Dear Nutsi

Dear Tamar and Nino,

 

Further to our previous correspondence, please find attached letter from the  Ministry of Civil Affairs Department of Charity Promotion and Social Work about the study visit. 

 

With best regards,

 

Joanna Rogers

International senior specialist in social work for children

ADB project 'China: Policy and Social Work Services for Vulnerable Children'

 

 

On Fri, May 10, 2019 at 9:31 AM Nino Odisharia <nodisharia@moh.gov.ge> wrote:

Greeting Joanna,

 

 

At this point there is no such obstacle concerning 1-3^rd of July from our side. We’ll start working on the preliminary agenda.

 

As for the official letter, of course we will provide it as a response to the Chinese side.

 

 

Regards

 

 

Nutsi

 

From: Joanna Rogers [mailto:jo.rogers812@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, May 9, 2019 1:28 PM
To: Nino Odisharia <nodisharia@moh.gov.ge>
Cc: Tamar Barkalaia <tbarkalaia@moh.gov.ge>; Tea Gvaramadze <tgvaramadze@moh.gov.ge>; mari tsereteli <mtsereteli@moh.gov.ge>; Mariana Mkurnali <mmkurnali@moh.gov.ge>; Sopo Belkania <sbelkania@moh.gov.ge>
Subject: Re: Child Welfare Study visit to Georgia by Ministry of Civil Affairs o the People's Republic of China

 

Dear Nino

Just a quick follow up to my earlier email - the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs in Sweden has indicated they prefer 4-5 July for the delegation to visit them. Can we therefore aim for 1-3 July in Georgia? Please let me know as soon as possible so that we can get these dates fixed in people's diaries.

 

Many thanks,

Jo

 

On Thu, May 9, 2019 at 11:45 AM Joanna Rogers <jo.rogers812@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear Nino

 

I am happy to say that we can now move forward with planning. I have been informed today that the Ministry of Civil Affairs Department of Charity Promotion and Social Work will send a letter to your Ministry about the study visit. I have given them your and Tamar's contact details. Please also not that the preferred dates for the visit are now confirmed for the first week of July. The study tour group will be in Georgia for 3 days and then travel to Sweden so we will need to also coordinate dates with the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs in Sweden. Perhaps they can visit Georgia 1-3 or 3-5 July inclusive - would one of these options be possible? Please also note that once you have their official letter about the study visit, they will also need an official letter from you to support their visa applications.

 

Looking forward to hearing about dates in the first week of July that will be convenient for your Ministry and to working with you to finalise and agenda for the visit.

 

With best regards,

 

Jo 

Joanna Rogers

International senior specialist in social work for children

ADB project 'China: Policy and Social Work Services for Vulnerable Children'

 

On Tue, Apr 16, 2019 at 10:11 AM Nino Odisharia <nodisharia@moh.gov.ge> wrote:

Dear Joanna,

 

 

Thank you and waiting for the letter. Meanwhile we’ll start putting together a draft agenda for the visit.

 

Regards

 

 

Nutsi

 

From: Joanna Rogers [mailto:jo.rogers812@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, April 15, 2019 7:35 PM
To: Nino Odisharia <nodisharia@moh.gov.ge>
Cc: Tamar Barkalaia <tbarkalaia@moh.gov.ge>; Tea Gvaramadze <tgvaramadze@moh.gov.ge>; mari tsereteli <mtsereteli@moh.gov.ge>; Mariana Mkurnali <mmkurnali@moh.gov.ge>; Sopo Belkania <sbelkania@moh.gov.ge>
Subject: Re: Child Welfare Study visit to Georgia by Ministry of Civil Affairs o the People's Republic of China

 

Dear Nutsi

 

Thank you for your email. I will make this request and I'm sure an official letter will be provided. Please note that the government representatives that will be visiting are from the Ministry of Civil Affairs not the Ministry of Social Security and Human Resources. 

 

With kind regards,

 

Jo

 

Joanna Rogers

International senior specialist in social work for children

ADB project 'China: Policy and Social Work Services for Vulnerable Children'

 

On Mon, Apr 15, 2019 at 4:41 PM Nino Odisharia <nodisharia@moh.gov.ge> wrote:

Greetings,

 

 

My name is Nutsi Odisharia, I’m head of social protection department, and I was asked by the deputy minister to support in organizing the trip: before we start organizing the trip I need to ask you a questions about trip member: As I understand they are a government official, right?

 

We have an MoU signed on 2016 between our ministry and ministry of social security and human resources of China, where official cooperation is encouraged and supported. In order to ensure proper communication with our counterpart and government of china  is it possible to provide ministry with the official letter from the Chinese side?

 

Thank you very much,

 

Regards

 

Nutsi Odisharia

 

From: Joanna Rogers [mailto:jo.rogers812@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, April 12, 2019 2:08 PM
To: Tamar Barkalaia <tbarkalaia@moh.gov.ge>
Cc: Nino Odisharia <nodisharia@moh.gov.ge>
Subject: Re: Child Welfare Study visit to Georgia by Ministry of Civil Affairs o the People's Republic of China

 

Thank you for your prompt response. I will revert as soon as possible with proposals for dates and an agenda for the visit.

Many thanks

 

Jo

 

On Fri, Apr 12, 2019 at 12:00 PM Tamar Barkalaia <tbarkalaia@moh.gov.ge> wrote:

Dear Joanna,

 

We can still schedule for June if July will not be possible.

 

Kind regards,

 

Tamila

 

From: Joanna Rogers [mailto:jo.rogers812@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, April 11, 2019 7:01 PM
To: Tamar Barkalaia
Cc: Nino Odisharia
Subject: Re: Child Welfare Study visit to Georgia by Ministry of Civil Affairs o the People's Republic of China

 

Dear Tamila

 

Thank you for your positive response and for putting me in touch with your colleague. As for dates, the Swedish government would prefer dates before 23rd June but say they may also be able to do dates in July. I will indicate to them and to the Chinese government participants your preference for July. If July is not possible, can we nevertheless aim for a couple of days in June or is this simply not possible for you? Please clarify.

 

Thanks again,

 

Jo

 

Joanna Rogers

International senior specialist in social work for children

ADB project 'China: Policy and Social Work Services for Vulnerable Children'

 

 

On Thu, Apr 11, 2019 at 4:55 PM Tamar Barkalaia <tbarkalaia@moh.gov.ge> wrote:

Dear Joanna,

 

I apologize for delayed response on your e-mail.  With frequent travel and busy season at the office I have hard time keeping up with e-mails.

 

We would be happy to share our experience with the Chinese government representatives.  Given the workload in June, I would suggest July as a better option for study visit time.  I am cc’ing Nutsi Odisharia, the Head of Social Policy Department in this communication.  She will support you in organizing the trip and guide you throught he procedural requirements if necessary.

 

Kind regards,

 

Tamila

 

 

 

Tamila Barkalaia

 

Deputy Minister

144 Tsereteli ave, Tbilisi, Georgia, 0159

+995 599 281 281

 

 

 

From: Joanna Rogers [mailto:jo.rogers812@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, April 08, 2019 5:37 PM
To: Tamar Barkalaia
Subject: Fwd: Child Welfare Study visit to Georgia by Ministry of Civil Affairs o the People's Republic of China

 

Dear Tamila

 

I wonder if you are able to respond to this request for a study tour to Georgia on child welfare services in June/July by the government of China Ministry of Civil Affairs? Perhaps you require more information or have some queries? I have received information that the group will comprise 6 participants:

Four members from MoCA: 

 -Head of Department of Charity Promation and Social Work

 -Division director of social work

 -Divison director of Child Welfare

 -Divison director of  international cooperation

 One member from National Working Committee for Children and Women

 One local official of civil affairs department

 

I look forward to hearing from you.

 

With kind regards,

 

Joanna Rogers

International senior specialist in social work for children

ADB project 'China: Policy and Social Work Services for Vulnerable Children'

 

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Joanna Rogers <jo.rogers812@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Mar 20, 2019 at 11:06 AM
Subject: Child Welfare Study visit to Georgia by Ministry of Civil Affairs o the People's Republic of China
To: <tbarkalaia@moh.gov.ge>

 

Dear Tamila

 

It was a pleasure to meet you at the UNICEF social service strengthening conference in Bucharest and to hear your excellent contributions. I look forward to hearing how Georgia's social work law implementation progresses and how UNICEF and their other government partners take up the challenges set out in the Call to Action. I am writing now on something quite different.

 

I am working with Oxford Policy Management on an assigment focused on the development of child welfare services in China for the Asian Development Bank and the Ministry of Civil Affairs of the Chinese government. Part of the assignment is to help the Ministry to organise a study visit to two European countries to learn and exchange on child and family social work services. I proposed several options to the Ministry and they have selected Georgia and Sweden. So I am writing to find out if you can advise whom I should contact to ask about organising an official visit by the Ministry of Civil Affairs of the People's Republic of China to Georgia. The Ministry of Civil Affairs can also send an official letter requesting support for the visit and will need to receive an official invitation from the relevant ministry or department of the government of Georgia. 

 

It is envisaged that the study tour would aim to provide exposure (observation, discussion, learning) to participants in relation to:

1.           Social work services for children of all ages from birth up to 18 years of age: children with disabilities or chronic health conditions and their families, children and families living in poverty and social exclusion, children at risk of abuse, neglect and violence, children without adequate care or guardianship of their family. 

2.           Government and non-government (civil society) community based social work services that work with children when they are living with their parents, their wider family (such as grandparents or aunts/uncles), or with substitute families where their legal guardians are not relatives. 

3.           Social work policies and services that have demonstrated evidence of effectiveness and that are flexible in meeting a wide range of individual needs by supporting parents and families to provide adequate care for their children.

 

 As part of the programme I would like to arrange for them to meet with your Ministry and SSA, to visit municipal child welfare services and other SSA community services for children and families, meet with the Georgian Association of Social Workers and other NGOs and with the Parliamentary committee that is overseeing implementation of the new law on Social Work. The main focus will be on services delivered in the community and not in residential settings. Some exposure to small group homes or other residential services may however be useful to provide a full system overview. It may also be relevant to meet the Ministry of Education to talk about social workers in school settings. 

 

Please confirm if you are the right person to whom we should address this request and I will be happy to share more information about the participants, the background to the visit and the kind of services and social work they are interested in visiting. We are provisionally aiming for June 2019 for the visit, but obviously the actual timing will depend on the availability of the host Ministry and organisations. 

 

I hope you will be able to advise how best to go forward in order to begin setting up such a programme for a visit to Georgia. 

 

With many thanks and kind regards.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

Joanna Rogers

International senior specialist in social work for children

ADB project 'China: Policy and Social Work Services for Vulnerable Children'