Association Regional/Rural Development for Future Georgia

1. Association Regional/Rural Development for Future Georgia www.rdfg.ge

2. History Association Regional/Rural Development for Future Georgia (RDFG) is a development and relief organization established with the purpose to assist vulnerable communities in social and economic development and strengthen their self-resilience, provide technical assistance to local governments in development and adaptation of advanced management systems and methodologies. Year of establishment: 2010 Legal status:according to the Georgian legislation, RDFG is a non-profit (non-commercial) legal entity HQ location:Tbilisi Number of staff: HQ – 16, Regions – 14 Volunteers – 4 Experts panel - 15 Implemented projects: -27 Total funding: ~ 5,200,000 USD

3. Area of Operations PeaceBuilding EconomicDevelopment DisasterRiskReduction/DM Innovation Advocacy YouthEngagement GenderMainstreaming

4. Partnership

5. Assistance in Safety Improvement of Tailings Management Facilities (TMF) in Georgia and Armenia

6. Project Goal The project goal is to contribute to the improvement and strengthening of national capacities of authorized / component agencies and industrial enterprises in Armenia and Georgia, to improve the management of disasters caused by industrial accidents, including by those with transboundary impact, to increase the level of preparedness of industrial enterprises, selecting industrial storage basins (tailings) as target facilities.

7. Project Implementation • Project funded by: • Project coordination by: • Project implementation by: • Project subcontractor: Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety of Germany Federal Environmental Agency of Germany (UBA) “Eco Peace” NGO, Armenia “RDFG” NGO, Georgia Project supporters: Ministry of Environment Protection and Agriculture of Georgia The Emergency Management Service of Georgia Ministry of Emergency Situations RA Ministry of Nature Protection RA

8. The project will target at the completion of the following 5 tasks: Analysis of legislative and administrative situation in Georgia and Armenia; Training of the mining sector specialists/responsible bodies by international experts (to be conducted in Armenia); Transfer of the knowledge acquired by trained Armenian and Georgian trainers to the representatives of competent authorities responsible for the local control of TMFs; Determination of possible transboundary impacts of the TMF-caused emergences on the Kura Alert and Alarm System developed within the project implemented in the South Caucasus in 2003-2006, using Khrami-Debed river basin (with the focus on enhancing disaster resilience and emergency preparedness at tailings management facilities along the Debed River); Revision of the TMF methodology taking into account the possibility of implementing similar training events in the other countries of UNECE region and keeping a permanent contact and making discussions with the Joint Expert Group of UNECE (JEG), which will provide professional guidance and assessment of activities throughout the project, based on the international experience.

9. Project Activities • Analysis of the legislative and administrative situation in project countries (Georgian Component) • Analyze the implementation of UNECE recommendations for the safe operation of TMFs regarding legislation and administrative implementation and draw the conclusions for competent Georgian authorities (The general principles and recommendations of the UNECE safety guidelines will be the starting point for this activity) • Facilitate design process of the general implementation strategies for the USSR successor states to develop a general draft for incorporating TMFs into the national policies of former states of the Soviet Union. • Prepare summary report on the management of Georgian TMFs with focus on the actions for the mining sector management required for normative requirements, discovery and correction of deficiencies and weaknesses in the legislation.

10. General Activities Outcomes Trainingactivities Theoreticalsessions • Training of Trainers • Provide ToT course for mining sector professionals (operators of industrial enterprises, and representatives of competent ministries and legislative bodies responsible for environmental and industrial safety) by international experts covering following topics: • TMF induced risks and their hazards, • Specifics of visual inspection and check of TMF documentation, • Safety evaluation, recommendations on how to apply the methodology and the checklist, the details of THI calculation. • The results of the training in Armenia will allow: • to the trainees to deeper understand the UNECE Safety Guidelines and Good Practices for TMFs; • testing of the TMF methodology; • preparing national trainers able to transfer gained knowledge to other mining sector specialists in Armenia and Georgia, which will promote anchoring the methodology and the checklist approach; • adapting the TMF methodology to the specifics of the participating countries. Gettingknowledgebytraineesincheckofdocumentationandfillinginthechecklist VisittotheTMFsite GettingknowledgebytraineesinvisualinspectionoftheTMFandfillinginthechecklist Post-trainingactivities Identifyingtheapplicability oftheTMFmethodologyinArmeniaandtheissuesforitsadaptationtothe country’s legal framework Discussionswithenvironmentalinspectorsandcompetentauthorities DiscussionswithTMFstaffandadvisoryboardmembers IdentifyingthepracticabilityoftheTMFmethodologyandthe issuesofitsimprovementforfurtherapplications TMFmethodologyamendment IntegrationofthemethodologyintheeducationofinspectorsandthesafetyconceptoftheTMFoperator TMFmethodologyimprovementforthenexttrainingsandfollow-upapplications Identificationof TMFchecklistpracticability

11. General Activities Outcomes Trainingactivities • Implementation of regional training events • Conduct three regional trainings of in Georgia (1 training session) and Armenia (2 training sessions) for the representatives of the competent authorities responsible for the local control over the TMF safety. • Organize Skype conferences with Ukrainian trainers for providing on-line methodical support. • Organize discussions with the relevant ministries in Georgia and Armenia introducing the TMF methodology into the practice of environmental audit (for example, incorporating the methodology in the inspection process or in official education program for mining inspectors, etc.) Theoreticalsessions Gettingknowledgebytraineesincheckofdocumentationandfillinginthechecklist VisittotheTMFsite GettingknowledgebytraineesinvisualinspectionoftheTMFandfillinginthechecklist Post-trainingactivities Identifyingtheapplicability oftheTMFmethodologyinArmeniaandtheissuesforitsadaptationtothe country’s legal framework Discussionswithenvironmentalinspectorsandcompetentauthorities DiscussionswithTMFstaffandadvisoryboardmembers IdentifyingthepracticabilityoftheTMFmethodologyandthe issuesofitsimprovementforfurtherapplications TMFmethodologyamendment IntegrationofthemethodologyintheeducationofinspectorsandthesafetyconceptoftheTMFoperator TMFmethodologyimprovementforthenexttrainingsandfollow-upapplications Identificationof TMFchecklistpracticability

12. Interaction Among the Participant Groups within the Project Umweltbundesamt(UBA) Fundingand coordinatingbody Advisory Panel JEG experts, international organizations etc. Ukrainian trainers Teaching the checklist methodology Miningcompanies TMFoperators Governmentalbodies Ministries,LGBs “EcoPeaceNGO”(Contractor) & “RDFG”NGO(Subcontractor) Armenian and Georgian trainers

13. General Activities • Compiling country-specific recommendations • Organize a training exercise, with the development of an emergency scenario with corresponding cross-border impact. • Testing and define respective reporting steps and the efficiently of the UNECE checklist for Contingency Planning (Kura Alert and Alarm System, UBA, 2006).

14. Expected Results • Integrated analysis of the legislative and administrative situation in Armenia and Georgia on TMF sector done, recommendations for future improvement for safe operation of tailings available; • Tested TMF methodology in Armenia and Georgia; • Improved and adapted TMF methodology for the audience of mining sector professionals based on modern training experience and needs of project participated countries; • Knowledge of efficient inspection procedures based on TMF checklist application; • Improved national capacities and transboundary cooperation of competent authorities and operators in Armenia and Georgia on TMF accident prevention, preparedness and response; • Common strategic concept for mining sector applicable to other USSR successor states elaborated; • Further sustainable use of the TMF methodology in other UNECE region countries; • Updated national self-assessments and action plans prepared by Armenia and Georgia for the implementation of the UNECE Industrial Accidents Convention; • Enhanced emergency preparedness and cooperation between competent authorities and operators in Armenia and Georgia during an accident with transboundary effects; • Shared experience and lessons learned on cross-border cooperation for industrial accident prevention, preparedness and response.

15. www.rdfg.ge Thank you! For more information on the project please contact: Vano Grigolashvili RDFG Chairman Email: vgrigolashvili@rdfg.ge Tel: +995322240501