Despite the nihilistic attitude towards the elections, the meeting participants expressed great interest to the initiative of the Fund "Sukhumi". The initiative is unusual and original - this is an online platform for elections to local self-government in Zugdidi, which will provide the voter with will give the voter information about the positions of political actors and other issues.
Members of the women initiative group started meetings with voters in different communities of Zugdidi municipality. They introduced the meeting participants to the online platform. The first meetings were held on June 24-29 in the building of the Kakhati tea factory, the IDP settlement, in the community center of Khurcha and individually with the rural population. The meetings, envisaging the pandemic mode, were held in small groups.
- 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.
During the meeting of of Zugdidi Women Initiative Group, the technical side of the women's needs research was assessed. Participants talked about how they planned the process of conducting the research, what happened, what problems they faced and what were the obstacles and the contributing factors during the work.
Each speaker spoke with specific examples: about the difficulties of work, about conducting an interview, a dialogue with a respondent. The group members received advice on the basic principles of facilitation and discussed future plans.
The meetings were held in the Women Initiative Groups of Koki / Khurcha and Zugdidi. An online training was held for the third group of Zugdidi municipality - the youth initiative group of Koki - on the topic “Prehistory of Georgian-Abkhazian conflict, its subsequent development and consequences”.
The project is implemented with the support of the USAID
The Fund "Sukhumi" has 10 Women Support Centers in Terjola, Vani, Tkibuli, Bagdati, Chokhatauri, Samtredia, Kobuleti, Zugdidi, Senaki, Tsalenjikha municipalities. A two-day workshop was held for the updated staff of mobilizers. All discussed topics were necessary and relevant: selecting target groups, working with the audience, identifying problems, filling in a victim questionnaire and responding to it, conducting advocacy campaign, legal mechanisms for victim support, working with local governments, municipal programs and state services for violence prevention and victim assistance, informing, self-presentation, facilitation and moderation.
“The work of the mobilizer seemed difficult to me, but now I already know how to go step by step. The workshop showed me the sequence of the process”, mentioned one of the mobilizers at the end of the workshop.
The Fund "Sukhumi" held a round table in Zugdidi with participation of the representatives of local referral entities.
During the meeting there was a discussion regarding prevention of violence and protection of violence victims (referring of social cooperation), analysis of the situation in terms of domestic violence and definition of prospects for social cooperation. The emphasis was made on the problem of domestic violence and the prospects of cooperation with local structures.
The project "Strengthening of Women's Rights in Western Georgia" was also presented at the meeting.
According to the participants of the meeting, joint activities will enable to identify problems, increase the quality of their solution and prevention.
The meetings of three initiative groups were held in Zugdidi municipality. One group of women was formed in Zugdidi, and the second united women living in two villages - Koki and Khurcha.
The main topics of the meetings were: meaning of the Gender-Responsive Early warning System, its components and stages of implementation. Participants received detailed information about the research. The aim of the research is to study the interests of women from different vulnerable groups.
The third initiative group includes only young people. The group was created in the schools of the village Koki. The activity of the students is special. The members of this group, who passed training organized by the Fund "Sukhumi", shared with their peers the knowledge they gained about the Gender Responsive Early Warning System.
“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.