Copyright: WFP

Georgia, a lower-middle-income country with a population of 4.4 million, gained independence with the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. Since then, Georgia has dealt with acute economic hardship, political instability, civil war and armed conflicts in its two autonomous regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Economic reforms carried out by the government since the 2003 "Rose Revolution" resulted in strong economic growth with inflation kept below 10 percent. Yet 23 percent of the population remains below the poverty line with 13 percent unemployment and more than 50 percent of those self-employed in agriculture surviving on subsistence farming.

Conflict erupted in South Ossetia in early August 2008, increasing the numbers of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and reducing economic growth projections by half. This, coupled with the world economic crisis, will contribute to an increase in poverty and food insecurity. By 2010, unemployment could increase from the current 13 percent to 15 percent and poverty from 23 to 26 percent.

The World Food Programme (WFP) has two ongoing operations in Georgia: a Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation (PRRO with a duration from 2007 until 2009) and a Special Operation (SO with a duration from August 2008 until March 2009). The PRRO provides relief food assistance to the most food-insecure and promotes sustainable recovery among specific categories of beneficiaries in selected regions of the country. Under the relief component of the PRRO, WFP Country Office launched an Emergency Operation as an immediate humanitarian response to assist the people affected by the August 2008 conflict.

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In addition, in order to respond to the displacements of approximately 138,000 people caused by the August 2008 conflict in the region of South Ossetia and adjacent areas, the Special Operation, "Logistics Augmentation and Coordination in support of the Humanitarian Community," was launched to provide assets, equipment, staff, systems and facilities supporting emergency relief operations.

To ensure that the relief reaches WFP's targeted beneficiaries through the two mentioned projects, WFP Georgia Country Office (CO) Logistics section manages an integrated Logistics Network.

Commodities can reach the country by sea or by road, mainly through Poti sea port and Batumi road border crossing with Turkey. Once in country, they  are  dispatched to the hub warehouses WFP manages in Poti, Gori and Tbilisi that contain a total 8000 m2 of space and also have WFP office and logistics presence to ensure smooth operations. WFP works with a forwarding agent who handles customs operations and delivers the commodities by train or truck to Gori and Tbilisi warehouses for the needs of central and eastern Georgia.

When the main road was cut during the August 2008 crisis, WFP prepared special convoys that succeeded in crossing the conflict area and transport food to the east were it was most needed. Working with the Programme Unit, the Logistics Section organized secondary deliveries to the distribution destinations, usually with 13 to 15-metric ton (MT) Trucks. WFP served 600 final distribution points (FDPs) during the peak of the response.

As lead agency for the Logistics Cluster, Georgia Logistics Section has managed a Special Operation in support of the whole humanitarian community since August 2008. Through the Cluster mechanism, WFP augmented its capacity for logistics coordination in support of displaced people, ensuring efficient and timely delivery of relief aid.

The two ongoing WFP Logistics operations in Georgia move an average of 2,500 metric tons of commodities for WFP and other agencies and NGOs, with 300 truck trips per month. All is done under a most challenging security situation with WFP also providing assistance in the former conflict zones, where the security phase was recently upgraded from two to three due to the deteriorating security in the area.
 

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