About us

POWER PROMOTING OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN’S ECONOMIC RESILIENCE

Supported by the British Embassy Good Governance Fund and implemented by the Economic Policy Research Center, the purpose of the project POWER is to promote women entrepreneurship through evidence-informed and custom-tailored capacity-building interventions, such as knowledge transfer, inspirational encouragement, policy dialogue and advocacy at the local level. According to the emerging global evidence, women will bear a disproportionately higher share of the COVID-19’s socio-economic burden. While the data on the impact of COVID-19 on women entrepreneurs in Georgia does not exist (this is an issue that calls for urgent resolution) a number of pre-existing conditions such as the already low economic participation rates for women, compared to men, are known to increase the socio-economic vulnerabilities. The proposed actions will help the country and its government to put women at the centre of the COVID-19 recovery efforts – at the national, as well as the local levels of governance. The project will increase the capacities of women entrepreneurs to advocate for gender-responsive measures to protect and stimulate the economy. Critically, the project will enable women to retain and expand their livelihoods in the face of the COVID-19 related economic and financial hardships.

THERE ARE, THREE INTER RELATED COMPONENTS WITHIN THE PROJECT, INCLUDING:

1. RESEARCH COMPONENT – to produce data and evidence on the impact of the new COVID-19 pandemic on women, to investigate the enabling and inhibiting factors that contribute to the state of women entrepreneurship in Georgia. As part of the research and publications component it is planned to prepare a Practical Handbook for Women Entrepreneurs: how to start and expand your business in Georgia, produced to support the resilience against the COVID-19 impact by offering guidance on mobilizing resources online and conducting successful e-marketing;
2. CAPACITY-BUILDING COMPONENT – will enhance the resilience of women entrepreneurs against COVID-19 impact, based on the self-identified priorities. The capacity building component will be completely implemented through rigorous social media and TV campaigns, as well as creating and constantly updating the web-platform of the project that will unite such materials as: Blogs, Articles, Success story videos and Masterclasses presented in video formats;
3. POLICY ADVOCACY COMPONENT – will promote gender-sensitive recovery planning, targeting the local policymakers and the media, through such approaches as conducting public private dialogue (PPD) format discussions with the policymakers by promoting and advocating for tangible changes and providing recommendations.

British Embassy Tbilisi

The British Embassy in Tbilisi maintains and develops relations between the UK and Georgia. The embassy works  to support Britain and Georgia’s shared values and support Georgia’s reform programme as it gets closer to Europe. The embassy contributes to the peaceful resolution of Georgia’s existing conflicts and establishes closer ties between UK and Georgian businesses. The work covers a range of issues including democratisation and institutional reforms. The embassy supports Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations, works closely with local and international actors on peaceful resolution of conflicts and contributes to the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia. The commercial section has recently been  reinvigorated at the embassy and works hard at identifying business opportunities for UK businesses.

Economic Policy Research Center (EPRC)

Economic Policy Research Center (EPRC) is a unique think-and do-tank that brings to light the most pressing economic and security issues confronting society and provides a thorough analysis, offers evidence-based recommendations as well as it encourages stimulating public debate and education. Throughout the past 18 years, EPRC has earned a reputation of an objective, reliable, and non-partisan source of information on the issues related to economic, financial, security, and social policies. EPRC actively encourages diversity of opinion and independent thought in its network, with the result that EPRC output reflects out-of-the-box thinking on a range of perspectives, helping to enrich and enliven policy debates.