Field of Activity

Regional development; local self-government; labor, employment and professional education; tourism; small and medium business development and innovation.

Membership

Regional CSO Network; Coalition for Independent and Transparent Justice; Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum - Georgian National Platform.

Development and Piloting of the Vulnerability Level Measurement Tool

Donor- World Vision

Project Goals - Key goal is to direct the World Vision services as much as possible towards the children and families experiencing most needs in this respect. As part of the project it is planned to pilot the tool developed by the working group in the Kakheti Region.

Project Description - As part of this project the Association of Social Workers will facilitate a working group, whose key objective is to develop a tool for establishing what are the main vulnerability indicators for children and their families that World Vision works with.

Engaging CSOs in the Municipal Reform Process in the Kakheti Region and the Pankisi Gorge

Donor- ASB, EU

Project Goals - The project aims to establish firm partner relations between the non-governmental sector and local self-governments, strengthen partnership in the social area and set up social enterprises in the Pankisi Gorge.

Project Description - As part of the project it is planned to set up three social enterprises through local capacity in order to provide social services pinpointed by a local community.

Enhancing the Role of Social Workers in the Process of Working on the Domestic Violence Cases

Donor- UN Women Organization / UN Development Program and the UN Population Fund

Project Goals - The Association of Social Workers works on enhancing the role of social workers in the process of working on the domestic violence cases.

Project Description - As part of this project, the Association of Social Workers works on the three key areas: (1) Development of a concept on the role of a social worker in the process of working on the domestic violence cases; (2) Enhancement of the skills of social workers representing the state and non-governmental sector in order to improve the work on domestic violence cases; and (3) Improvement of the curricula of academic programs on social work in respect of domestic violence.

Persons with Disabilities in the Human Rights Advocacy Process

Donor- EU

Partner - The Blinds' Union; Regional Broadcasters' Association; Multinational Georgia.

Project Goals - Key goal of the project is to contribute to enhancing the role of the civil society in protection of human rights by focusing on the labor rights of the blind, equal access to health services and physical and general integration into the society.

Project Description - Major activities of the Georgian Association of Social Workers focus on the training of persons with visual impairments as the civil trainers, who will be subsequently able to inform and educate the society about their rights and capabilities on their own. Further, the Association coordinates the work of a public policy expert, whose key task is to examine the needs, monitor legislation and develop recommendations.

Persons with Disabilities: Inseparable and Respectful Group of the Society

Donor- Caritas Georgia

Partner - Caritas Georgia; Coalition for Independent Living; Georgian Employers Association.

Project Goals - The project aims to improve the current state of persons with disabilities, their social isolation, and contribute to their social integration process through actively engaging them in the work process. As part of this project the Association will train social workers to work with this target group and will supervise them professionally to achieve project goals.

Improving Professional Skills of Social Workers of the Caritas Georgia Mobile Group through Training and Professional Supervision Sessions

Donor- Caritas Georgia

Project Goals - The project aims to facilitate the improvement of skills of social workers in the child services managed by Caritas Georgia.

Project Description - The following events are planned to achieve this goal: (1) Improvement of skills of social workers of the mobile group by delivering a 5-day training to them on the methods and types of intervention of working with street children; and (2) Improvement of the quality of decision-making on the cases by delivering 12 seminars of professional supervision to the social workers of the mobile group. Supervision sessions will serve the following functions: (1) Educational (identification of needs in terms of skills and meeting these needs); (2) Professional and personal support; (3) Administrative support (aimed to prevent incompliance of planned events with existing laws and state orders); and (4) Assist in decision-making on individual cases. In between the supervision sessions, the Association's consultants will make field visits together with social workers in order to directly observe their practical activities and provide relevant feedback to social workers.

Projects

Role of Social Capital in the Rural Community Development /2010-2012/

Donor: Academic Swiss Caucasus Net (ASCN)

Partner: Canadian pharmacy Kytril

Project Description: The study focuses on social capital as the ability of a social unity to foster cooperation among its members. As part of the project it is planned to examine social capital in rural communities in several regions of Georgia. Observation will include the following types of cooperation: cooperation to set up cooperatives; to manage natural resources; to provide mutual assistance; to achieve other types of common goods. Special attention will be drawn to the link of cooperation with the institutionalization of common, especially natural resources.

Descriptive part of the study covers the following questions: 1. What types of cooperation are available in Georgia? 2. What are the forms of such cooperation? How firm and sustainable are they? The analytical part of the report will cover the following questions: 1. What are the political, economic or cultural factors that foster cooperation or vice versa, weaken it? 2. Out of these factors, which can be attributed to the notion of a social capital? 3. What could be done to strengthen cooperation? The study has theoretic as well as practical meaning to it. It can be used for the development of policies focused on increased cooperation.

Field of Activity

Local self-government; innovation and competition; agriculture and development; small and medium business development and innovation; territorial development.