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 From April 24 – May 1, 1999 Project Harmony led a group of American professionals to the Republic of Georgia. The trip was part of the follow-on work Project Harmony is engaged in for the Community Connections Program. Our goal was to provide consultations and training sessions for the alumni of the Community Connections Program. The American delegation included professionals in the areas of business planning and strategizing, banking and agriculture. All American participants are from Vermont.
Chris Barbieri
President, Vermont Chamber of Commerce
Ralph Brown
Former Deputy District Director of the
US Small Business Administration in Vermont
Kenneth Gibbons
President, Union Bank, Vermont
Dennis Kauppila
University of Vermont Agricultural
Extension Program
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Kate Hunter-Koenigsberg
IDX Systems Corporation (Computer software in the health care field)
Mark Koenigsberg
TK Coaching and Consulting
Richard LeVitre
University of Vermont Agricultural
Extension Program
Kathy Mason
University of Vermont Agricultural
Extension Program
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 The amazing culture, natural beauty and fascinating language left a lasting impression for all the American participants. Before we traveled, we knew very little about Georgia. In fact, very few Americans know anything about Georgia and think it is part of Russia. Nothing could be further from the truth! Georgia is a fiercely proud, independent country with a history dating back thousands of years and a language with an alphabet that is one of the 16 original alphabets of the world. The "Golden Age" of Georgia was in the 11th and 12th centuries (before the Western European Renaissance), an era of great prosperity and flourishing arts. These are just a few of the interesting facts that we discovered on our trip to Georgia.
 The professional development aspects of the program were extremely successful and have resulted in some long-lasting professional connections between Americans and Georgians and among the Georgians themselves. More than 30 alumni of the Community Connections Program participated in the Community Connections Georgian Follow-On Program. Americans met individually and in small groups with program alumni. The goal of the trip was to continue the mission of the Community Connections Program: connecting communities throughout the world in order to establish the networks and knowledge-base necessary to create change and establish a democratic society in developing nations.
In-Country Program Overview
| "Without the rapid development of the small business sector, the Georgian economy will not succeed."
~Merab Chikhladze (Community Connections, Project Harmony Vermont 1998) |
 One of the main areas of focus for the American delegation was small business development. American participants met with representatives of small and medium-sized businesses to provide them with business strategies and Western models of doing business. Consultations, individual coaching and training took place in small business strategizing, marketing, staff motivation and computer needs for small businesses. The President of the Vermont Chamber of Commerce set up the groundwork to sign an agreement of cooperation with the Tbilisi and Georgia Chambers of Commerce.
| "The Republic of Georgia lacks adequate levels of capital to take advantage of the major resources the country has available to it."
~Kenneth Gibbons (Community Connections, Georgia, 1999) |
 Two American participants focused on the development of the economy through the development of the banking and finance sector. The American finance specialists worked in the following areas with their Georgian counterparts: loan management, selling loans on a second market, lending money, loan documentation and managing lenders.
| "I did not understand the meaning of the words empty and destroyed until I saw the remnants of the collective farm system in Georgia."
~Dennis Kauppila (Community Connections, Georgia, 1999) |
 The agriculture in Georgia is largely subsistence. The potential for growth in the Georgian agricultural program is great. Georgia needs to create markets and make initial investments to the agricultural sector. Three American participants focused on training and consultations for the development of an agricultural extension system (continuing education and consulting for farmers) in Georgia in the Kakheti region. This is a project which Georgian Community Connections program alumni are implementing. The American delegation worked in the following areas with their Georgian counterparts: agricultural extension and continuing education for farmers, individual consultations for farmers, business strategies for farmers, collection and distribution of food and collaboration with local government.
Project Harmony would like to express thanks to the United States Information Agency for funding this program and to the American delegation for their high level of professionalism and ongoing support and dedication to programming in the Republic of Georgia.
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