Our partnership with the Georgian Down Syndrome Foundation and Babale social enterprise — because a truly extraordinary Georgia is one where every person belongs.
The Georgian Down Syndrome Foundation was established in 2018 by Gigo Shiukashvili — a young man with Down syndrome — and by mothers of children with Down syndrome. A foundation built not from charity from afar, but from solidarity within.
Its mission: to improve the health and quality of life of individuals with Down syndrome in Georgia. The foundation funds emergency and planned medical care, supports socially vulnerable families, and fills the gaps that state programs leave behind.
Since its founding, the foundation has funded the medical needs of 435 individuals — 90% of them children — and saved the lives of three children who would not have survived without its intervention.
Each of the 435 individuals the foundation has supported has a name, a story, and a family. Here are some of them.
Babale was born from a simple belief: that individuals with Down syndrome can build independent lives. What started as a creative workshop is now Georgia's only vocational programme supporting the employment of persons with intellectual disabilities.
The foundation welcomes partnership in any form — from a one-time donation to ongoing corporate collaboration.
