SDG 2.3 aims to double the agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers in Georgia by 2030. Currently, the agricultural sector in Georgia accounting for 7% of GDP and employing 18% of the total employment and provides livelihood—directly or indirectly—to 40% of population living in rural areas. However, small-scale food producers face challenges such as limited access to land, financial resources, and markets, hindering their productivity and incomes (1, 8).

A structural shift is needed to reduce the share of people employed in low-value added agriculture and increase the share in more productive sectors (which is closely related to targets 4.3 and 9.2 which can be advanced effectively as an integrated portfolio). Balancing these tradeoffs requires addressing systemic barriers, promoting gender equality, including by ensuring women’s full and effective participation in decision-making (5.5), and women’s equal rights to access and control resources (1.4, 5.a), providing technical support and training, and creating an enabling environment for small-scale food producers to thrive.

In Georgia, SDG target 4.3 aims to ensure equal access to quality technical, vocational, and tertiary education. Georgia shows quite high 15.6 expected years of schooling in 2021 and high upper secondary education completion rate (which was around 92% over past decade).

SDG target 4.3—which is off track currently– has important interlinkages with other SDGs, especially Goal 8 trough improving employability, reduced skills mismatch, and ensuring future-readiness of the people in the workforce, and ultimately reduced poverty (1). This will promote equal access to labour market for women/girls and men and further empowerment of women to participate into the local labour market (5.5), including by enhancing their access to STEM and ICT education (5.b). Quality technical education will equip individuals with skills aligned with labour market demands, fostering decent work and economic growth (8). Ultimately, equal access to technical education will reduce inequalities, empowering marginalized groups and promoting social inclusion (10).

In Georgia’s context the SDG Target 8.6 aligns with the goal of reducing poverty. By promoting decent work, Georgia can contribute to poverty reduction by providing individuals with opportunities for sustainable income generation and economic empowerment. Youth empowerment and participation (16) are an essential condition for reduction of NEET. Decent work contributes to longer-term economic growth and development.

By promoting employment opportunities with fair wages, job security, and social protection (10), enhancing women’s empowerment in ICT (5.b) and access to decision-making positions (5.5), Georgia can create a more productive workforce, increase household incomes, in particular women-headed that were highly affected by the COVID 19 crises and repercussions of the war in Ukraine, and stimulate economic activity.

SDG 9.2 aims to foster inclusive and sustainable industrialization in Georgia while simultaneously enhancing its economic growth (8). Despite recent improvements, manufacturing value added as a proportion of GDP and per capita remains relatively low in Georgia (around 8.5% in past decade, according to UNSTAT). Here, emphasis should be given on increasing of more productive economic activities, including in manufacturing sector.

However, the pursuit of industrialization also entails tradeoffs. It requires careful consideration of environmental sustainability, as industrial activities can have adverse ecological impacts—affecting ecosystems (15, 2), potable water (6), health of people (3). Rapid industrialization could put pressure on energy access (7.1) at the expense of energy sustainability (7.2, 7.3). Ensuring inclusivity in this process is crucial to prevent potential social, gender, and territorial inequalities (10, 5, esp. 5.5)

SDG 10.4 calls for the adoption of policies to progressively achieve greater equality in Georgia. Achieving SDG 10.4 has synergetic links with various other SDGs, such as SDG 1 (No Poverty), SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being), and SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), as reducing inequality contributes to poverty eradication, improves health outcomes, and sustainable economic development. SDG 10.4 also intrinsically linked with greater gender equality and women empowerment (5, in particular 5.1, 5.4, 5.5, 5.b) .

However, pursuing greater equality may require tradeoffs in terms of fiscal adjustments and resource allocation (SDG 17).