Multi-country evaluation of the UNICEF Early Childhood Development response to COVID-19 in Europe and Central Asia region: Georgia Country Case Study

Evaluation purpose: The evaluation’s overarching purpose was to provide UNICEF Georgia and the national government and partners with a critical assessment of the key adaptations made in UNICEF’s Early Childhood Development (ECD) programmes to meet the needs of young children and families in the context of COVID-19. The secondary purposes were to: (i) generate insight to inform further development of the evaluated ECD activities and (ii) to provide evidence to inform future ECD efforts in similar emergencies. The evaluation was carried out in four countries, including Georgia.

Evaluation scope: The evaluation focused on interventions that were introduced directly in response to COVID-19 or adapted to its realities; entailed capacity building or information support for frontline workers; and were viewed by a given UNICEF CO as useful to have feedback on for future programming.

In response to the UNICEF Georgia CO’s needs, the evaluation mainly focused on the Child Hotline 111. The service provides children and parents with psychological counseling, information about and referral to other services. Two more interventions – Shared Medical Appointments (SMAs) and the pilot training for preschool staff in Adjara – were also analyzed for this country report, but with less depth. The former entailed providing antenatal care for pregnant women through online group medical appointments carried out by some of the best doctors in the country. The latter was a training programme delivered in selected kindergartens in Adjara, planned already pre-COVID and moved online when the pandemic hit.

All selected interventions were assessed with the view to their relevance, effectiveness, and sustainability. However, the conclusions related to the SMAs and the pilot training are weaker in strength as they were not part of in-depth analysis and are based on limited data.