Georgia remains hard hit with repercussions stemming from its conflict over South Ossetia that began a month ago. The situation on the ground remains fluid, but is starting to show signs of stabilisation. Though certain aspects of the response continue to be dynamic, World Vision has plans in place to further address Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) throughout Georgia.

The city of Gori, which was occupied by Russian troops until August 22, is fast-becoming a hotspot for humanitarian aid as families continue to move back to the area after being sheltered in Tbilisi, the country's capital. Many IDPs have been able to return home, but many others cannot, and live in collection centres and tent camps in and around the city. Others live with relatives and friends and need tailored interaction to maintain a support structure.

In an effort to deal with this new aspect, World Vision secured an eighth program office in Gori last week to facilitate relief efforts and coordination in the area. The office will be fully operational and staffed in the coming two weeks. Though the office and its staff will primarily focus on these relief efforts, it will also have other programmes and projects in its portfolio as time progresses.

Other areas of the country are also dealing with IDPs. In an effort to provide aid to those areas, World Vision's three Area Development Programme (ADP) offices are performing rapid assessments of IDP needs in their areas (Telavi, Kutaisi, and Akhaltsikhe), which will be completed early this week.

As the crisis stabilises, World Vision Georgia programming staff is beginning to refocus its work on pre-crisis programmes and projects, in addition to ongoing relief efforts. When the conflict began, the office put a temporary moratorium on its pre-crisis programmes in order to dedicate its time and resources to the emergency response.

The Children in Especially Difficult Circumstances (CEDC) programme will identify the needs for Child Friendly Spaces (CFS) this week and put approximately 10 in place, depending on need, with the support of UNICEF.

Also, the Infant House Transformation centre in Tbilisi continues to help displaced mothers with infants. The team is currently caring for 12 displaced mothers and 15 children and has helped/is helping a total of 14 displaced mothers and 17 children affected by the crisis.

The Public Health/HIV and AIDS (PHHA) team has hired more than 20 psychologists to staff help desks to provide psychosocial support to IDPs. The psychologists will go through a training/orientation as per World Vision standards and will be trained by a local NGO specialising in conflict-related psychosocial mental health. The help desks are planned to be in place next week in priority centres/areas.

The Human Rights programme has begun its child trafficking assessment that will now include IDP issues. World Vision is the first to do such an assessment in general and specifically concerning IDP children and will have its final report by year's end.

World Vision Georgia continues to distribute food and Non-Food Items (NFIs) to IDPs. To date, the organisation has delivered NFIs to more than 11,500 IDPs in over 50 centres, and food to more than 24,000 IDPs in over 220 centres, all of which have been delivered three times to replenish the 10-day food supplies. In total, the Ministry of Refugees and Accommodation puts the figure of registered IDPs at 40,205 IDPs in 432 centres in Tbilisi, and 21,840 IDPs in 117 centres outside of Tbilisi. This total number is approximately 50% less than the 120,000 registered IDPs in Georgia proper since the withdrawal of Russian troops in the Gori area on August 22. World Vision still plans on helping approximately 50% of the current IDP population at nearly 27,000 IDPs in 243 centres.

World Vision Georgia also continues to recruit more staff to deal with the response. Before the crisis, World Vision had a total staff of 155, which has now increased to 225.

-Ends-