History of organization

Association “Anika” has went through several stages of development during its existence. At an early stage, it was important to bring parents together who had children with disabilities and convince them that without joint effort and unity it would be impossible to move forward the development of their children. Association needed some authority, which was gained by small projects done by “Anika”. These events included cultural, educational camps and local events. From the very beginning, the Association chose not only isolated events for people with disabilities, but also community based activities.  

 At the next stage of development the importance of children’s educational activities was raised and the need to incorporate them into the general educational system. In order to achieve this goal cooperation was established with the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia and with Tbilisi Public school #10, where children with disabilities are being successfully though with their peers in one class. Also for the past last 3 years, the Association has been cooperating with the Tbilisi school #149, where integrated and inclusive teaching is implemented. The school already has 10 disabled children.

Due to multifaceted necessities of children with disabilities, only educational process was no enough and rehabilitation programs were implemented. Due to this Association has built rehabilitation center and for those children who have not been yet involved in general education, the day center program is being implemented for them.  

During the current development of the Association, the need for further professional education-employment for adolescents has been identified and the project “Zurab Zhvania Independent Living Center” has been created to address these problems. 

For above-mentioned project in February 2005, the Association according to the Presidents decree got building in Tbilisi, on Tsotne Dadiani str. #136, where with the support of donors and Tbilisi City Hall reconstruction works were carried out.

Center is fully adapted, meaning that wheelchair users can move independently. The service is provided to 63 adults with physical and mental disabilities, out of which 13 are using wheelchairs. 

Besides that, the Association is actively working on employment issues for disabled people and at present, within the framework of employment program number of employed people in different organizations reaches 30. 

In addition, Anika has created an innovative model of personal assistant in Georgia, which has been approved practice in many countries around the world and is fully based on the Social Model for Disability and Health Vision and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The service enables persons with disabilities and their family members to enjoy a fixed period. The service enables persons with disabilities and their family members to benefit from the assistance of a qualified and professional person for a limited period, enabling them to fully realize their potential.