 PAST PROJECTS
The Republic of Georgia
CSMHI's involvement with the Republic of Georgia began in 1991 and intensified following
1998 (see brief history of 1991-1998 events), and is currently in abeyance.
In 1998, CSMHI teams began travelling several times per year to Georgia through funding from the International Research and Exchanges Board and the US Institute of Peace. Our projects have aimed to address some of the psychosocial needs of the region in the wake of the brutal conflicts of the early 1990s between Georgians and Abkhazians and Georgians and South Ossetians (see Historical Background).
In any society where physical infrastructure collapses in an environment of ethnic enmity, psychological fissures are revealed. Societal processes change and new patterns emerge as a result of the trauma. Rebuilding human infrastructure must parallel restoring economic and physical infrastructure.
CSMHI's entry point for approaching the psychosocial needs in this region was a partnership with the Foundation for the Development of Human Resources (FDHR), a Georgian NGO located in Tbilisi. The psychologists and teachers of FDHR began working with Georgian internally displaced persons (IDPs), with colleagues in South Ossetia to help traumatized children there, with Georgians near the Abkhazian border region, and finally with Chechen refugees now living in Georgia. CSMHI assisted them in their work providing training and consultation.
For details, please see sections below.
May 1998:
Assessment Trip to Georgia
1998-1999:
Reducing Transgenerational Transmission of Ethnic Conflict in Georgia
2000-2001:
Helping the Helpers: Experiential Training for Georgian and South Ossetian Aid Workers
One IDP family's story
A psychopolitical workshop
Other Past Projects
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