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FROM THE FIELD

Social Community Centres to break ground in IDP settlements
13 Jul 2009 06:42:42 GMT
 Source: World Vision Middle East/Eastern Europe/ Central Asia office
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The Social Community Centre ground-breaking event heralds more opportunities for IDPs in Georgia.
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The Social Community Centre ground-breaking event heralds more opportunities for IDPs in Georgia.
World Vision MEERO, http://meero.worldvision.org

Background

•  Georgia, Abkhazia, S. Ossetia

•  Children

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Nine Social Community Centers (SCC) will be established in Georgia's Shida Kartli region by World Vision and UNHCR to serve Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) that are now residing in settlements built by the government of Georgia following the August 2008 conflict.

Funded by the US State Department the SCC project is a continuation of World Vision's ongoing work to help individuals and communities affected by the conflict between Georgia and Russia over the breakaway region of South Ossetia, which at its height displaced some 180,000 people.

Some 4,300 people have been living in the settlements in the Shida Kartli over the past five months and many do not know if they will ever be able to return to their homes.

'These centres will go a long way in creating a sense of community and developing the livelihoods the people in these communities desperately need and seek,' said Vano Grigolashvili, World Vision Georgia's Humanitarian Emergency Affairs and Livelihood Director. 'Their lives have been completely upended and the process of rebuilding one's life in a new community is difficult and long. World Vision hopes to make that process easier, more comfortable and more efficient.'

'Unemployment is the huge problem for our society. Before we used to work in the agricultural sector - now we have nothing and wait for help. I hope these centres will help our youth to get new skills in order to find jobs. I think these centres will bring joy in our society,' said 54-year-old Zaur, an IDP from Qemerti.

Representatives from the Ministry of Refugees and Accommodation, Shida Kartli and municipal governments, World Vision, UNHCR, and community members were present for the unveiling ceremony at the first centre, which took place in Shavshvebi on June 30. The remaining centres will be completed by the end of September.

Marin Kajdomcaj, head of UNHCR office in Shida Kartli thanked the US Government for providing funding for UNHCR to create Social Community Centres to help IDPs to further integrate into local communities. He also underlined that 'these local integration efforts do not undermine the right of IDPs to return to their places of origin in dignity and safety'.

The Social Community Centers (SCCs) are designed to be 'self-run', low maintenance spaces with minimal resources which communities can operate and sustain on their own. They will give locally integrated IDPs and other vulnerable people the opportunity to participate in computer training, trans-generational activities for youth and elderly, and activities specific for children and youth.

The SCCs will establish community structures, empowering the communities to find self-help mechanisms to address the problems they face, particularly in taking care of the most vulnerable amongst them.

Further information:

Following the conflict World Vision's Humanitarian Emergency Affairs and Livelihood Development programme carried out several projects to meet the various needs of thousands of IDPs. World Vision distributed 845 metric tons (MT) of food to 156,257 beneficiaries; 420 MT of items to 6,019 beneficiaries through the Food for Work project; 566 MT of vegetables and canned food to 46,836 beneficiaries; feed for animals in 34 villages; and non-food items including more than 10,000 mattresses, 24,000 hygiene kits, and 6,000 blankets. The programme also established 7 Child-Friendly Spaces that assisted 200 children, rehabilitated 9 schools and 1 kindergarten in conflict-affected villages, winterised 11 IDP collective centres, and de-wormed 11,900 cows.

The programme is based out of Tbilisi and Gori, and covers all districts of the Shida Kartli region and some settlements in the Mtskheta-Tianeti region. At its peak, the programme served nearly 100,000 beneficiaries and currently assists approximately 40,000 beneficiaries in varying capacities.


[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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Topics

•  Children

•  Refugees & displacement

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Emergencies

•  Georgia, Abkhazia, S. Ossetia

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Members

•  World Vision Middle East/Eastern Europe/ Central Asia office

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[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

Background information

Briefings
Georgia, Abkhazia, S. Ossetia - [Who works where]

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