Informational meeting in Ozurgeti kindergarten No1, was attended by the representatives of the fund “Sukhumi” and the member of Sakrebulo and Gender Advisory Council – Irina Sajaia.

The kindergarten staff mentioned that the children are provided by good condition, they have toys, warmth and caring. It has been said about their low salaries and that they would take part in training sessions on gender and other interesting topics for them.

Active women were invited to a meeting of the Club of Women-Voters, which will be held in April, and issue put during the meeting was considered on the same day, at a meeting of the Gender Advisory Council. It has been recorded to develop a training program for kindergartens in the coming months.

The project is implemented with the support of the U.S. Department of State

Center of Education, Development and Employment organized informational forum for the IDPs. The work of forum was participated by the fund “Sukhumi”.

Representatives of small and middle enterprises, existing in Imereti, governmental and non-governmental organizations, suggested the IDPs the services, connected with increase of incomes (employment, professional training and re-training, informal education, internship…).

In Kutaisi, at the office of Fair Elections, an information exchange meeting was held at the Imereti NGO Forum within the framework of the fund “Sukhumi” project - “Studying the experience of Visegrad countries at local level for advocacy of equal, inclusive and democratic governance”.

Representative of the Fund "Sukhumi" acquainted colleagues with the goals and objectives of the project, with the implemented activities. Particular attention was paid to Czech experience in terms of civic engagement and gender marking. And also research, on the basis of which a strategy of local gender mainstreaming will be prepared. Research will focus on gender budgeting practices and challenges at the local level; institutional mechanisms of gender equality. It will create an interesting picture of the experience in the field of implementation of gender-sensitive policies.

In the opinion of the meeting participants, one feels a step back in terms of using on-site institutional mechanisms of gender equality. The reason was the fact that new people came to the local self-government as a result of the elections and there is a need for gender education, using the potential of qualified NGOs, close cooperation with the Council of Gender Equality of Parliament.

The project is implemented with the support of the Visegrad Fund 

Fund “Sukhumi” organized a meeting sharing experiences within the framework of the project "Learning from Visegrad 4 Experience to Advocate for Equal, Inclusive and Democratic Local Governance” at the local level". The meeting was held at the Center for Civic Engagement, in Kutaisi.

The meeting was attended by the main actors of Imereti and Samegrelo municipalities working on gender policy, local government officials, and representatives of the civil sector and mass media.

What are the achievements of gender policy at the municipal level, what are the challenges facing local Gender Equality Councils, in which areas support from the local government, Gender Equality Councils, Ministries, would be useful for stakeholders implementing gender policy at local level?

After interesting discussions, participants of the meeting defined recommendations that will serve as the basis for the development of local gender policy and the implementation of important reforms. 

The project is implemented with the support of the Visegrad Fund 

Concerning the reform of the project of the manual for IDPs, several meetings took place, at which people express their opinions. Of particular interest are considerations of state employees, thst is why an in-depth interview was conducted with Zaza Chachava, the head of the Representative Office of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia in Imereti, Racha-Lechkhumi.

The meeting was held within the framework of the project "Inclusion of NGOs working on issues of social protection in the strategic dialogue in Georgia" (funded by the European Union and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic).

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

Members of Gender Advisory Council of Senaki conducted a research of local gender needs of women. In frames of the project, there were held 4 focus-groups with the teachers of schools and kindergartens, doctors, women – leaders, young parents, disabled persons, 4 in-depth interviews with the experts of economics, education, local government and health-care. 200 persons were inquired, including socially unprotected women, IDP women and youth.

 As a result of the research there were fixed main needs of target groups – creation of working places, raising the level of education, salaries, raising informing on local budget and programs, business trainings and consultations in small business, long-term bank credits in low percentage, programs of taking care after invalids and elderly and many else.

This is the third research held by the GAC of Senaki for three years of existence. As a result of analysis there will be elaborated recommendations and submitted to local government for envisaging in local budget 2017.