Dear Ms. Barkalaia,

It was a great pleasure meeting you today and please allow me to join Yoko in expressing sincere appreciation for a nice and fruitful meeting today that had enabled to learn about the positive progress within the Ministry along with information on future directions.

As we agreed during the meeting let me share the UNHCR Socio-Economic Integration Strategy which includes the regional chapeau along with the part of Georgia and the Action Plan, which includes comments of colleagues from the Livelihood and Economic Inclusion Unit at HQs, Geneva. We are planning to organise a separate meeting involving colleagues from your Ministry and other counterparts in order further discuss and finalize the Action Plan and will liaise with Giorgi Bunturi regarding the date of the meeting participants and other practicalities.

In benefiting from this communication I am also attaching the UNHCR/OECD “A 10-point multi-stakeholder action plan for employers, refugees, governments and civil society” along with the version translated into Georgian, that are attached herewith for easy reference as to complement the ongoing efforts of the Ministry oriented towards  enhancement of the integration-related components.

Best regards.

marat

Dear Giorgi,

Thank you so much for confirming about finally selected partner for the implementation of the state-funded integration-related activities, with the preference given to the Public Advocacy NGO. Could you kindly elaborate on what would be the next step? It would be very useful to hear about the Ministry’s plans in terms of integration-related activities including WG meetings, amendment of the Action Plan and other issues which we discussed previously?

If you feel more comfortable we could meet one of these days in order to discuss these issues. Please let me know and we could quickly organize a meeting.

Looking forward to hearing from you and wishing you a nice day.

Best regards.

Marat

Dear Marat,

First of all sorry for the late answer. As for the winner of the grant competition, officially we have winner ``public advocacy``  and on Monday June 17, we have signed agreement with them.

Regarding changes in the Ministry, everything is fine J and definitely we will continue cooperating in integration related activities.

Best Regards,

Giorgi Bunturi

Dear Giorgi,

I hope all is fine on your side and you are doing well. Do you have any news to share about agreement with finally selected NGO for implementation of integration related activities?

I have heard about changes and that you got a new Minister and hope it will help us to continue ensuring the progress in integration related activities.

Looking forward to receiving you kind feedback.

Best regards.

Marat    

Dear Giorgi,

Thank you for your kind response and remaining on standby for further support that might be required from our side and also looking forward to hearing about further developments in the area of integration.

Best regards.

Marat

Dear Marat,

First of all thank you for sharing information.

As agreed in the near future (as soon as the contest is over), we will hold the working group where we can discuss all issues related to integration. As for the members of the Working Group, this issue can be distinguished and invite other interested organizations.

Best Regards,

Giorgi Bunturi

Head of Division for Migration Issues

Department   of   Labor  and  Employment  Policy

Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons From The Occupied Territories, Labor, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia

Address:  144 Ak. Tsereteli Ave. 0119 - Tbilisi, Georgia

Tel.:        + 995 (32) 2  51 00 12 (ext. 1546)

Mob.:      + 995   5  95 42 49 39

Dear Giorgi,

It was very nice to further discuss the integration related issues and to learn about latest developments relating to the selection of an NGO for running the Integration Center and implementation of the state-funded integration programmes. I hope things will go as you planned including the signature of the contract between the Ministry and selected NGO to allow activities to start as of 1 June 2019. As agreed it would be highly appreciated if the Ministry could formally inform us and other partner agencies dealing with integration as for all of us to be on the same page.

It would also be good if the Ministry could organize a meeting with different state and non-state actors to revisit the progress in the area of integration and discuss the key priorities including the way forward which involves, but not limmited to the amendment of the Action Plan, implementation of recommendations from the Integration Working Group Meeting in Gudauri and other issues. It could be similar format meeting or you may wish to start with a smaller group of agencies which could be further expanded to a bigger format. The format of the Integration Working Group meeting under the SCMI is definitely among the priority options.

It was also good to hear about progress with regard to the ongoing recruitment and I hope that very soon you will have the full-fledged team on board. These developments might put you in a better position with regard to the distribution of responsibilities, as it would be very ideal to have a specific focal point(s) assigned to deal with integration related issues, whom we could also support in building and enhancing capacity.  

As I have promised let me kindly share with you the UNHCR/OECD “A 10-point multi-stakeholder action plan for employers, refugees, governments and civil society” along with the version translated into Georgian, that are attached herewith for easy reference. It could be used as a starting point to complement the planned efforts on the development of the action plan. In a separate e-mail, I will also re-share the English version of the Socio-Economic Strategy which was discussed during the regional livelihood training organized by UNHCR in Tbilisi from 9-12 May involving the participation of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.

Please take good care and best regards.

Marat

Marat Atamuradov

Snr. Regional Programme Officer

Office: +995 322 386 202 (ext. 240) | Mobile: +995 591 012898

2a Al. Kazbegi Avenue, 0160, Tbilisi Georgia

UNHCR Regional Office in the South Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia)

www.unhcr.org | www.facebook.com/UNHCR | www.instagram.com/unrefugees/