Transfer of Know-How for Small and Mid-size Businesses in Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine
Project description:
The project is focused on the problem how the Ukrainian, Moldovan and Georgian SMEs’ can strengthen their European business and think-tank networks in order to effectively promote SME-friendly policies supporting a successful development. Considerable opportunities are offered by the EU neighborhood policy undertaken by the Eastern Partnership, which declared six Eastern European countries, including Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, as countries of a “strategic importance” to the EU. Taking advantage of these opportunities, especially in the areas of legal "approximation" and joint "institution building", will be one of important tasks of this project.
General objectives:
The project aims to assist the three beneficiary countries, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, in further developing analytical and policy advocacy capabilities by opening new channels of communication with the SMEs and NGOs in the V4 countries: Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. This effort should facilitate the transfer of knowledge, establishment of a permanent platform for a sustainable co-operation leading to bringing the SMEs in the three countries closer to European standards, markets, and new business opportunities.
Project structure and involvement of CASE:
CASE is the project coordinator.
The aim of the first project stage is to identify the most important impediments that make it difficult to SMEs in the beneficiary countries to further develop and expand their activities, and to determine to what extent these problems are or have been comparable to those experienced by the SMEs in V4. This stage results in the SMEs Green Paper.
During the second stage of the project, the results of the analytical work are presented to stakeholders in Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, in particular representatives of SME business communities and prominent analysts in the three countries.
During the third stage, working groups are formed in order to prepare a set of concrete recommendations for each country i.e. SME White Paper that may serve as a draft roadmap enumerating specific actions.
During the final stage of the project, SME White Papers are presented at public conferences in Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia as a first step of active promotion of recommended changes. The conference in Kyiv has a distinct character in terms of scale and international participation, and it is the founding meeting of a new platform of organizations grouping SMEs’ representations and think tanks from Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, and their counterparts from V4.
Partners:
CEVRO Institute
ICEG European Center
Vysoká škola manažmentu/College of Management
CASE Georgia, CASE Ukraine
Sponsor:
The USAID, the IVF (Visegrad+ program)
Project's website
