Georgia, rich in natural resources, has undergone significant economic reforms in recent decades, leading to relatively stable growth despite the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the country continues to face major challenges in environmental protection, sustainable development, and the labour market, particularly in the areas of education and sustainability. 

A central component of the Georgian economy is the tourism sector, where food service establishments—such as restaurants and cafés—play a crucial role. This sector holds great potential to address the country’s high unemployment rate, the shortage of skilled workers, and other pressing issues. The inadequately trained workforce is primarily caused by limited access to quality education and vocational training (VET) and the difficulty of existing vocational education and training institutions to establish effective and sustainable partnerships with the private sector. This issue is exacerbated by the poor reputation of vocational education, leading to high youth unemployment and driving many young people to emigrate in search of better-paying unskilled jobs abroad. A recent study shows that most employers do not engage with vocational education institutions, seeing little benefits in such collaboration. 

To secure the country’s future, it is essential to enhance the environmentally friendly practices and skills of Georgia’s workforce, particularly in the tourism and food service sectors, which often receive little attention. Expanding the existing vocational education and training (VET) system, while fostering collaboration between stakeholders in these sectors, will promote the circular economy and sustainability and ensure long-term prosperity. 

Objectives 

• Enhance the green skills of Georgia´s workforce 
• Expand vocational education and training (VET) systems and strengthen their capacities 
• Facilitate and promote sustainable partnerships between stakeholders in the food service sector, specialized educational organisations and private sector 

Output

1. A short-term training programme for the implementation of the green transformation of small and medium-sized food service enterprises is developed, tested by the universities and approved by the National Centre for Educational Quality Enhancement. 
2. The non-profit organisation „Food, Beverages and Hospitality“ is granted the status of a „Sector Skills Organisation“ in order to participate in the participatory governance of vocational training.
3. The public and all key stakeholders recognize the long-term benefits of greening food services and support their green transformation.
4. The VET system and the national policy environment promote the greening of food services.  

Main Activities

• Assessment of specific trainings related to the green transformation of food service SMEs, partners and VET institutions. 
• Development of a new two-week long training programme on practical steps for green transformation (including topics such as resource and waste management and recyclability, energy efficiency and carbon accounting, sustainable procurement and supply chain, and digitalization, among others), consisting of classroom lectures, lab exercises, demonstrations of best practices and post-training coaching and a monitoring system. 
• Training of trainings: enhancing capabilities of teachers.
• Enhancing and building organisational and technical capacities to ensure that partners will become qualified as SSOs and to facilitate experience sharing with similar NPOs/SSOs from other sectors. 
• Organisation of learning visits of key stakeholders (including food services sub-sector, VET system leaders and government officials) and media tours to best-practice enterprises, conferences, round tables of experts, a visit of policy makers and sector influencers to learn best practices in sustainable food services in Spain.  
• Delivery of public awareness campaigns through various media targeting the public. 

Participants

• 5 state-owned VET institutions (colleges in Telavi, Rustavi, Tiblisi, Kutaisi, Batumi)
• 275 Food Service SMEs (restaurants, cafes, bakeries, catering enterprises etc) in major tourist destinations 
• 15 Food Service SMEs assuming functions of demonstrators of best practices in greening food service SMEs as part of the training programm
• Restaurateurs Association of Georgia and Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) „Food, Beverages and Hospitality“, supported to get involved in VET system for food services
• Skills Agency, cooperating with better prepared Sector Skills Organisations and with a complete short-term food service SME greening training programme
• Ministry of Economics and Sustainable Development 
• 5 regional and 3 national-level media outlets