In April, meetings with representatives of various non-entrepreneurial legal entities were held in Lanchkhuti, Tskaltubo, Poti and Terjola in frames of monitoring the "Georgian Law on the Elimination of Domestic Violence / Violence Against Women, Protection and Assistance to Victims ".

The purpose of the meetings is to determine the inclusion of local authorities in the implementation of the law (eradication of violence, assistance to the victim, prevention). The needs of this segment were identified to respond to the problem.

On April 17, the last meeting of Khoni Advisers’ Council on social issues was held. The meeting touched the issues of viability of the Advisers’ Council, implementation of the social strategy action plan for 2018 and summarization of the results of social budget monitoring.

Despite the fact that the project is over, the Council continues to function under the facilitation of the City Hall.

The chairperson of municipality expressed gratitude to everyone, who were involved in the work of the Council. According to them, after the project completion, the dynamics of the implementation of social policy oriented to long-term results will be continued.

Project managers from the side of the international organization PIN noted that they are happy to see positive results, and are ready to continue cooperation with the municipality.

The project is implemented with the support of the Czech organization PIN

An independent evaluator of the Swedish Women's Fund Kvinna till Kvinna - Dion Betersby visited the Fund "Sukhumi".

- What is the connection of the organization with Kvinna till Kvinna - history, starting with peacekeeping work, which is still relevant today, important achievements accumulated by the fund “Sukhumi” in different directions - the chairperson of the organization - Alla Gamakharia mainly spoke about it.

 - Cooperation with partner organizations, networking and achieved results - project coordinator Meri Gelashvili answered the questions.

In the second part of the visit, Dion Betersby met the activists and beneficiaries of the project. Participants told about concrete cases.

Another informational meeting was held at the vocational school in Kutaisi within the project “Learning from Visegrad 4 experience to advocate for equal, inclusive and democratic local governance”.

The meeting was attended by the representatives of local self-government and non-governmental organizations, teachers and students of the school.

The presented topics and information about the project – Decentralization and Local Gender Policy, Introduction of Gender Mainstreaming in Municipalities, Experience of Visegrad 4 - appeared to be interesting for them. The relevant issues have been identified and revealed during the discussion. The importance of fair budgeting - taking into account the needs of all gender groups - has been demonstrated. 

The project is implemented with the support  of the Visegrad Fund

An information meeting on the topic "Decentralization - Local government - Gender policy, Georgia" was held in Kutaisi, in the assembly hall of the vocational school. Representatives of the Fund Sokhumi talked about the progress of the project, experiences of Visegrad 4, and the results of the work of the gender advisory councils of the Fund Sokhumi.

The meeting was attended by representatives of local self-government, mass-media, and society. During the discussion, participants placed special emphasis on the need of including the civil sector in the formation of local gender policy.

 The meeting was held within the framework of the project “Learning from Visegrad 4 experience to advocate for equal, inclusive and democratic local governance”.

The project is implemented with the support  of the Visegrad Fund

On March 27, representatives of the Fund Sokhumi held an information meeting in the Municipal Assembly (Sakrebulo) of Terjola with the participation of local active civil groups, as well as those responsible for gender policy in Tkibuli and Baghdati.

The main issues of the meeting were the guidelines of the document of the local gender strategy, which, upon completion of the project, will be presented to the society and local self-governments. The participants of the meeting listened to the information about the studies ordered by the Fund Sokhumi and the work performed under the project. They talked about local gender policy, mainstreaming and challenges.  Emphasis were placed on gender policy and experience of municipalities, the role of gender equality councils and the engagement of local self-government bodies.

"I'm glad that Terjola is hosting a discussion about the local gender strategy. We are ready to work actively to form a council of gender equality”, - said Nino Janelidze, the chairperson of the Municipal Assembly.

The meeting was held within the framework of the project “Learning from Visegrad 4 experience to advocate for equal, inclusive and democratic local governance”.

The project is implemented with the support  of the Visegrad Fund

In March, with the aim of monitoring the of Georgia on “Elimination of Domestic Violence / Violence against Women, Protection and assistance to Victims," meetings were held with the support of the Ministry of Internal Affairs: focus groups with participation of representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Ozurgeti and Terjola municipalities, in-depth interviews with inspector-investigators in Khoni and Senaki municipalities. The recommendations adopted at the meetings will be sent to the appropriate structures for further reaction

An informational meeting on the topic "Decentralization - local self-government - gender policy, Georgia" was held in Poti City Hall. Representatives of Fund "Sukhumi" provided attendees with information on the current situation regarding the above mentioned topic and the organization’s experience.

Among participants of the meeting there were active members of society, representatives of local self-government of Poti and the media. They actively joined in the discussion on gender policy issues.

The meeting was held within the framework of the project - “Learning from Visegrad 4 experience to advocate for equal, inclusive and democratic local governance”.

The project is implemented with the support  of the Visegrad Fund

Fund "Sukhumi" organized a meeting on the topic "Local Gender Policy - Prospects and Challenges" in the meeting room of the regional administration of Guria.

The meeting was attended by members of Gender Equality Councils of Guria municipalities, government officials, colleagues invited from Imereti, media and NGO representatives.

Participants of the meeting exchanged information and experiences on positive practice of gender mainstreaming in municipalities, assessed challenges in the work of local gender Equality Councils.

"We would like to learn from a positive experience of other Councils, especially the pilot Gender Advisory Councils of Fund „Sukhumi”, the one of which worked for three years in Ozurgeti. We think that information exchange system would be very useful for all, - said attendees.

The information meeting was held within the framework of the project "Learning from Visegrad 4 experience to advocate for equal, inclusive and democratic local governance". During the next stage, a strategy will be developed and gender mainstreaming at the local level will be advocated.

The project is implemented with the support of the Visegrad Fund