Promoting Environmental Awareness and Civil Activism in Rustavi

Since August 2022, Eco Centre has started the project, which will be implemented within the framework of the USAID Civil Society Engagement Program, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The project will last for one year and aims to improve the air pollution in Rustavi, by raising awareness and engaging the citizens in the process. This work will continue within the “Gavigudet” advocacy campaign.

The project will enable us to strengthen the volunteering culture, as well as civic responsibility in Rustavi citizens. On top of that, this will be a tool to increase the accountability of decision-makers to the people.

For achieving our goals, we will implement many activities during this year, including:

• Organizing informational tours in the industrial zone of Rustavi;
• Organize monitoring visits in the industrial zone and publish photo/video evidence;
• Calling on 153- the hotline of the Department of Environmental Supervision, together with citizens;
• Studying at least two technical documents of the industrial zone factories and attending public hearings on their compliance with environmental regulations (e.g., screening, scoping, and/or environmental impact assessment). Eco Centre will prepare comments, within the working meeting, on the technical documents and submit them to the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture. Eco Centre will also inform Rustavi residents about the dates of public hearings and share the comments on the document with the public via social media (“Gavigudet’s” Facebook page and website);
• Within the framework of the project, we will organize an open competition for creative videos about the problem of air pollution; the winners will get exciting prizes.
• We will set up virtual and physical citizen feedback boxes to collect citizens’ feedback and recommendations about the activities of the Eco Centre and the ways to improve them. The box will enable you to do this anonymously.

In addition, Eco Centre is planning to focus on waste management issues, in this purpose we will prepare video blogs, as well as different types of visual materials about the importance of waste reduction and the practical ways to do it.

Throughout the project, we are open to media and other groups, concerned with environmental issues, since we see the importance of sharing experiences and successful practice.

We would like to thank the USAID Civil Society Engagement Program for its support in fighting for clean air and a better environment in Rustavi.