of Banská Bystrica: Office of the Mayor, representatives of the Banská Bystrica Self-Governing Region/Governor of Banská Bystrica, representatives of the Regional developmental agency Dobrý kraj, followed by an inspirational guiding tour prepared by the Information Centre and Touristic Information Center of Banska Bystrica.

On Thurdsay, February 10th, 2022, the representatives travelled to Trnava to meet the representatives of the City of Trnava and its Office of the Mayor of Trnava, the representatives of the Trnava Self-Governing Region and Mr. Lukáš Pokorný, expert on local journalism.

On Friday, February 11th, 2022, Ambassador Revaz Beshidze welcomed the group at the Embassy of Georgia in Bratislava, followed by meeting at the Slovak Agency for International Development Cooperation, the supporter of the project.

During all meetings, the highest pandemic-mitigation guidelines were followed.

More about the project: Development of Communities along the ABL around the Tskhinvali region with the focus on local administration and development