On Wednesday, 28 March 2018, 10.00, at the Tbilisi Marriott (Rustaveli Ave. 13), the Austrian organization “Hilfswerk International” together with the “Georgian Association of Social Workers” will host a regional conference to present the main results and achievements of the EU-funded regional project "Social Workers in Collaboration for Social Change" and discuss current questions of social reforms as well as the professionalization of social work in the Eastern Neighbourhood region.
The event will be opened by Janos Herman, Ambassador of the European Union to Georgia; Gerhard Schaumberger, Head of the Austrian Development Agency Georgia Office; and Tamila Barkalaia, Deputy Minister of Health, Labour and Social Affairs of Georgia. The event will continue with the presentation of specific project results and achievements in the four project countries.
The project results show that capacity reinforcement of social workers are a precondition for the effectiveness of social reforms and that community-based social cooperation networks among all relevant actors from social, educational, medical, security and other fields leads to more effective and targeted support for vulnerable groups.
Background
The conference is organized in the framework of the project "Social Workers in Collaboration for Social Change”, funded by the European Union and Austrian Development Cooperation. It has been implemented by the Austrian organization "Hilfswerk International" in cooperation with the Georgian Association of Social Workers (GASW), the Armenian Association of Social Workers (AASW), the Azerbaijan Social Work Public Union (ASWPU) and the Nursing Association of the Republic of Moldova (NARM) in the time period August 2015 until May 2018. The project focused on developing and strengthening the concept of and access to social work in the four project countries. Thanks to the project social workers' associations in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Moldova improved their capacities to strengthen their 10.500 members as well as 160 local organizations. Furthermore, 15 small grants were awarded to 24 local CSOs in Armenia, Georgia and Moldova to contribute to improved coordinated service delivery to vulnerable families and children at risk.
