Georgia Past Programs
PEACE BUILDING
Integrated Peace Education (2004-2005)
The Peace Education in Secondary Schools in Abkhazia project, provided peace education classes to 320 youth between the ages of 12 and 14. It also trained 16 teachers of Abkhazia of varying ethnic backgrounds to teach peace education in their respective schools.
In order to foster psychological stabilization and the rehabilitation of vulnerable local and internally displaced children and youth through improved access to extracurricular and academic activities, as well as the treatment of post-war trauma, UMCOR Georgia established four Youth Houses in Tbilisi, Sukhumi, Ochamchira and Zugdidi. What started as a small initiative in 1997 grew into a large program that offered educational, recreational, psychological, and conflict transformation programs to over 20,000 young people in Georgia and Abkhazia. UMCOR Georgia assisted the Youth Houses in their transition to local NGO management by providing training and workshops on funding, management and sustainability.
EMERGENCY RESPONSE AND INTERVENTION
Emergency Relief (2000-2005)
UMCOR has responded to several emergency relief situations in Georgia. For example, in 2000, UMCOR provided 26,000 households in the Gurjaani and Signagi districts of Kakheti with seed and cash for fuel, as well as funds for small village credit unions to provide credit to farmers. In 2002, UMCOR responded to the needs of vulnerable persons in Khoni and Kharagauli districts of Imereti who were affected by the effects of a severe drought from the previous year. With funding from the Food and Agriculture Organization, UMCOR provided more than 19,000 households with seed and fertilizer to bridge the gap in resources resulting from the poor harvest of the preceding season. UMCOR Georgia, in coordination with the UN-led Disaster Management Team, responded to heavy flooding in a few regions of the country in spring 2005 by participating in needs assessments and distributing supplies, such as hygiene kits and medical supplies, to the affected population and to health facilities.
RECONSTRUCTION
Clinic and School Reconstruction 2005-2008
UMCOR Georgia began implementing small reconstruction projects in 2005 funded by the US Department of State. UMCOR first rehabilitated the Kopitnari Kindergarten in Imereti Region of Western Georgia in summer of 2005. The next year, UMCOR continued to work with this community to rehabilitate an outpatient clinic that serves internally displaced people from Abkhazia and other vulnerable members in the community. In 2007, UMCOR renovated the Khoni Internally Displaced Person Ambulatory clinic which serves 1,400 people from Abkhazia.
