The Fund "Sukhumi" held a roundtable meeting in Zestaponi Municipality on the topic of “the implementation of gender approaches in local politics (Gender Mainstreaming)”. Together with the representatives of the local municipality and civil groups, the representatives of the Kharagauli and Baghdati Municipalities also attended the meeting.

The principles of the manual for gender strategies at the local level, developed by the Fund "Sukhumi" and four main areas - what issues should be reflected in local political strategy and action plans, and who is the manual for - have been introduced during the meeting.

Interesting discussions were held during the roundtable meeting on gender policy and practice, experiences and challenges in municipalities. Participants talked about the needs identified in terms of gender education of personnel, gender budgeting, and needs assessment methodology and stressed the necessity of cooperation with qualified non-governmental sector. The outlines of the future work have been identified. Particular recommendations have been discussed, which, in the opinion of the participants, would necessarily affect the condition of women, youth and other groups.

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

The project is implemented with the support  of the Visegrad Fund

On May 27, the guests from Austria - 18 representatives of the trade union visited the Fund “Sukhumi”. They familiarized with basic directions of the organization, which has 20 years of experience. Guests spoke about their activities, current projects and expressed the desire for future cooperation.

Inclusion of local government in the implementation of law - combating violence, victims’  assistance and prevention. Focus groups and in-depth interviews in Tskaltubo, Khoni, and Kutaisi were held as part of monitoring Georgian Law on: “Elimination of Domestic Violence / Violence against Women, Protection and Assistance to the victims". The positions of Gender Equality Councils of municipalities were revealed.

In order to receive detailed information, an in-depth interview was held with the gender adviser of the Department for connection with Local Governments of the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure. The policy of the Ministry in this direction was defined.

The Swedish women organization Kvinna till Kvinna has been supporting the fund “Sukhumi” since 2002. On May 2, the field representative of Kvinna till Kvinna to Georgia - Joanna Arkasen had a business visit to the Fund “Sukhumi”.

The meeting was attended by the chairpersons of the organization and the staff members who are included in the project. Participants of the meeting spoke about the details of the current project and the prospects for expanding future cooperation.

On May 11, a conference on “the Experience of Visegrad Four and Georgia to Advocate for Equal, Inclusive and Democratic Local Governance” was held in Tbilisi. Representatives of various embassies, international and local NGOs, and government authorities participated in the conference, together with the representatives from 15 municipalities of Western Georgia. Experts from Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Georgia made 8 presentations on public participation in decision-making process, gender mainstreaming, participatory budgeting and other topical issues.

The participants asked the experts questions regarding the topical issues and received answers that were based on the experience of 5 countries.

The project is implemented with the support  of the Visegrad Fund

 

  

The final conference of the project "Inclusion of NGOs working on issues of social protection in the strategic dialogue in Georgia" was held at the initiative of the international organization PIN (People in Need) in Tbilisi - with participation of target organizations, including the fund “Sukhumi”, beneficiaries, governmental structures and embassies accredited in Georgia.

During the event there were held a presentations of representatives of target municipalities, teams of project executors.

The Mayor of the municipality of Khoni Lado Jurkhadze told about the importance and results of the project, he positively evaluated the efforts of the organization PIN, fund “Suklhumi”, Khoni Advisors’ Council and presented changes that were reflected in local social policy.

"Women for Development" is the name of the partner organization of the Fund "Sukhumi", working in Gyumri (Armenia).

On April 30, representatives of the organization Armine Shiroyan and Arpine Nikolyan visited Kutaisi and the staff of the fund “Sukhumi”. Part of the visit was devoted to the meeting with mobilizers and activists of the Women Support Center of Khoni. At the end of the meeting they watched the performances of the forum-theater. According to the Armenian colleagues, the fund “Sukhumi” Foundation uses different methods and works very effectively to prevent violence against women. They want to invite young actors to Gyumri to meet with their forum-theater, as the exchange of experience is very important for development and achieving better results.  

Fund “Sukhumi” held a roundtable in Baghdati Municipality on the topic of “Introducing Gender Approaches in Local Policy”. The major principles of the “Manual” for gender strategies at the local level created by the Fund were presented to the audience. The issues that were identified during the cooperation with local municipalities have been discussed.

In addition to the representatives of the local municipality and local civic groups, the members of the Gender Equality Councils of Kutaisi and Tskaltubo Municipalities attended the meeting.

On the same day, Sakrebulo of Baghdati Municipality, the City Hall and the Cultural-Humanitarian Fund "Sukhumi" signed a memorandum of cooperation that will facilitate the implementation of the gender equality policies at the local level.

On April 15-16 a coordination meeting of representatives of the Fund "Sukhumi" was held with representatives of the partner organization, together with which the project "Early prevention of conflict - theory and practice" is being implemented.

The representative of the donor organization Kvinna till Kvinna also took part in the meeting. The issues related to the implementation of the project were discussed.

 

  

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.