Dear Partners,

I hope this message finds you well.

I would like first of all to thank you for your involvement during the last weeks to adjust the Technical Assistance program funded by the French Development Agency (AFD) and coordinated by Expertise France (EF) in support to the Social Welfare Policy Based Loan (PBL) extended by AFD to the Government of Georgia.

In order to continue the exchanges and launch the Technical assistance, I am pleased to inform you that a joint AFD-EF mission will be conducted in Georgia from April to 15^th  to 19^th  2019. The mission will be led by Mr. Nicolas Le Guen, Project manager for health and social protection at AFD Head office and joined by Mr. Andrei Tretyak and Mr. Antoine Pogorzelski from the social protection division at EF Head office. They will be accompanied by several experts.

The objectives of this mission are threefold:

-          To prepare the appraisal of the second phase of the Social Welfare PBL between AFD, the Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied territories, Labor, Health and Social Affairs and Ministry of Finance. This second tranche is to be presented to AFD Board this year. It is therefore important to hold a joint meeting with all the concerned stakeholders in order to discuss the matrix and the current situation and progress on the different triggers planned for 2019.

-          To conduct visits in Tbilisi and regions to get familiar with ongoing projects and actions related to the technical assistance to be implemented, such as the pilot project in Batumi on functional disability assessment, special care homes for children with disability under state custom, psychiatric hospital, etc…

-          To hold technical meetings with the relevant departments of the MIDPLHSA and donors to start the operational discussions and define more precisely the work plan on the different activities to be implemented within the framework of the TA.

We will revert back to you shortly to request the different specific meetings needed during the week of April 15 to 19. I thank you in advance for your support and  we are looking forward to continuing our fruitful cooperation.

With best regards,

Gaëlle