“UNICEF welcomes the initiative of the Government to address the needs of the most vulnerable children in Georgia and to further increase child benefits from GEL100 to GEL150,” reads the information released by the UNICEF.

UNICEF Representative in Georgia Ghassan Khalil said the government’s decision was an important step towards decreasing child poverty in Georgia.

“The Government decision to increase the child benefit is an important step towards decreasing child poverty in Georgia”, says UNICEF Representative in Georgia Ghassan Khalil. “UNICEF has been partnering with the Ministry of IDPs, Labour, Health and Social Affairs to improve the Targeted Social Assistance programme in order to reduce the number of children living in extreme poverty. UNICEF stands ready to support the Government of Georgia in further reducing child poverty in Georgia so that children enjoy better education, social inclusion and more sustainable development,” Khalil added.

“As per the latest UNICEF Welfare Monitoring Study the revised Targeted Social Assistance programme better identifies families with children and together with child benefit it has a high impact on reducing child poverty. With the positive assessment of this initiative we do hope that the Government will develop specific interventions for poor children who are not beneficiaries of TSA programme but are still poor,” reads information.

Effective June 1, assistance to socially vulnerable children will increase by 50 GEL. Instead of the existing 100 GEL, assistance for socially vulnerable children will be 150 GEL in Georgia, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili announced at today’s Cabinet meeting.