Ordinary meeting of Ozurgeti Gender Advisory Council (GAC) was devoted to summarizing results of local gender needs research. Totally there were held 4 focus-groups, 4 in-depth interviews and 200 people were inquired.

Research participants unanimously noted that there was fixed low level of awareness of respondents on the budget program. They stressed the need to strengthen the work for the public involvement in the budget process. This should be provided by the local government. Particular attention should be paid to the inclusion of women in meetings in frames of villages  development programs, in which people record their needs.

The final report of the survey results will be presented to local government.

What difficulties accompanied the survey process, what experience was gained and how satisfactory are the results - the participants of the meeting of Senaki Women's Initiative Group shared the opinions with each other during the feedback.

- I didn't have any experience, I got involved in the survey process for the first time and gained valuable practice, I differently saw the problems that worried women.

- It is not easy to conduct focus groups, manage a group, facilitate. But I was able to do it. All participants were actively involved in the process.

After the exchange of opinions, the participants received relevant recommendations, which will further strengthen their technical skills.

The newspaper "Khoneli" published an article about the active work in Khoni municipality in the framework of the project “Bridging the Gap: People to People Initiatives for Conflict Resolution”.

There are three initiative groups in Khoni - two women and one youth group. The author of the article is a member of one of the women groups, journalist Guranda Tsaguria, who is actively involved in the work process.

The groups were formed in March, and since then they have been working actively. In May an online training was held for young people on the topic of conflict reasons in Abkhazia. Informational meetings were held with women. The meeting participants talked about needs research - how they planned the work, what turned out to be difficult, etc. This is the first research conducted by women groups. They received good experience and the most important thing is that a document - an assessment of women’s needs will be prepared, as well as recommendations will be developed and presented to local government.

The head of Tbilisi representative office of the Fund “Sukhumi” - Ekaterine Gamakharia has participated in another session of high-level seminar of the OSCE Conflict Cycle.

The key question of the meeting was how can the OSCE work for inclusive and gender-just peace throughout the conflict cycle.

Welcome, and introductory remarked by Petra Tötterman Andorff, Secretary-General of the Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation, Sweden.

During the panel discussion speeches were delivered by Ms. Liliana Palihovici, The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office’s Special Representative on Gender, Nina Potarskaya, National Coordinator Ukraine, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Igo Rogova, Executive Director Kosovo Women’s Network, and Ekaterine Gamakharia, Cultural-Humanitarian Fund "Sukhumi".

The head of Tbilisi representative office of the Fund “Sukhumi” - Ekaterine Gamakharia has been involved in the High-level Opening Session of the OSCE Conflict Cycle Seminar (Conference), where she, along with the Foreign Minister of Sweden, Anne Linde; Secretary General OSCE, Helga Schmid; Undersecretary of State for Security, the America, Asia and Eastern Policy, Marcin Przydacz and Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia, and America, Miroslav Jenča gave a speech on the “Main challenges and opportunities for inclusive processes and partnered engagement with women’s civil society in the field”.

Ekaterine Gamakharia briefly talked about women’s organization’s role and contribution in peacebuilding in Georgia. She highlighted some favorable factors for women’s participation in the Peace Process. At the same time, she stressed existing challenges and barriers for “meaningful participation” of the women, that requires proper attention and response.

"Development of e-services in local governments aiming at improving the availability of e-services for citizens" - a round table on this topic was held at the City Hall of Lanchkhuti municipality. The meeting was attended by representatives of local government, non-governmental sector, mass media, educational institutions.

Assistant of the project curatorial organization Imereti Scientists' Union “Spectri” Tamar Moseshvili underlined the importance of involving civil society in monitoring the roadmap for public administration reform. The head of the partner organization of the project "Georgian Rural Hall" Amiran Gigineishvili drew attention to the "Electronic Manager" developed within the framework of the project. And the head of the second partner organization "Lanchkhut Information Center" David Gogichaishvili, as well as representatives of local government and stakeholders spoke about the importance of the gradual development of the availability of e-services for the citizens.

“Prehistory of Georgian-Abkhazian conflict, its subsequent development and consequences” – this topic was discussed at online trainings conducted with the Youth Initiative Groups of Senaki, Tskaltubo and Koki (Zugdidi municipality).

Participants learned what was the prehistory of conflict and how the events were developed. They asked questions: why it was impossible to manage the situation, who was guilty, why did they come to such consequences.

Trainer Keti Vasadze explained to the participants how important the confidence raising is in peacebuilding, what steps should be taken in this direction.

At the end of the trainings, the participants expressed their mood and attitude towards discussed issues:

“It was interesting for me to consider the conflict stages. Peace building always makes sense, I saw the role of youth, we must be involved in building trust. "

Mobilizers of Women Support Centers of the Fund "Sukhumi" meet with representatives of different groups of society. Informational meetings were held in the municipalities of Kobuleti, Zugdidi, Terjola, Bagdati and Vani. The participants of the meetings listened to information about the problem of violence and programs that act in direction of victim assistance and support. They also focused on the problems existing in the communities and ways to solve them. The mobilizers highlighted the issues for advocacy.

The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot

 für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)

14 new organizations were created in frames of the project. The project contributed not only to their registration, but also to a successful start: they were able to write the first projects and received the first grants.

Learning is also very important for them. At a two-day meeting in Tskaltubo, representatives of these organizations discussed issues of capacity development and project management (organized by the Imereti Scientists' Union “Spectri”).

Particular attention was paid to the institutional development of civil society organizations, fundraising, organizational and financial management, project development and implementation.

Another consultation meeting was held in Lanchkhuti. The representative of Imereti Scientists Union "Spectri" met with the members of partner organizations – Georgian Rural hall and Lanchkhuti Information Center.

The meeting discussed issues related to the project progress. Particular attention was paid to the needs research, which has begun in eight municipalities where the project “A common forum for CSOs from Guria, Imereti and Racha-Lechkhumi for PAR Roadmap monitoring” is being implemented.

The project is implemented with the support the European Union - #EU4Georgia