Social Services Help Georgia’s Vulnerable Families
The Kandavadze family was once in dire need of money and forced to sell their big apartment in Tbilisi and move to Rustavi. Their small, one-room apartment did not have enough space and furniture to accommodate seven children and their parents. Poverty, the decline in living conditions, and the stresses of relocation negatively impacted the family, especially the children. Their mother was the primary caregiver and their father often traveled to Armenia, trying unsuccessfully to earn enough to support his family.
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Mother and four children of Kandavadze family
Photo Credit: Save the Children
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The Kandavadze family’s life began to improve once they joined the Sapovnela Center, part of the USAID-funded Rebuilding Lives Project social services network implemented by Save the Children. The project operates in four cities across Georgia—Tbilisi, Rustavi, Gori, and Chiatura—and reaches 450 street and at-risk children and their families every month through quality child care programs, night shelters, and extensive family support and street outreach services.
Since early 2006, five of the Kandavadze children—Nona, Yasha, Nino, Eka, and Giorgi—have benefited from the Sapovnela Center, where staff help children with school assignments, involve them in creative activities, and offer psychosocial counseling. Parents take part in Center activities and frequently meet with the psychologist, social worker and teachers. With help from Sapovnela, the Kandavadze family obtained the necessary documentation and became entitled to participate in the Poverty Cash Assistance Program and access World Food Program assistance in July 2007.
Thanks to the Iavnana Foundation’s help, a three-bedroom apartment was recently purchased for the Kandavadze family in Rustavi. It was jointly furnished and equipped by the USAID project, and the Danish House and BEKO companies.
The Kandavadzes are more hopeful about their future, and are seeking new opportunities to change their lives for the better. Sapovnela will intensify the search for vocational training and employment for the parents so that the family will ultimately become self-sufficient.
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