Meetings were held with women and youth initiative groups in Tskaltubo Municipality.
The Women Initiative Group worked on an advocacy plan. A specific problem was identified as a result of the research. An advocacy campaign with specific activities has already been planned, in collaboration with the local government and the Gender Equality Council.
Youth initiative groups are working on the project. Participants already know how to build a project. They worked on the name of the project, developed a slogan, discussed the refinement of goals and objectives.
Tskaltubo initiative groups will present two projects at the sub-grant competition, each project will announce the directions announced by the competition.
The Fund “Sukhumi” actively cooperates with the partner international organization Kvinna till Kvinna to advocate the needs of IDP and conflict affected women and girls.
Project Coordinator Regina welcomes the advocacy initiatives of the Fund, which is identified on a bottom-up basis by women community active groups themselves, using the GREWS, and evidence-based information.
The initiative of the representative of the donor organization to be involved in international advocacy was good.
According her request, a package on the needs of IDP and conflict affected women and girls was prepared, which was based on the meetings in women's communities, research of the Fund in Zugdidi Municipality, and covers women’s vision regarding the measures needed to address them.
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.
A consultation platform has been set up with the Office of the State Minister on "Women, Peace, and Security - Enhancing Women's Effective Participation in the Peacebuilding Process". The contribution of the Fund "Sukhumi" is important together with the partner organizations in this success.
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.
On May 24, 2021, Ekaterine Gamakharia, the head of the representative office of Fund “Sukhumi” participated in a regular information meeting between the participants of the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) in the direction of Ergneti and representatives of civil society. Representative Offices of the State Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality of Georgia and the State Security Service, the European Union Monitoring Mission, the UN Women, local CSOs and women's organizations, IDPs, and women affected by the conflict have participated in the info-sharing meeting.
At the meeting Ekaterine Gamakharia emphasized the importance of the inclusion of women's organizations with gender expertise in the group of experts, and other professionals in a specific field such as economics, ecology, violence against women, gender equality, healthcare, etc.
The head of Tbilisi representative office of the Fund “Sukhumi” - Ekaterine Gamakharia has participated in another session of high-level seminar of the OSCE Conflict Cycle.
The key question of the meeting was how can the OSCE work for inclusive and gender-just peace throughout the conflict cycle.
Welcome, and introductory remarked by Petra Tötterman Andorff, Secretary-General of the Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation, Sweden.
During the panel discussion speeches were delivered by Ms. Liliana Palihovici, The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office’s Special Representative on Gender, Nina Potarskaya, National Coordinator Ukraine, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Igo Rogova, Executive Director Kosovo Women’s Network, and Ekaterine Gamakharia, Cultural-Humanitarian Fund "Sukhumi".
“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.
