In 2013 Crystal Fund began the implementation of social investment activities to build trust, confidence and direct contacts within and across conflict divided communities of Georgia. Since 2015 the Social Investment Initiative has been carried out as the Peacebuilding Initiative in collaboration with the local non-governmental organization – Association Peaceful and Business Caucasus (APBC) established to contribute to peaceful resolution of conflicts and activate people-focused diplomacy.
Within the Peacebuilding Initiative the needs of the conflict-affected population were studied, a small grant component was developed and small-scale grant projects and initiatives for socially vulnerable groups were funded by Crystal Fund to improve peacebuilding as well as their financial and economic integration. Among these projects are:
The main goal of the project Urgent Medical Humanitarian Assistance to Citizens Living within the Occupied Territories of Georgia, which was launched in 2014, was to create a timely response to the increasing number of Abkhazian and South Ossetian patients looking for medical assistance in Georgia. This way, the project built confidence between opposing sides, destroying war syndrome and ‘enemy perception’ and supporting humanitarian and social-economic connections.
Since 2018 Crystal Fund has expanded the scope of the Peacebuilding Initiative to develop peace policy with participation of UK experts. In September 2018 the three-day visit of Fabian Hamilton, Member of UK Parliament, Shadow Minister for Peace and Disarmament was organized by the Business and Economic Centre (BEC) together with the UK-based International Association – Enterprise and Parliamentary Dialogue International (EPDI), and with the support of Crystal Fund. The official meetings were held with Georgian MPs, State Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality of Georgia; the British Ambassador to Georgia; Experts and representatives of local and international NGOs working on conflict resolution and peace-building, IDPs as well as beneficiaries and partners of Crystal Fund from Abkhazia. Fabian Hamilton and Frederick R. Hyde-Chambers OBE, Executive Chairman of EPDI and member of the Board of Crystal Fund visited the village of Khurvaleti’s shelter for the elderly House without Borders as well as at the occupation line in Khurvaleti and the barbed wire fences made by the Russian occupation regime.
In the framework of the Peacebuilding Initiative, two exhibitions were held in the Parliament of Georgia. The first – We Paint Abkhazia – was an exhibition of works created by children. The event was hosted and organized by BEC and the Diaspora and Foreign Relations Committees of the Parliament, with support of EPDI and Crystal Fund. The second – This is Our Common Pain – was an exhibition showing works by the famous photographers Shakh Aivazov, Yuri Mechitov and Giorgi Tsagareli, that depicted painful moments from the events of 25 years ago. The exhibition was hosted and organized by BEC and the Diaspora and Foreign Relations Committees together with the State Ministry for Reconciliation and Civic Equality of Georgia.
