The Online Meeting with Civil Society Organizations’ Representatives

The online meeting with civil society organizations’ representatives was organized by the coalition "More Involvement”. The meeting was dedicated to the current crisis in Ukraine, where the members of the coalition discussed the basic needs of refugees from Ukraine in Georgia and strategies to be implemented to help them.

Nukri Milorava, Executive Director of the International Humanitarian Center "Abkhazia" (the organization has a branch office in Kyiv), provided comprehensive information on the situation in Ukraine and the needs of Ukrainian refugees in Georgia. As he said, according to the official data, there are about 200 Ukrainian tourists and about 250 refugees in Georgia, whose needs are mostly addressed by the private sector, citizens, and civil society. The level of coordination of state structures is rather weak and at this stage, there is no clear strategy for assistance to Ukrainian refugees.

Ekaterine Gamakharia, a representative of the Women's Fund "Sukhumi", talked about importance of employing an orderly registration mechanism for Ukrainian tourists and refugees in Georgia and the need for access to refugee statistics by regions of Georgia. She also pointed out that it is desirable to create a database of coalition members, which will define the list of assistance or services that can be offered by the coalition members.

During the meeting the need of creation of a platform for inter-sectoral cooperation and inter-agency coordination was highlighted, and the importance of joint effort to provide effective assistance to Ukrainian citizens was stressed.