Fighting Against Air Pollution in Rustavi

Fighting Against Air Pollution in Rustavi

This project aimed to enable and empower Gavigudet to expand its activities and engage wider audiences in online and offline advocacy campaigns to achieve better results.

With the help of the USAID/EWMI ACCESS  Gavigudet managed to:

• Intensify the #Gavigudet social media campaign to attract wider attention to the problem of air pollution in Rustavi;
• Organize public discussions in Rustavi to raise awareness about the air pollution problem and encourage citizens to take part in #Gavigudet’s campaigns and activities;
• Organize informational tours for local citizens and other interested parties to the most polluted locations and factories in the city;
• Organize an eco-friendly transport from Tbilisi to Rustavi and vice-versa and use the travel time to conduct informational meetings for passengers about the Rustavi air pollution problem and #Gavigudet’s activities and encourage their engagement;
• Set up an Eco-Activists’ Network in Rustavi to promote citizens’ participation in the planned environmental advocacy campaigns and activities;
• Develop and distribute visual materials to inform wider audiences about the Rustavi air pollution problem and #Gavigudet’s activities;
• Develop and publicize short videos about the impact of air pollution on public health;
• Develop and publicize short videos about the legal measures to reduce and prevent air pollution in Georgia;
• Monitor factories in Rustavi and assess their environmental impact and the measures taken by these factories to reduce environmental threats;
• Develop and publicize experts’ suggestions on the effective ways to address the Rustavi air pollution problem;
• Develop and maintain an interactive website informing citizens about the Rustavi air pollution problem, #Gavigudet’s activities, the ways to get involved, and the achieved results;
• Reach out to and cooperate with other environmental movements and civic groups in Tbilisi and Georgia’s regions to share experiences and amplify resources.

From August 2022 to August 2023, with the support of USAID/EWMI ACCESS, the project “Promotion of Environmental Awareness and Civil Activism in Rustavi” was implemented. within the framework of the project, the following activities were implemented:

organized informational tours in the Rustavi industrial zone, regularly monitored the industrial zone, and published the relevant photo and video materials;

“Call-153” activity –  we requested the public information about calls made about Rustavi and the violation reports reflecting the environmental supervision department’s responses;

Within the framework of the project, we studied the technical documents of at least 2 enterprises and attended the public deliberations of their EIA/scoping reports. To develop comments and recommendations on these documents, we organized working group meetings;

Video competition on air pollution;

We created a virtual and physical box for citizens to share their ideas, feedback, and recommendations;

We prepared different types of visual material on the importance of waste reduction and practical ways of implementation.