Dear Tamar Gabunia, dear Partners from the MOH,

I hope this message finds you well. Let me give you a brief overview of the next missions of the Technical Assistance to Social Welfare in order to prepare for the next missions. So far, you have received the inception report and the timetable for activities and expert mobilization for the whole year of the project. You will find attached the monthly and weekly planning for your review. Two missions have taken place so far : an inception mission in April and a mission on mental health at the end of May. As you know, we are planning on having a team on the ground starting in September till the end of the project. The team in Tbilisi is composed of the resident project manager and an assistant. They will implement some of the activities and liaise with you and other partners regarding activities. Until then, some activities will take place in the summer.

In coordination with the relevant partners, we are indeed organizing two new missions in July:

-          Beginning of July (either 1 to 4 of July or 8 to 10 of July) for Component 1 – Andreï Tretyak and Yannick Deimat will finish the methodology for the disability assessment in coordination with UNICEF. The methodology, part of the annexes of the inception report, is also attached to this email.

-          End of July for

o   An introduction of Audrius Bitinas as resident project manager : you will find attached the CV of Audrius Bitinas. We would like to introduce him to you and other partners. Audrius is an expert on social policies from Lithuania, he speaks English, Russian and French. He has experiences in managing social projects in Azerbaïdjan and South-East Asia. Audrius would come from 25^th of July to 2^nd of August.

o   Component 1 (disability assessment) on 25 and 26 of July : Andreï Tretyak and Audrius Bitinas would go in the region to discuss the disability assessment and its launching;

o   Component 2 (activity 221 on mental health) from 29 July to 2^nd of August : Alain Lefebvre will come back, accompanied with health economist and budget specialist Annie Bourdil in order to conduct some financial simulations/projections (and inquire about costs of health and mental health items : staff / drugs / infrastructures / supplies …). I will join the mission in order to introduce Audrius and manage other project-related tasks. We will also meet and conclude a partnership with the service provider of the epidemiological survey for adults regarding mental health (Health Research Union Georgia – HRU is deemed to implement the survey) and eventually take part in a mental health workshop organized by the Open Society Foundation on 2^nd of August (if it still takes place on this date).

You will find attached the CVs of Andreï Tretyak and Annie Bourdil. Could you confirm us that those dates in July work fine with you? We will then organize the meetings with the different partners.

More activities would then come in September regarding component 1, 2 and 3. It would also be the time when Audrius and the project assistant would be posted permanently on the project. We would like to know whether it would be possible that a room with 3 desks (1 for the resident project manager, 1 for the assistant and 1 for short-term experts coming) and a functioning internet could be provided to the project by the beginning of September?

Thank you very much for your feedback on those points. We remain at your disposal to discuss those points by phone or mail.

Looking forward to hearing from you, I wish you a fruitful week.

Best regards,