EPIC achievements by Shuttle participants

Since the start of the programme “Economic and Social Participation of Vulnerable Displaced and Local Population in the South Caucasus” (EPIC), implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), in collaboration with Action Against Hunger and the local NGO “Atinati”, a total of 346 internally displaced persons and the local hosting population in Georgia have attended the Employment and Entrepreneurship Shuttles.

The Shuttle methodology was developed in Spain by Action Against Hunger and it was first introduced into Georgia in 2015. The shuttles are five months in duration and participants work together with the support of a coach to develop their professional and personal competences with a view to preparing them to seek out employment, return to education or open their own business. A key element of the Shuttle approach is to increase participants’ self-confidence and self-esteem, and through the learning process to overcome personal challenges, social prejudices and other barriers. It fosters a sense of community among a group of people who enter the programme as strangers but leave as friends and who can support one another in the future.

Under the EPIC programme, the Shuttle courses were open to everyone within the six target municipalities (Tbilisi, Marneuli, Zugdidi, Tsalenjikha, Senaki and Poti) with specific attention given to IDPs, youth, women and minority groups. The above video provides the impressions of four participants who have found success through the shuttles. Based upon recent monitoring, 50% of Employment Shuttle participants had found employment while 36% had re-entered education. Of those who participated in the Entrepreneurship Shuttle, 32 had started their own business. 

The EPIC programme is implemented on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).