By Dwayne Mamo


TBILISI – Autumn has engulfed Georgia and the rainy season has arrived. With Winter on the horizon the rehabilitation of collective centres to house displaced people becomes more urgent.

Estimates show there are still 37,540 displaced people in 268 centres in Tbilisi, Georgia's capital, with another 15,000 or so living with host families. In and around Gori, the Georgian city just south of South Ossetia, are an estimated 12,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs), of which 2,400 are still living in a tent camp set up in a city park.

The tent camp is unsuitable for Winter and will be closed by November 15, according to the Government of Georgia and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Those who cannot return home by then will be absorbed by the increasing number of schools and kindergartens hosting people in and around the city. There are approximately 38 collective centers in and around Gori that already house 2,500 IDPs, with the remainder of people living with host families.

World Vision has begun providing cooking facilities in 19 of the kindergartens in Gori, as its new office becomes fully operational and staffed to provide relief in the area. The Italian Red Cross is currently preparing food for those in the tent camp. However, as it is only a short-term solution, World Vision is providing cooking stoves and kitchen items, such as utensils and dishes, to kindergartens so people can begin preparing their own food. World Vision will then be able to deliver World Food Programme-provided food to kitchens for people living in these centres.

World Vision is also involved in the repair and rehabilitation of 2,000 homes north of Gori – in the 'buffer zone' – to prepare them for Winter. The same rehabilitation of collective centres in Tbilisi remains problematic as some centre owners continue to report that IDPs will soon leave, even though the centre remains on the government's official list of centres where IDPs are allowed to stay during Winter.

The Government of Georgia, in an effort to deal with the upcoming cold season, and hence many displaced people not able to return home in the medium term, has begun large-scale construction of housing settlements near and around Gori.

World Vision continues to deliver food and non-food items to IDPs in Tbilisi. It has completed its fourth round of distribution of WFP food of 20-day rations to 25,000 IDPs in 216 collection centres. World Vision is also delivering hygiene kits and mattresses to IDPs.

In an effort to reach more IDPs, during the first weeks of October, World Vision will conduct assessments of, and deliver food to, IDPs living with host families. World Vision plans to deliver food to 15,000 IDPs in Tbilisi. Assessments are undertaken in co-ordination with the Georgian Ministry of Refugees and Accommodation (MRA) and the Civil Registration Agency (CRA). The MRA is conducting a re-registration of IDPs to obtain more accurate data. World Vision will provide trained staff to help the ministry in collecting data and entering results.

World Vision has also begun delivering food in the Gori area. In tandem with the deliveries, World Vision will also help register IDPs, especially those who live with host families, as are the majority of cases. World Vision is also helping UNHCR with assessments in areas near Gori.

In addition to delivering WFP food, World Vision is also tendering the procurement of complementary food, such as meat, vegetables and tea. Once procured, World Vision will deliver this food together with the WFP food.

In non-food programming, World Vision also operates 20 psycho-social help desks for IDPs though its Public Health HIV and AIDS program.

World Vision's Children in Especially Difficult Circumstances program (CEDC) is also establishing nine Child Friendly Spaces (CFSs) in collective centres in Tbilisi and other areas that have received minimal relief attention, such as Borjomi in central Georgia, Dmanisi close to the Azerbaijan border, and Dusheti about 20 kilometers north of Tbilisi. World Vision will not have CFSs in Gori as assessments show there is already an overload of such spaces.

Delays in full implementation have been caused by the fluidity of movement of people and the shutting down of centres. The CFSs will serve more than 200 children and will be a safe place for children to interact with each other and they will also receive complementary food.

The CEDC team also conducted an inter-agency child protection training on September 30 to three international organisations – Save the Children (STC), International Rescue Committee (IRC), and Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) – and three local organisations.

World Vision, STC and IRC will develop and conduct a Child Protection Rapid Assessment (CPRA). The three organisations will work together to adapt the assessment tool to the Georgian context. World Vision's CEDC team is responsible for training organisations on the use of the tool; STC is responsible for the collection and entry of data; and IRC is responsible for compiling the report. All three implementing organisations and other trained organisations will be involved in conducting the assessment in approximately 100 collective centres.

'Early in the emergency, we knew that partnerships and co-ordination were going to be critical, and I'm happy to see World Vision working together with so many other organisations. Save the Children, CARE, the IRC, UNHCR, WFP, UNICEF, and others – this is a massive team effort,' David Womble, World Vision National Director, said. 'As the chaos has subsided and we can begin recovery and even development activities, these partnerships will be even more important."