My expectations were justified, I received a lot of new information, I wish such events in the future also...- this is how the members of Kutaisi youth initiative group expressed their opinions at the end of the training. On June 10, a training on “Analysis of the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict” was held for the group.
On June 18, a meeting of Kutaisi Women Initiative Group was held, during which the participants listened to the results of a quantitative research of assessing the level of human security and gender needs. They chose a problematic issue from the recommendation proposals and will begin to work on advocating it. Plans have already been outlined and the members of the group are ready to get involved in the advocacy process.
- Who is the leader, what is civic activism, how does a leader differ from an activist? - An information meeting on these issues was held with members of Khoni Youth Initiative Group.
Participants also gave their own examples of how they are involved in civic activism: participating in planting trees in the school yard, cleaning the school grounds, providing humanitarian assistance to vulnerable families, feeding homeless animals ...
Young people know that leadership and civic activism are interrelated and contribute to the development of one another.
Two more meetings were held in women initiative groups. The members of the group took an active part in population’s needs assessment and listened to the results of the research with interest. One of the participants noted that the municipality does not have the luxury of conducting research and thanked the Fund "Sukhumi" for its work. The research will be submitted to the local self-government to take into account the recommendations developed.
The quantitative results of the research were discussed by the members of Pakhulani Women Initiative Group (Tsalenjikha municipality). One of the most important recommendations is to pay special attention to the initiatives of women living near the conflict dividing line.
The work of the initiative group in the village Lia (Tsalenjikha municipality) was interesting. The topic of the meeting was leadership and civic activism. The participants expressed their opinions: the leader constantly works on himself; leadership is a responsible challenge for each of us; the leader is a person who motivates the team.
The initiative group already has the leaders.
- Everything that concerns public welfare, is our business - noted the members of the youth initiative group of the village Koki at the end of the meeting. The meeting was about leadership and civic activism. Young people have learned a lot, and the most important thing is that activism is: activity, action, involvement, responsibility, participation, voluntariness.
In addition, two more meetings were held with women's initiative groups from Zugdidi and Koki/Khurcha in Zugdidi municipality. During the meeting, they talked about the level of human security of the population and the researches, conducted for gender needs assessment.
The participants selected certain proposals - for example, opening of service centers in the villages (salon, sewing workshop, shoe repair), solution of social and infrastructural problems. Members of initiative groups will start to advocate the problems.
This article tells the reader of the newspaper “New Education” about the peacekeeping activities of the Fund "Sukhumi" - mainly about the new project “Bridging the Gap: People to People Initiatives for Conflict Resolution”.
It covers a series of trainings conducted for youth initiative groups.
The role of young people is special in this work. The article emphasizes their interest: to learn more about the conflict and discuss current topics, their desire is: to take initiatives and become peacemakers...
There are two youth initiative groups in Tskaltubo. The group members determined the indicator of their own activity at the meetings and paid attention to the factors contributing to the development of activism. They recalled specific cases related to civic activism. According to them, the youth inclusion will contribute to the promotion of youth policy in society.
During the meeting with members of the women initiative group, the participants listened to information about the questionnaire, which aimed to assess the quality of human security and gender needs. The problems identified during the research will become the subject of advocacy, which will be determined by the advocacy plan of the initiative group from the next month.
Meetings of women and youth initiative groups were held in Senaki municipality. The young people discussed civic activism. According to the participants, young people have initiatives, ideas, and need support for their implementation. This will contribute to the development of civic activism.
The women's initiative group listened to the results of the study "Assessment of the quality of human security and gender needs of the population" conducted in Senaki. Participants discussed what kind of threats do the women feel most in concrete component of human security, what are the most actual problems for them, what are the existing threats. They will try to advocate the problems identified as a result of the research.
The needs research is completed, the problem is identified, and advocacy process starts.
How to plan the advocacy process, what are the principles should be envisaged when forming the messages, what arguments can prove the urgency and priority of the problem? Online trainings on these issues were held on May 21 and 25 for women initiative groups of Imereti and Samegrelo.
Participants worked on specific issues, identified the details of advocacy campaign.
The feedback showed that the training was fruitful:
“As a community leader, I should have known and already know about the ways of advocacy. It will help me in responding to problems".
“I got acquainted with the specifics of the advocacy plan. I especially liked the practical part of the training and learned a lot".
“Tolerance and conflict” - this topic was discussed in the village Lia (Tsalenjikha municipality) with the youth initiative group.
At the end of the meeting, the general mood of the participants was as follows: you should treat people the way you want them to treat you - these are the words of great importance. We must respect each other. We can create a tolerant society ...
The second meeting was held with the women initiative group of the village Pakhulani (Tsalenjikha municipality). An assessment of the technical side of the women’s needs research was made. The group members, who participated in the research talked about the process of implementation, about the obstacles and what contributed to the work.
The meeting participants also touched upon the plans. It was noted that the work of the groups is quite effective.
Two meetings were held in May with members of Kutaisi initiative groups. On May 18, a meeting was held for the women's group and on May 21, for young people. Formation of a new group and the project presentation took place.
The women’s needs research was discussed in the women's initiative group, since the members of the group were included in the process. They noted that they got acquainted with the problems of women living in the city and saw how many families and children need help. During the research, the formats of focus groups, in-depth interviews and questionnaires were used.