Regional Conference

On April 18, 2018 in Tbilisi, Georgia SOS Children's Villages Georgia hosted a conference aimed at sharing best practices and experience of family strengthening projects in Georgia and Armenia.

Participants of the conference were representatives of the Family Strengthening Projects of Georgia and Armenia, as well as project supporters and sponsors namely Austrian Development Agency, SOS Children's Village Austria and the Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia. 6 participants for SOS-Armenia and 10 representatives of SOS-Georgia were gathered at the conference in order to exchange experiences and learn from one another.

Zviad Berdzenishvili, National Director of the SOS Children's Villages Georgia underlined the importance of the development of the family strengthening project in Zugdidi, Georgia, emphasizing the importance of the project partners' support in this project and thanked them for their cooperation. In her speech Tamar Chanturia, - National Programme Development Director, talked about the activities of the organization and the goals of the project. At the current stage of development, what are the needs and challenges of the organization. Tamar Meskhia, coordinator of Zugdidi's Family Strengthening Project in Georgia, explained to the audience how the project in Zugdidi is set up, and why it is important to use a multilateral approach in working with vulnerable families. 

Tamar Meskhia, coordinator of the Zugdidi Family Strengthening Project explained to the audience how the project is implemented in Zugdidi, what is the importance of using multilateral approach in working with vulnerable families and what are the results of the first year of the project. The duration of the project is 3 years. 400 children between 0-18 years old and their parent who live in Zugdidi and village Ingiri, who need help from different social factors. The project includes various activities such as: day-to-day services, psycho-social assistance, adoption and improvement of vocational education, promotion of employment, etc. From the results of the project, it is worth mentioning that in 2017, psycho-social assistance was provided to 213 children and their parents (92 families); 40 psychologists and 45 parents received psychological services; 72 sessions (6 training) were conducted on the study of the child's positive and non-violent methods, attended by 59 parents; 20 lonely mothers were able to produce independent financial revenue in the framework of the project, a mixed vegetable cooperative, employing 5 socially vulnerable families and others.

Tatul Tamrazyan, coordinator of the Tavush Family strengthening project of the Children's Village Armenia, also spoke about   the difficulties   in the project, what  challenges and difficulties they face during implementing the project.