Initiative: IQan

Place: Ochamchira, Abkhazia

Period: 2018 – 2019

In the South Caucasus, people of advanced retirement age are usually well looked after by their families. However, if such a person is left alone, for whatever reason, they find themselves in a complicated living situation and are often below the poverty line.

The Initiative IQan in the seaside town of Ochamchira decided to do something about this problem and to improve the conditions of elderly persons living alone.

First of all, through promoting self-help, they want to ensure that these people undergo regular medical examinations and have their personal documents in order, since this is a precondition for receiving pensions or other social benefits. They also want to establish cooperation with local schools and organize regular visits of pupils to these people. Last but not least, they plan to arrange for local shops to regularly provide something like basic food packages to those in need. After piloting this type of support, they want to persuade the local administration to provide these services on their own on a long-term basis.