The Fund "Sukhumi" started intensive work with Chokhatauri municipality for the first time. The first meeting - presentation of the project - was attended by representatives of local government and civil society activists. The conversation concerned the issues that are envisaged in the project: protecting women's rights, strengthening families, preventing domestic violence, supporting the victim, responding to gender problems.
Representatives of the municipality believe that three-year cooperation will contribute to the strengthening of local gender policy and will give positive results.
One of the Women's Support Centers of the Fund "Sukhumi" has been actively working in Kobuleti during a year. The center will be even more actively involved in the new project "Strengthening the Women's Rights in Western Georgia". On April 19, the presentation of the project was held in Kobuleti. The project is carried out in 10 municipalities of Western Georgia and aims to identify the problems of violence against women and prevent, strengthen families, and establish a non-violent culture in society.
The meeting was attended by members of the gender council of the municipality, representatives of the social service, the department for children’s rights protection and support, civil activists, as well as the members of the Supreme Council of Ajara Pati Khalvashi and Tsotne Ananidze.
The project of the Fund “Sukhumi” - "Strengthening the Women's Rights in Western Georgia" is focused on the following issues: - protecting women's rights, strengthening the families, preventing domestic violence and supporting victims, responding to gender problems through cooperation with local governments.
Project presentations have been already held in Terjola, Senaki and Bagdati municipalities. The meetings were attended by representatives of local governments, civil activists. The prospects of responding to the problem of domestic violence and cooperation were highlighted.
The representatives of the municipalities underlined that prevention of domestic violence is the sphere of their interest and they are ready to cooperate with the Fund "Sukhumi".
“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.
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.
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.
Searching for the funds, registtarion of civic organizations, self-presentation, presentation of results - all these questions were necessary, interesting and useful. Therefore, the mobilizers of the Women Support Centers were actively involved participated in the process of two-day online training.
The participants got acquainted with the procedure of registering the organization, with the necessary documents. Particularly interesting was the part of the training, which was devoted to the skills of self-presentation, presenting the results of activities and formulating these results in a success story.
How did the impact of the pandemic affect family relationships? What problems do married couples have, and what resources are available for early prevention of domestic conflicts? - these issues have been discussed online with family couples living in Terjola, Senaki, Kutaisi, Khoni.
The participants believe that conflict situations are exacerbated by unemployment and psychological tension. As they say, the adaptation period was especially difficult for primary school students, who found it difficult to switch from an online format to attending lessons at school.
It was noted that a conflict situation could arise in any family. Such meetings, communication, and raising awareness on these topics reduce confrontation between couples and help prevent conflict.
They are already leaders, as they conduct the activities of Women Support Centers in 11 municipalities. They attended many trainings, but teaching and learning is never superfluous. Therefore, a two-day training was held for the mobilizers of the Women Support Centers, where they discussed topical topics: the phenomenon of leadership, civic activism, advocacy strategy.
The online space has become a platform for the participants to share their knowledge and information. They saw leadership, teamwork and advocacy issues in a new prism.
