IRD has provided a robust and significant emergency response to assist the internally displaced persons (IDPs) from the recent conflict in Georgia. Upon the arrival of emergency team to supplement the staff of our offices in Georgia, IRD, in collaboration with the United Nations, immediately organized a series of quick needs assessments. The assessments determined emergency shelter was particularly needed because although many IDPs continue to return home, a large number will not return for some time in fear of continued insecurity, and will have to be sheltered through the oncoming winter.

As a result of the assessments, IRD has designed and is implementing two shelter programs funded by USAID and the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) for a total of $3.2 million.

USAID: Transitional Shelter Solutions for IDPs. This four-month, $2.5 million program will assist a total of 17,500 people throughout Georgia. The program will specifically provide financial and material support to households that are hosting IDP families. These hosts have used their assets and savings to cover the expanded needs and live in homes ill-equipped to accommodate extra people and provide an acceptable living environment during the winter months; the program will provide an average of $800 per household to be used to help accommodate and winterize hosts’ homes. Host families will be offered a choice from a menu of material packages, including bedding, firewood, household supplies, and other non-food items. Additionally, building materials may be provided to families who still need to fix windows, roofs, and latrines, or build internal privacy partitions.

UNHCR: Transitional Shelter for IDPs. This $700,000 program is focused on Collective Centers in Tbilisi where IDPs are living in public buildings, such as kindergartens, that were never intended for residential use. These buildings do not provide adequate heat, cooking facilities, sanitation facilities, or privacy for multiple families, and many are in serious states of disrepair. IRD focuses on the adaptation of the buildings to meet the needs of communal occupation over the cold winter months. Working in close collaboration with the UN’s Shelter Coordination Committee, IRD’s team of engineers is designing appropriate winter upgrades.

IRD also shipped more than $1.2 million in humanitarian aid within the first week of the humanitarian crisis: $400,000 in antibiotics delivered to IDPs in Tbilisi, and an additional container of more than $800,000 medical equipment and supplies.

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