A two-year IWPR programme has succeeded in boosting Georgian regional journalists’ newsgathering ability, and has left behind a durable network of media professionals.

At the beginning of the Georgia Regional Media Network project (http://www.regionalreporters.net/), IWPR gathered 16 print and radio journalists from different regions of Georgia. Over time the number of journalists actively participating in reporting missions, round-table discussions and training reached 180.

They produced a radio programme, Accent, which was on air for two years, as well as websites and a blog.

The project covered eight regions of Georgia, instead of the initially planned six, and even included reporters from South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Over the lifetime of the project, seven round-table discussions involving over 200 people were held, and more discussions took place as part of the training workshops and exchange visits. (Pictures 1-6).

After the 2008 Georgian war, IWPR’s Tbilisi office took 64 journalists from Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan to see areas affected by the conflict, resulting in more than 80 reports in the three countries’ newspapers, television and radio.

In July and August, the journalists visited 12 villages outside South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the two breakaway regions that Russia recognised as independent after the war. They met more than 50 officials and aid workers, as well as refugees from South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The journalists also visited two villages in the Gori district that were badly damaged in the war together with several refugee settlements in Kareli. (Pictures 6-12).

In August 2009, IWPR organised a workshop for young journalists from Armenia and Azerbaijan to train them in conflict reporting techniques, and to help them overcome their own divisions.

Over the three days of the seminar, which was part of IWPR’s Neighbours programme, the journalists visited Georgia’s war-damaged region of Shida Kartli, received a lecture on conflict resolution, and studied conflict reporting. They conducted practical exercises and wrote articles.

They visited the Berbuki refugee settlement, met officials from the Gori District administration, and spent time in the villages of Karaleti and Ergneti, which sit right on the administrative border between Georgia and South Ossetia. (Pictures 13-18)