EMBASSY TBILISI'S 2008 TAFT FUND FOR REFUGEES

UNCLAS TBILISI 000791 SIPDIS DEPT. FOR PRM/ECA, MOSCOW FOR REFCOORD LISA KIERANS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREF PHUM GG SUBJECT: EMBASSY TBILISI'S 2008 TAFT FUND FOR REFUGEES PROPOSALS REF: A. SECSTATE 6779 ¶B. SECSTATE 35430 ¶1. Summary: For the FY08 Taft Fund for Refugees for Georgia, Post proposes supporting two projects, one in support of refugees living in the Pankisi Gorge and the other in support of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) living in western Georgia. The first project will renovate and equip a computer laboratory for a refugee school in Duisi, Pankisi Gorge. The project will be implemented by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and will benefit 153 refugee students and 16 teachers who have not benefited from a recent Ministry of Education initiative to rehabilitate and equip all public schools in Georgia. The project's estimated cost is $5,500. The second project will increase the accessibility and availability of quality reproductive health information and services for 900 IDP women living in Kutaisi, Samtredia, and Tskaltubo. Two local Georgian NGOs, Women's Wellness Care Alliance HERA and Fund Orthos, will implement the project. This project's estimated cost is $14,225. End summary. NRC Project Description and Background -------------- ¶2. The Duisi refugee school is the biggest refugee school in the Pankisi Gorge, with 153 refugee students and 16 refugee teachers. The school is co-located with a much larger Georgian school (479 students) that was repaired and newly equipped in 2006 under a Ministry of Education initiative to renovate all public schools in Georgia. Unfortunately, the refugee side of the school was not included in this initiative and remains in poor condition, with peeling walls, warped floors and old and deteriorating equipment. The Romanian Embassy has agreed to fund a rehabilitation of the walls, roof, floor and windows of the school, and the NRC project would complement the Romanian project by creating a computer classroom inside the newly renovated school. ¶3. The NRC project will purchase five new computers and one printer, supplies, and security upgrades (iron bars over the windows, door locks) for the room. Part of the project budget has been allocated for training the 16 refugee teachers in basic computer skills and how to teach them. The projected budget for this project is $5,500. NRC has completed several successful Ambassador's Fund projects in the past, the most recent being the repair of the water supply system for Tsinubani village in the Pankisi Gorge. This project benefited over 100 refugees who lacked easy access to running water. HERA and Fund Orthos Project Description and Background -------------- -------------- ¶4. Since the early 1990s, poor reproductive health and family planning services has impacted all segments of Georgian society, including the approximately 234,000 IDPs who remain displaced from their homes in Abkhazia. These IDPs often have greater difficulties accessing family planning services and face greater risks of unwanted/unplanned pregnancies stemming from a lack of funding for IDP reproductive health programs, difficulties accessing family planning facilities, discrimination when accessing reproductive health services, and a general lack of knowledge and training in reproductive health among providers and clinics. ¶5. The Women's Wellness Care Alliance HERA and Fund Orthos, two local Georgian NGOs, have designed a six-month program targeting approximately 900 IDP women with the goal of increasing their access to quality reproductive health information and services in three locations in western Georgia - Samtredia, Kutaisi, and Tskaltubo. Two mobile health care provider teams will train 12 IDP health care providers in these three cities and conduct two awareness raising campaigns, each targeting approximately 450 IDP women, on each site. The training will cover the fundamentals of prenatal and antenatal health, breast health, and HIV/AIDS. The projected budget for this project is approximately $14,225. Both HERA and Fund Orthos have done excellent work on USAID health-related projects in the past, including an $87,000 Healthy Women in Georgia program. TEFFT