IATP News

Young Professionals Use Tech Skills to Secure Jobs in Georgia

IATP has a long track record of supporting IATP users in their professional development, giving them the ICT skills needed to jump ahead in any career. In a recent survey of IATP users, 20 percent of respondents reported that they secured their first job or moved to a better position because of the tech-focused training they received through IATP.

Twenty-year-old Nino Chkhvimiani in Georgia is a case in point. Though Chkhvimiani is a 3^rd-year journalism student at Tbilisi State University, her computer skills remained undeveloped and she lacked the confidence necessary to use technology in her daily life. After enrolling in a month-long ICT course at the Tbilisi IATP center, she completed training in computing and internet basics and mastered Microsoft Office suite software. With a new technological skill set and a boost to her self-confidence, Chkhvimiani took a chance and applied to be an intern with the journalism organization Studio Monitor in Tbilisi.

Chkhvimiani was accepted for the position and reported the good news back to the Tbilisi IATP center where she trained, saying, “I can’t express how grateful I am for the skills I acquired through IATP training. I use my computer and internet search knowledge all of the time in my new position. I owe the beginning of my career to IATP. I think that’s a pretty good start for a 3^rd-year student!” Chkhvimiani is just one of the 2210 users trained by IATP in Georgia since 2009.

IDPs Reunite Online with Relatives and Homeland

Ten internally displaced persons (IDPs) housed in a Khashuri, Georgia, temporary settlement used IATPtaught skills to find relatives separated from them by the August 2008 conflict with Russia. Deputy Mayor of the Avnevi Municipality Gocha Petriashvili supervises Avnevi’s IDP settlement and requested that the IATP center teach ten IDPs new ICT skills. Those who attended the training learned to use various internet tools, including www.reallyfoto.ru, where they could find photos of their villages and previous homes. They also used a prominent Russian networking site to find and contact their relatives they lost contact with after the conflict (www.odnoklassniki.ru).

Twenty-seven year-old David Tkemeladze, an IDP from the ethnic Georgian village of Nuli, South Ossetia, found comfort in viewing current photos of his village. According to the IDPs, people in the affected region fear repercussions from communicating with their relatives on the other side of the border. The internet serves as a safe alternative, virtually reuniting friends and loved ones. Zviad Toroshinadze, also from Nuli, said, "I think this training will help us get more information, contact our friends, and maybe even help us establish our place in this new community where we have to live now. Thanks to the center, I found out that I can contact, via the internet, my sister who lives in Tbilisi without spending money on phone conversations.” Since the August 2008 conflict, IATP has trained 120 IDPs in ICT skills.

Online Outreach Helps Political Group Identify and Address Community Needs

Seventeen-year-old internally displaced person (IDP) Merab Gurchiani is advocating for better living conditions in Tskhinvali, Georgia. Originally from Liakhvis Kheoba, which is near Tskhinvali, Gurchiani reported the unsatisfactory situation he and other IDPs faced in their temporary housing at a university dormitory in Tbilisi. In January 2009, he emailed his list of concerns to Industry Will Save Georgia (IWSG), a political movement comprised of IATP trainees (mgs.ge.iatp.net/). In response, the political movement sent a representative to investigate the problem and organized a successful charity drive to address the IDPs’ needs. The effort yielded food, bedding, hygienic goods, and school supplies, improving their living conditions.

The drive’s success is attributable to Industry Will Save Georgia’s outreach efforts. To publicize the problem and their response to it, IWSG staff created a website for the organization. In doing so, they used skills acquired though a Web design course at the Tbilisi IATP Center in late 2008. For that course, IATP teamed up with the USAID-funded International Republican Institute (IRI) and gathered 14 representatives from various political groups and parties. By the end of the 2008 training, three organizations developed websites: IWSG, New Rights (ncp.ge.iatp.net/), and Kartuli Dasi (kartulidasi.ge.iatp.net/). These sites are among 654 Georgian websites hosted by IATP since 2008.

Creating these pages has led to an increase in communication between society and political parties. IWSG representative Irina Sukhishvili said, “After considering many methods, simple ICT technology turned out to be the most effective means for communication. After we developed the website, numerous citizens contacted us to deliver or solicit information, among them Merab Gurchiani.” IATP training thus resulted in a tangible, positive impact for one of Georgia’s most vulnerable populations.

IATP Training Helps Local NGO Win Grant Award

In March 2009, Moldovan NGO Biaz Gul (White Rose) won a second project grant with assistance from IATP. The NGO advocates for the rights and social reintegration of people living with HIV/AIDS.

The $3,000 grant was provided by the Soros Foundation. These funds will go towards consultations and social support services for HIV/AIDS patients in southern Moldova. In 2008, Comrat IATP staff taught Biaz Gul representatives to use computers and the internet in seeking grant opportunities. That December, the group received $1,000 from the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) for a project improving the quality of life for children living in HIV/AIDS-affected families.

Biaz Gul President Alexander Zavrichko told IATP that, "as our association at present is in search of an office, the IATP center remains for us our only opportunity to work on computers and access the internet free of charge. Thanks to IATP, we have achieved serious successes, such as enhancing our knowledge, gaining new contacts, and winning two grants for our project."

Since opening in 2008, the USAID-funded IATP center in Comrat has reached hundreds of this region’s underserved citizens. IATP’s assistance to individuals is multiplied when it helps organizations such as Biaz Gul improve their potential and communities.

After Losing Home and Job to Violence, Young Woman Finds New Career through IATP Training

In August, a 25 year-old woman from the small village of Kheiti, Georgia, lost her house and job during the Georgian-Russian conflict.  Together with other internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees, Natia Gochashvili was housed at the Sport Academy in Tbilisi.  Before the war, Gochashvili worked at the village newspaper Kheobis Matsne, but the publication was liquidated after the eruption of violence in August.

In November 2008, Gochashvili joined 43 other IDPs at the IATP center in Tbilisi for free computer and internet training courses.  These sessions were held in cooperation with Georgia's Ministry of Refugees and Displacement and the Young Republican Institute.  After Gochashvili became proficient in computer and internet skills, she turned to her former supervisor.  Recognizing her new skills, her supervisor immediately offered her the position of Information and Public Relations Specialist for the Kurta municipal government, which originally published the newspaper.  The grateful training participant contacted the local IATP administrator to share the excellent news about her promotion, “Due to the skills I acquired at the Tbilisi IATP Center, I was offered a new job.  I couldn’t express my happiness when I first heard about this offer.  I think training IDPs in computer skills is essential for people like me – this helps us get back to normal life.”

Gochashvili is one of more than 100 IDPs trained by IATP in Georgia since the August war.  In January 2009, the IATP center in Tbilisi continued its partnership with the Ministry of Refugees and Displacement of Georgia by offering ICT training for 53 IDPs.

Social Services Become More Accessible for Vulnerable Groups in Ukraine

Economically disadvantaged families with members having disabilities now more easily can access social services thanks to an online resource developed by government officials, who were participants of ICT training in October and November as part of IATP’s ongoing e-government initiative in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine.

The official site of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Center of Social Services for Family Children and Youth was presented in late October at a press conference for 17 local mass media representatives, organized by the USAID-funded Ukrainian Reform of Education Program (UREP). The website is being currently promoted by local TV and newspapers through public service announcements, as well as by city social services, and IATP’s NGO and library partners in Dnipropetrovsk. UREP facilitates the development of civil society and a market economy in Ukraine (urep.cure.org.ua/).

Since October, the website has been upgraded with new information on the organization and the social services it provides. The online resource is a hub of important information for people living in remote towns and villages and for people with disabilities. Website visitors can view the network of city, district, and village centers of social services for the Dnipropetrovsk region. It offers tools for interactive communication between visitors and social workers, already being capitalized on by the community at the IATP center. Handicapped IATP participant Dmytro Krasniuk asked social workers about state support services for handicapped children in Ukraine. The social workers gave him detailed descriptions of the state services offered and links to official websites to access them. Krasniuk commented, “The development of online resources of this type proves the effectiveness of e-government projects. State bodies are becoming more open and transparent, which allows for better communication with community members.”