ECO.Georgia is a Green Climate Fund (GCF) project to enable the implementation of a forest sector reform, implemented by GIZ and the Government of Georgia. The project aims to mitigate greenhouse gases through improved, nature-based management of the country's forests and improvement of energy efficiency to reduce the demand for fuelwood.
The objective of the assignment was to assess primary (sawmills) and secondary processing (wood and wooden item handicrafts) handling, operation, and marketing practices of Timber Forest Product (TFP) value chains in target municipalities. Assessment identified challenges, bottlenecks, information, and knowledge needs for new or existing TFP value chains (VCs) and develop recommendations how to enhance income, product quality, work safety, marketing, sustainable resource management and traceability mechanisms in a gender balanced way.
Method used: desk research, key informant interviews and semi-structured interviews.