“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.
The Fund "Sukhumi" has 10 Women Support Centers in Kutaisi, Tskaltubo, Khoni, Terjola, Senaki, Poti, Zugdidi, Ozurgeti, Lanchkhuti and Kobuleti municipalities. The mobilizers of the centers have renewed their work - despite the difficult epidemiological situation, online and offline meetings were held. Specialists of the organization - a lawyer, a psychologist, a conflict expert - were actively involved in these meetings.
In January, 6 online group meetings of psychologist and lawyer were held for the beneficiaries of the Women Support Centers from Khoni, Senaki, Tskaltubo, Kobuleti, Khurcha(Zugdidi municipality), Pakhulani (Tsalenjikha municipality) - 35 people from 28 to 67 years old took participated.
The conversation was about how to manage negative emotions, and why it is so important in the situation of pandemic and domestic violence.
Couples and individual beneficiaries from different regions of Western Georgia also receive psychotherapeutic and legal consultation. This free service, is a great assistancefor them.