Georgian street children will receive improved protection from police, orphanage directors, teachers, and social workers thanks to a child protection training hosted by World Vision in Tbilisi in December.

'There was great interest in this training, which not only provided participants with tools to identify child abuse, but also increased their concern for child protection issues,' said Nutsi Odisharia, Children in Especially Difficult Circumstances program manager.

Local police were equipped to handle child abuse cases better by networking with World Vision social workers, who requested to be informed by police of all child abuse cases. Moreover, police were made more familiar with what qualifies as child abuse.

'Now I know what constitutes a violation of children's rights and will try to protect their rights,' said a policeman who participated in the training.

There are approximately 2,000 street children in Georgia, according to the World Vision Street Kids program and other NGO reports. No official statistics on the number of street children in Georgia exist.

Children aged 10 to16 make up a significant portion of Georgia's street children, and there are thousands of youth at risk of living on the street due to poverty and a lack of community services. These youth come from troubled families who struggle to cope with the difficulties of economic collapse and unemployment that have plagued Georgia for the past decade.