Internally Displaced Persons in Georgia - Challenges for Change

This thesis deals with Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) on global and local level. The research question deals with the problems associated with IDPs - what challenges IDPs are facing and the future prospects for IDPs worldwide and on local level in the Samegrelo region in Georgia. The thesis is divided into two parts: In the first part I define the IDPs using the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, the critique towards the Guiding Principles and a description of the vulnerability of IDPs worldwide. (Part 1, Chapter 1, Sections 1,2 and 3). I continue to describe the IDPs on local level, paying special attention to those in the Samegrelo region, in Georgia. In addition, I point at a delicate issue regarding ethnicity. Further, I provide figures on the IDP population, by showing the massive IDP movement in 1994 and 2008. Further, I use a description to the Indicators of Vulnerability with regards to integration of IDPs in the region, and alongside with these indicators I contrast the content with the Government of Georgia Action Plan for the Implementation of the State Strategy for IDPs, and the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. (Chapter 2, Section 1,2 and 3). In the following chapter I define foreign aid as a tool of policy and I point out the absence of earmarked Official Development Assistance (ODA) destined for IDPs, although there is earmarked ODA specified for Refugees according to ODA policy. ODA disbursements to Georgia indicate that a majority of the ODA is used as humanitarian aid and the traceable assistance directed to IDPs is predominantly humanitarian. (Chapter 3, Sections 1 and 2). A brief overview explains the transition from early rural cooperatives in the West, to the NGOs operating in post-Soviet states from early 1990s, within the sectors humanitarian and development assistance. Despite a long list with short-term hard and soft projects implemented by Local NGOs, the outcomes never reached sustainable levels. (Chapter 4, Section 1). Second part of the thesis encompass a case study of a development project I managed during an internship at the Human Rights Center of Georgia. I describe the conduct of the project and how the team, working together with young IDPs, achieved to formulate an idea for sustainable income generation. I also present the technicalities and the process on how we negotiated to convince the elder IDPs about cooperating with us on the idea and the project. I describe the process of renovating a food processing room at the collective center where the IDPs were living, and how this project was aborted due to lack of funds. (Part 2, Case study)