EWMI ACCESS supports the Kakheti-based CSO Center for Civic Activities (CCA) to empower communities in the mountainous regions of Eastern Georgia and engage them in advocacy to solve their major problems.
In July, CCA in cooperation with media portal Mtis Ambebi (Mountain News) collected 1,000 signatures on a petition requesting full rehabilitation of the village Amgha—the last village in the Arkhoti valley located at the Georgia-Russia border. There are up to twenty buildings, including six cultural heritage monuments, and only two families left in this small village. Rehabilitation of Amgha will bring residents back to the village, develop tourism, and preserve cultural heritage. CCA has already submitted the petition to the government for consideration.
The second campaign aims to solve the problem of land registration in Khevsureti. Residents of high mountain regions cannot claim their property rights to their ancestral lands and homes. For decades, the land plots and houses were transferred to heirs verbally, without any documentation. Today the actual landowners cannot prove that the land and homes belong to them. This problem prevents young people from returning to the mountains and developing businesses and tourism there. CCA holds informational and mobilization meetings in the target villages and calls on the government for timely resolution of this problem.
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