USAID Funds Vegetable Hothouse under Marneuli Youth Bank Program

Mariam Paksadze is from village Maradisi in the Marneuli district. She is the financial manager of the Marneuli Youth Bank, a USAID-funded youth group that plans and implements community projects.

“First, we carried out environmental projects – planting trees in the schoolyard, tidying up the environment, installing trash bins,” says Mariam. Using the skills they’ve gained through participation in the Youth Bank, Mariam and her peers are implementing their own project – collecting funds themselves and building a vegetable greenhouse that generates income. The greenhouse covers more than 100 square meters of land at the Maradisi public school, where they grow lettuce to sell to local customers.

“Participation in the Youth Bank has given us an opportunity to implement local projects. We are happy to be able to benefit the village,” says Mariam. USAID’s Empowering Youth for Peace Program supports 16 Youth Banks in regions across Georgia, including Abkhazia.