In 2024, the South Caucasus mission reached over 34,000 people across various sectors: approximately 25,000 in Food Security and Livelihoods; 4,700 in Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS); and 4,200 in Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH).

Throughout our interventions – whether humanitarian or development – we put localisation at the core, with a key focus on capacity strengthening and skills transfer. For example, we transferred our social inclusion approach (Shuttle methodology, encompassing employability, entrepreneurship and soft skills development) to six local non-governmental organisations, which are now implementing it independently.

Four of our local partners in Georgia are working under an EU-funded Gender Equality project, focussing on women with disabilities, LGBT community members, Azeri women and vulnerable Georgian women. Under this project Action Against Hunger directly supports Ukrainian refugee women to integrate into Georgian society and enter the labour market.

We continued to respond to the urgent needs of refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh and host population through community support projects across Armenia. Among the implemented activities were: social inclusion initiatives; internship opportunities; business start-up toolkits; cash and voucher assistance; Non-Food Item distributions; MHPSS; and rehabilitation of emergency shelter and social housing.

In Abkhazia, we embarked on a new project that enabled us to work with 26 local civil society organisations, strengthening their capacity through targeted training and supporting them with funding to provide services in their communities. We continue to provide winterisation support, increase self-reliance through agricultural livelihoods and extension services, and conduct skills development with young people. The WASH in Schools project provided 27 schools with access to water and new sanitation facilities.

A key area of intervention and another good example of localisation in Georgia and the breakaway region of Abkhazia is the support provided to four community-led governance structures, known as Local Action Groups (using the EU LEADER Approach), that provide technical and financial assistance to local development initiatives aiming to improve living conditions and create jobs in rural areas.