Georgia - DHA-09: 1-31.Jan.97
Georgia - DHA-09: 1-31.Jan.97
United Nations
Department of Humanitarian Affairs
Situation Report from the DHA Coordinator in GEORGIA - No. 9
Period covered: 1-31 January 1997
HIGHLIGHTS
- Meeting on Georgia's Needs for Humanitarian Aid is Held at
the State Chancellery
- Governments Coordination Bureau for International
Humanitarian Aid (CBIHA) Holds Meeting on Decrease of Food
Aid
- AIDS Prevention becomes Vitally Important in Georgia
European Union Allocates ECU 17 Million to Georgia
OVERALL HUMANITARIAN SITUATION
On 17 January, the government called a meeting at the State
Chancellery to discuss humanitarian aid to Georgia during
1997. Representatives of government ministries, including
the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health, UN
Agency representatives, and members of the donor community
attended. The government expressed concern that funding for
humanitarian assistance, particularly in the education and
health sectors, is decreasing, and called on donors to
support these areas. Those present also voiced alarm at the
precarious humanitarian situation in Abkhazia and South
Ossetia. The role of the Governments Coordination Bureau
for International Humanitarian Aid (CBIHA) was highlighted
and the Deputy State Minister requested donors to provide
financial support to CBIHA, especially for training, and to
allow the bureau to continue printing its monthly reports
on aid to Georgia.
On 28 January, CBIHA organised a meeting to discuss the
decrease of food aid in some areas of Georgia. Action
contre la Faim and Arbeiter Samariter Bund will finish food
distribution in Samegrelo and Guria in March. ECHO made a
decision not to extend the funding in these districts on
the basis of a recently conducted vulnerability assessment
which defined Lower and Upper Svaneti and Shida Kartli as
the most needy regions in Georgia. Food assistance will not
be provided to the Gori district either, where Secours
Populaires Francais previously operated. This means that
Samegrelo and Gori districts with a population of 190,000
(including internally displaced persons) will be left
without food assistance. Aid agencies agreed that their
respective donors need to be contacted to provide the
necessary resources to fill the gap in these regions.
By December 1996, 27 cases of AIDS infection were reported
in Georgia. However, according to the WHO experts, the
number of infected persons is much higher and probably
reaches 600-700 persons. Georgia is believed to be a
country with a high-risk for AIDS, and, unless appropriate
measures are taken immediately, the estimated number of
HIV-infected persons in Georgia will amount to 16,000 by
the year 2000 and 200,000 by 2010. The cost of damage
caused by the epidemic is estimated to be around USD 20
million. The Government of Georgia recently approved the
law on AIDS prevention and elaborated the National AIDS
Prevention and Control Programme, as a measure to address
the problem before it becomes a crisis. At a recent meeting
held by the UNAIDS Theme Group which omprises
representatives of the Ministry of Health, the AIDS Centre,
UN Agencies, MSF-Holland, the most urgent activities were
defined. It was noted that more attention should be paid to
public awareness of the AIDS threat.
In this respect, the Ministry of Health, the AIDS Centre,
and the Ministry of Education plan to work together to
provide information bulletins on AIDS. The meeting stressed
the importance of carrying out a project on blood safety.
The number of blood donors in Georgia is 50,000 while only
17,000 were tested in 1996. The project will include
testing on HIV and Hepatitis B and C. Since the state
budget is limited, and the Ministry of Health does not have
sufficient funds, the international assistance is required
to fund the project.
The European Union, in the frame work of the EU Food
Security Programme in Georgia, allocated ECU 17 million
financial aid to Georgia. According to the memorandum
signed by the EU and the Ministry of Finance of Georgia,
the allocated funds will also be used to carry out reforms
in economic and social spheres.
SECTORS
Agriculture
CARE International has recently started its small farmer
support (SFS) project in west and south Georgia. This two-
and-a-half-year agricultural development initiative has
been jointly developed by Georgias Ministry of Food and
Agriculture and CARE, and is financially supported by the
US Department of Agriculture through the monetisation of
11,000 MTs of winter wheat. The SFS project will focus on
providing assistance to 20,000 small scale farming
households in the districts of Adigheni, Akhaltsikhe,
Khulo, Lentekhi, Mestia, and Oni. SFS will help targeted
households to improve their livelihood security by
increasing crop production and reducing post-harvest
losses. Initial activities will include improvement of the
potato seed quality by importing and multiplying certified
registered varieties and establishing on-farm
demonstrations to promote improved crop husbandry
practices-more effective crop shortage techniques. At the
same time the project will include a pilot irrigation
rehabilitation component in the Meskheti region that will
enable beneficiary communities to increase crop yields and
efficiently run and manage their irrigation systems.
Children in Difficult Circumstances
UNICEF, through local implementing agencies, continues
providing psycho-social support to the children in
especially difficult circumstances. The ongoing UNICEF
projects are: the Sunday School project, the aim of which
is to introduce general human principles and spiritual
values to the children from IDP families and the project
entitled Hot-Line-urgent psycho-social assistance to two
orphanages in Akhalkalaki and Senaki and to two boarding
schools for mentally handicapped children in Gldani and
Temka districts, Tbilisi. At the same time, a number of
agencies continue providing he children in orphanages with
medicines, food, school supplies and clothes: Counterpart
Foundation handed over childrens jackets, school supplies,
and bed sheets to the orphanage in Mtskbeta, Shida Kartli,
Georgian Foundation distributed Christmas parcels to the
orphanage in Kojori and to the orphan IDP children living
in the Gldani district, Tbilisi, IOCC-Lazarus handed wool
blankets to the orphanage in Dzegvi, Mtskbeta. 1,600
children from orphanages, disabled children, and children
from IDP families left for Bakuriani and Borjomi to spend a
vacation there. The programme was organised by the
initiative of the Childrens Federation of Georgia and the
Ministry of Education. Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)
recently distributed bed linen sets to orphanages and
childrens medical institutions in Borjomi, Gori, Mtskheta,
and Tianeti.
Food Aid
The World Food Programme (WFP) completed the second round
of its food distribution in west Georgia on 30 December. In
east Georgia the second round also finished on 30 December,
except for the Kazbegi district where due to roads being
blocked by heavy snow, deliveries were interrupted. To
date, 2,625 beneficiaries in the Kazbegi district have
received about 40 MTs of wheat flour and 200 beneficiaries
are still awaiting the assistance. The distribution is
ongoing in Tsalka, a mountainous region of east Georgia,
where a six-month ration, about 50 MTs of wheat flour is
being distributed to 1,800 vulnerable persons. In early
February, WFP will start the third round of food
distribution in Georgia. A two-month ration, 142 MTs of
sugar and 1,704 MTs of wheat flour will be distributed
during this round to 142,000 beneficiaries in west Georgia.
In east Georgia, 48,500 beneficiaries will receive about 48
MTs of sugar and 582 MTs of wheat flour. For its part, the
International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) continues
providing food assistance by distributing food parcels to
single elderly pensioners and bulk food to medical
institutions and orphanages. During the month of January,
IFRC distributed food parcels to pensioners in Kutaisi,
Ozurgeti, and Tbilisi and bulk food to IDPs living in the
Zugdidi district. In addition to WFP and IFRC, CARE
continues providing emergency food aid (-Mtebi- project) to
six mountainous districts of west Georgia: Ambrolauri,
Kharagauli, Lentekhi, Oni, Sachkhere, and Tsageri. However,
wheat flour and sugar being distributed now will last only
until mid-February.
Health
UNICEF provided basic medicines, essential equipment,
brochures and guidelines to the Georgian villages in the
Gali district. IFRC, within the framework of the visiting
nurses programme, handed over diagnostic equipment to the
Georgian Red Cross polyclinics to improve the services
provided by these polyclinics to single elderly
pensioners. During the month of January, ACTS Georgia
provided hospitals and medical institutions in Batumi,
Bakuriani, Rustavi, Sagarejo, Tbilisi, and Tsnori with
medicines and medical supplies. Aid was also delivered to
the monastery in Shio Mghvime. Counterpart Foundation
distributed bed sheets, surgical gloves, and laboratory
equipment to the hospital for IDPs -Abkhazeti- in
Tbilisi. UMCOR has recently started implementing its
Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) childrens
pharmaceutical project in Tbilisi. Children under 16
years of age have access to free essential medicines at
five city pharmacies. Medicines are prescribed by the
UMCOR-trained doctors at childrens polyclinics in
Tbilisi. UMCOR intends to extend its distribution of
donated medical supplies and medicines to the Gori and
Tskhinvali regions in February.
IDPs and Refugees
UNHCR, through the implementing agency Nuova Frontiera,
started a small shelter project in South Ossetia: twenty
wooden houses will be built in both Georgian and Ossetian
villages. Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), under the
project funded by UNHCR, distributed firewood to 200
vulnerable IDP families in South Ossetia. UMCORs small-
scale farming and IDP employment projects have been
completed. Eighty-one IDP families in Baghdadi, Imereti
received pigs, cows, and fodder for the winter. This
month, as part of the same programme, three additional
income generating projects employing IDPs will start in
Kutaisi: transport by mini-van, knitting, and laundry
service. For its part, the International Rescue Committee
(IRC) is rehabilitating six IDP communal centres in
Kutaisi. Works include repairing of roofs, windows, and
sewage systems, building of latrines, toilets and
showers.
Status of Funding: the UNs Revised Appeal by Sector
SECTOR REQUIREMENTS CONTRIBUTION SHORTFALL
Food aid 6,547,596 5,347,596 1,200,000
Agriculture 3,594,000 298,009 3,295,991
Health and
Nutrition 2,686,300 0 2,686,300
Refugees and
IDPs 10,818,881 7,345,483 3,473,398
Shelter 2,269,000 40,000 2,229,000
Education 1,142,400 223,881 918,519
Special Needs 963,500 228,684 734,816
Income
Generation 1,652,344 0 1,652,344
Capacity
Building 194,000 0 194,000
TOTAL 29,868,021 13,483,453 16,384,368
United Nations Office in Tbilisi, Georgia
Mr. Toby Lanzer
Tel.: (995 32) 94 31 63
Fax: (995 32) 95 95 16
E-Mail: toby@undha.org.ge
Complex Emergency Division (CED) - New York
Mr. Kazuhide Kuroda
Tel.: (1 212) 963.5713
Fax: (1 212) 963.3630
E-Mail: dhagva@dha.unicc.org
Inter-Agency Support Branch (IASB) - Geneva
Mr. Arjun Katoch
Tel.: (41 22) 788.6381
Fax: (41 22) 788.6386
E-Mail: Arjun.Katoch@dha.unicc.org
Press To Contact - (DHA-Geneva)
Ms. Madeleine Moulin-Acevedo
Tel.: (41 22) 917.2856
Fax: (41 22) 917.0023
Telex: 414242 DHA CH
E-Mail: dhagva@dha.unicc.org