“Strengthening the Women’s Rights in Western Georgia” - Fund “Sukhumi” has started a new stage of this project… with changes, new directions.
The project area - four regions of Western Georgia: Imereti, Samegrelo, Guria and Ajara. The work will be carried out in the following 10 municipalities: Vani, Bagdati, Samtredia, Tkibuli, Terjola, Senaki, Tsalenjikha, Zugdidi, Chokhatauri, Kobuleti.
One of the innovations is that, for the first time, within the framework of the project, Women Support Centers are being created in Vani, Bagdati, Samtredia, Tkibuli and Chokhatauri.
The Fund "Sukhumi" has its own representatives who will work locally to strengthen women and protect their rights, they will try to advocate and solve problems through a gender-responsive system. The aim of the project is prevention of domestic violence in cooperation and coordination with local governments.
“I am passionate about contributing to a peaceful, just, and progressive society, in which women, together with men, are able to make a difference through their activism. I firmly believe that peace and security cannot be sustained unless women have an equal and active role in political, economic, and social policy formulation.”
This is an excerpt from Ekaterina Gamakharia's speech.
On March 25 Ekaterine Gamakharia, Head of the Tbilisi office of the Fund "Sukhumi", participated in an online discussion, held within the framework of the 65th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW65).
In her speech, Ekaterine spoke about the devastating impact of the pandemic, revealed as a result of the rapid response research carried out by the Fund "Sukhumi", as well as about the economic situation of IDPs and conflict-affected women. She stressed the role of women and their participation in policy-making, which plays a critical role in overcoming the crisis.
“The school should be interested in the concept of a safe school. The law on general education clearly states that the school must take responsibility for the violence,” mentioned one of the teachers, a participant of the event.
Teachers, parents and representatives of education resource centers from different municipalities attended a round table, which was held on the initiative of the Fund “Sukhumi”. The topic of the meeting was: “Nonviolent, safe environment in schools and the role of resource centers in promoting non-formal education”.
The participants discussed the existing challenges. During the meeting the recommendations were announced – their consideration will contribute to strengthening of cooperation between resource centers and schools, as well as the formation of a safe school model.
March was an active month for the forum-theater: casting, rehearsals, performances...
After the casting, new actors appeared in the group, who have already joined the work.
After a long pause, the first trip was in one of Kutaisi parks - the performances were held in the open air.
A new initiative of the Fund "Sukhumi" will be implemented soon - a puppet theater will be created. The scenario on the basis of Georgian fairy tale "Gvriti" (turtledove) is already written ...
Forum-theater, shadow theater, puppet theater – this is a variety, offered by the young actors to the audience.
The newspaper "New Education" actively publicizes the work of the Fund "Sukhumi". The first article, published in March, presents a mini-film "Gender stereotypes and the role of schools in their elimination."
The second article "Online Conference - Conflict Management and Violence Prevention" is dedicated to the final conference of the five-month work with the youth of Western Georgia.
Collaboration with the newspaper began in February and 4 articles have already been published. The wide audience of “New Education” got acquainted with the direction of work with youth and saw the importance of non-formal education in the process of breaking stereotypes, managing conflicts and preventing violence.
Familiarization with local and central services, identification of problems for advocacy - these issues were discussed at mobilization meetings in March.
An active communication was held with members of local governments in order to receive information. The meetings were conducted by mobilizers of the Fund "Sukhumi" Women Support Centers in Kutaisi, Tskaltubo, Khoni, Terjola, Senaki, Poti, Zugdidi, Ozurgeti, Lanchkhuti and Kobuleti municipalities. The meetings were also attended by a lawyer, a psychologist and a conflictologist of the organization, who provided the participants with information on the mechanisms for the elimination of violence.
The Fund "Sukhumi", with participation of members of Gender Equality Council of Sanaki municipality, held a round table on: “Strengthening the role and functions of the Gender Equality Council in the process of introducing local gender policy”.
The meeting discussed the strategy and various initiatives that will give more effect to the work of the Gender Equality Council. Particular attention was paid to planning of the existing resources for implementation of the plan for 2022, as well as to the issue of maximum involvement of the units responsible for the implementation of the plan.
“Strengthening the role and functions of the Gender Equality Council in the process of introducing local gender policy” - a round table on this topic was held with participation of representatives of Khoni Gender Equality Council, local self-government and civil activists.
The municipality makes important changes in terms of reorganizing the Council, creating thematic groups, choosing their strategies and initiating local programs with target on vulnerable groups. Particularly important for the participants was the question of how the budgetary support of the issues, envisaged in the plan should be carried out, as well as the issue of maximum involvement of the units responsible for the implementation of the plan.
Women Support Centers had variety of activities these days. The 8th of March was marked by events of various formats: information meetings with the villagers, round tables in kindergartens and schools, meetings with representatives of local governments, literary evening.
During the meetings, it was emphasized that this is the International Day of Women's Solidarity, a global celebration of their economic, political and social achievements.
According to the meeting participants, lots of changes happen in our everyday life from year to year. These are changes in legislation, in municipal programs, but women's rights are still violated, cases of violence are still frequent, the level of human security is still low and therefore advocacy and solution of many problems are necessary. This is what the Women Support Centers in 10 municipalities of Western Georgia are doing.
The Fund "Sukhumi" presents its new rapid assessment report – “Dashed hopes of the fire-affected population in the Gali district: Needs and response strategies”, which discusses priority needs and human security concerns of the population affected by the wildfires that broke out in January 2021 in the Gali district.