The group of Zugdidi, working on the localization of UN Resolution 1325 held 6 informational meetings in the villages: Ganmukhuri, Orsantia, Akhalkakhati, Kakhati. Participants familiarized themselves with UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, as well as with the Action Plan developed by the Working Group to localize the Resolution.

The work is carried out in frames of the project “Strengthening the capacity of regional and local administrations in processes of localization of the National Action Plan 1325 The UN Security Council and activation of dialogue and the participation of women, including the most marginalized ones, in these processes”.

The project is being implemented by the Coalition Union - the Association of Women IDPs “Consent” (Tbilisi), the Women's Information Center (Tbilisi) and Cultural-Humanitarian Fund “Sukhumi” (Kutaisi).

On March 22, a meeting of the working group of Resolution 1325 was held in Tsalenjikha municipality. The meeting was also attended by the vice-chairman and members of the Gender Equality Council.

Participants reviewed the gender equality program developed by the working group, drafted the directions of the program, which will be presented to the municipality for discussion. Participants expressed the hope that the political will of the municipality’s chairpersons - to allocate budget resources to support gender programs - would be useful for women, youth and other groups of citizens.

Meetings were scheduled to initiate a dialogue with women and IDP girls, youth groups, and identify their needs.

What was done? What are the challenges? What can be done for the future?

These questions were answered at the coalition meeting in Zugdidi, in the office of the Association “Mercury”.

The meeting was held in frames of the activities of the Coalition "Woman and peace". The Coalition included 10 women NGOs from 4 regions of Western Georgia (Imereti, Samegrelo, Guria, Ajaria).

Last year, each organization in its city held interesting events: informational meetings, trainings, videos on the peacekeeping topic. New circles of like-minded people appeared and new ideas and a great desire to continue to work together were shown.

In March, the objects of research in frames of the monitoring of the “Law of Georgia on Elimination of Domestic Violence / Violence against Women, Protection and Assistance to the victims” became law protecting structures.

- Do they have specialization on issues of violence, whether gender approaches are taken into account in the process of work, who is the primary source of information, what kind of gaps are shown, and what is needed to be done to ensure the effectiveness of the law - such issues collected information through focus group and in-depth interview.

The location of the research was the municipalities of Terjola, Senaki, Kutaisi and Lanchkhuti. Proposals were given in terms of preventing violence and assisting the victim.

On March 15, the OSCE Special Representative for the South Caucasus Mr. Rudolf Michalka and his accompanying persons - Siegfried Wober and Pietro Gvasiamacchia met with local NGOs in Kutaisi.

Thirteen NGOs working on IDP issues in Imereti region participated in the meeting held in the Fund "Sukhumi".

All participants were able to share their views on the problems of IDPs and talked about the challenges and possibilities of positive dynamics of the peace process.

A wide range of society in Tskaltubo municipality was provided with information on the work within the project “Strengthening the capacity of regional and local administrations in processes of localization of the National Action Plan 1325 Resolution  The UN Security Council and activation of dialogue and the participation of women, including the most marginalized ones, in these processes”.

The meeting was attended by deputies of the Parliament Tsotne Zurabiani and Genadi Margvelashvili, representatives of the local government, local women and IDP women, and young people. The meeting underlined a large role of NGOs in mainstreaming the issue. There was an opinion that in case of implementation of the Road Map, local government will take into account the needs of IDP women and girls.

The project is supported by US State Department and UN Women Organization

The meeting of Tskaltubo Gender Equality Council reviewed the action plan for 2019. Members of the working group, created in frames of the project for localization of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 were actively included in development of the plan. Therefore, Gender Equality Council plan included questions from the Roadmap prepared by the working group. The meeting underlined the role of Gender Equality Council in the process of localizing the action plan of Resolution 1325. The discussed plan was unanimously approved for presentation to Sakrebulo meeting.

The project “Strengthening of medical staff for the protection of violence victims” is carried out only in Kutaisi. In frames of the project, the publication “The role of medical staff in violence prevention” was prepared. The publication caused a great interest among the project participants, so they decided to distribute it to all regions where the Fund "Sukhumi" works. In January and February, the brochure was distributed to medical staff at healthcare institutions of nine municipalities in Western Georgia (Kutaisi, Tskaltubo, Khoni, Terjola, Senaki, Poti, Zugdidi, Lanchkhuti, Ozurgeti).

The purpose of the publication is to help medical professionals respond properly in cases of violence.

In frames of monitoring the Georgian Law on: “Elimination of Domestic Violence / Violence against Women, Protection and Assistance to the victims", the survey of medical personnel continues. 50 medical workers were inquired in In Senaki and Ozurgeti. Focus groups were held with doctors of different profiles in Lanchkhuti and Khoni municipalities.

This is how information is collected, how effectively the law works, how the medical sphere is involved in referral process. There were identified the issues that, according to the respondents, would promote to coordination of referral subjects, and inclusion of medical staff in identification and prevention of violence will be more effective.

Ozurgeti Center for Education and Equality held a discussion with members of the youth club “Orbit”.

- When talking about conflicts, one of the reasons is “language of hate”. Therefore, we chose an actual topic for discussion: “How to change the “language of hate”? - noted moderator Giorgi Chkhaidze.

The participants of the meeting talked a lot about the “language of hate” - in politics, media, between the conflicting parties, in social networks ...

And the ways out were thought together. Young people decided to influence their communication environment - in the family, at school, and not to allow "the language of hate".

At the end of the meeting, sky lanterns were lighted as peaceful messages.

The meeting was held in frames of the activities of the Coalition "Woman and peace". The Coalition included 10 women NGOs from 4 regions of Western Georgia (Imereti, Samegrelo, Guria, Ajaria).