VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSI #0791 1350815
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 140815Z MAY 08
FM AMEMBASSY TBILISI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9441
INFO RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PRIORITY 8156

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