Women Support Centers (530)
Women Support Center these are the branches of the Fund “Sukhumi” in Kutaisi, Tskaltubo, Khoni, Terjola, Senaki, Poti, Khurcha / Koki (Zugdidi Municipality), Lanchkhuti, Ozurgeti, created since 2009. The centers are designed to strengthen women, provide social, psychological, legal assistance to women - victims of violence and to crisis families in a difficult life situation. They promote to the protection of women's rights and ensure their socio-psychological rehabilitation.
Statistics is the following: 12 meetings of IDPs and local population with the lawyer in collective centers of Kutaisi, submitting information regarding the mechanisms of law against domestic violence, besides – consultations regarding different questions.
And one more important fact: with the help of lawyer of Kutaisi shelter, the beneficiary contacted the lawyer of the Fund "Sukhumi" for victim status, to extend the right to stay in the shelter and continue rehabilitation course. She presented all the necessary documents, which were sent to Tbilisi, in the commission for the award of victim status. By decision of the Commission, the beneficiary has received the status of the victim and left the shelter.
Since January 10, 2018 the Fund "Sukhumi" started working on the project "Strengthening of Women's Rights in Western Georgia". This is the continuation of the Fund’s long-term work in protecting women's rights.
Over the past 6 months, work has been actively carried out in the Women's Support Centers of 6 municipalities of Western Georgia - Kutaisi, Tskaltubo, Khoni, Senaki, Poti, Zugdidi.
Since January three more municipalities have been added - Terjola, Ozurgeti, Lanchkhuti, where Women's Support Centers will be established.
Various activities are planned to support and rehabilitate victims of violence and crisis families, and active cooperation with local governments will continue.
An important component of the project is the opening of a rehabilitation center and placement of victims of violence (in the crisis period). The center will hold training seminars for victims of violence and representatives of crisis families: they will be offered professional courses, as well as assistance in finding employment.
The project will contribute to strengthening the rights of women in 9 municipalities of Western Georgia.
The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot
für die Welt – Evangelischer Entwicklunsdienst (Germany)
The mobilization meetings of September were devoted to the International Day of Peace and the International Campaign WAVE #stepup "Support and protection of women victims of violence and their children".
The Women's Support Centers of the fund “Sukhumi” held 33 meetings in the municipalities of Kutaisi, Tskaltubo, Khoni, Senaki, Poti and Zugdidi, not only in the cities, but also in the villages (Ternali, Kukhi, Nakhakhulevi, Akhalsopeli, Khorshi, Khurcha, Koki, Kakhati).
The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot
für die Welt – Evangelischer Entwicklunsdienst (Germany)
In WSC of Senaki a psychological counseling meetings with women were attended by beneficiaries from 15 to 50 years. They talked about family happiness, about the basis of happiness, about economic problems, about the well-being of the family.
There was a lot of actual, important and necessary issues for the participants. They especially remember the advice of a psychologist: many women expect that a loved one will guess their desire or reason for a bad mood. If you want something - say about it, if something offended you - tell about it. So a man will understand you better, and you will have less cause for offense.
Participants of the meeting together with a psychologist discussed the topic of conflicts - the types and reasons of conflicts, how to avoid them. A group psychological consultative meeting was held at the Senaki Women Support Center with 13 beneficiaries.
To learn how to manage conflicts, we must first of all manage our own emotional condition - this was the conclusion at the end of the meeting.
- It is impossible to manage conflicts if a person does not have a correct self-assessment. I'm a person of conflict. Now I realized that the reason is my misconception about myself. It is necessary to look at your opportunities realistically. This is a very good experience, it will help me in dealing with people and managing conflicts.
- In case of high self-esteem, it is possible to become rapist, and vice versa, with a lower self-esteem, it is more likely to become a victim. It is necessary to better study yourself, this will allow in the formation of a correct self-assessment.
These were the views of young people, shown during the discussion of the subject of self-evaluation in WSCs of Kutaisi, Senaki and Koki (Zugdidi municipality).
The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot
für die Welt – Evangelischer Entwicklunsdienst (Germany)
Household issues, parenting, budget, sex misunderstanding can arise in any field. Family quarrels are a topic that worries absolutely everyone.
These and other issues were discussed at the April meetings in the collective centers of Kutaisi.
Why do people argue? To win and prove their rightness. The most endless disputes - the path to divorce.
In order to have happy family life, the couple should remember that they are in the same harness. Frankness, caring - this is what keeps harmony in the family.
In April, 12 group psychological meetings and 6 individual consultations with 82 women took place.
In the Women's Support Centers of the Fund "Sukhumi" in September, two more scheduled meetings were held with the psychologist – on 13th in Khurcha (Zugdidi municipality) and on 14th in Senaki.
At group information-consultative meetings, the conversation took place on the basis of assertive communication, or communication without coercion. The participants were very interested in this topic. They looked in a new way, from the outside at their behavior with close people. Difficulties with the use of assertiveness are due to the fact that the skills of such behavior require serious preparation and practice, since for the majority of people, other styles of communication are more common: passive, aggressive, manipulative. Psychologist's advice helped participants in the meetings, to see the specifics and advantage of assertive communication.
The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot
für die Welt – Evangelischer Entwicklunsdienst (Germany)
Psychologist of the fund “Sukhumi” conducted three meetings in May – Tskaltubo, with IDPs residing in collective centers of the Hotel “Medea”, village Kukhi (Khoni municipality) and in Poti Women Support Center.
After discussing the issue – psychological violence, there was held test aiming at identifying psychological violence. in the answers of women residing in Poti, there was less shown stereotypes and the problems of mentality, which was clearly shown in Khoni and Tskaltubo.
The participants discussed mostly spread methods of psychological violence based on their own and other examples.