Women and girls needs research in 6 municipalities of Western Georgia - Kutaisi, Tskaltubo, Khoni, Senaki, Zugdidi and Tsalenjikha - was completed.

1000 respondents were interviewed through the questionnaires, 24 in-depth interviews and 24 focus - group meetings were held for qualitative research.

In May, the systematization of the research results will be held, and this will become the basis for the analysis. In frames of the project, it is also envisaged to develop a plan and further work to advocate the needs of local target groups at local and central levels.

The article in the newspaper "New Education" starts like this:

Within the framework of the project "Strengthening the Women's Rights in Western Georgia", the Fund “Sukhumi” has started to establish youth centers in 10 cities of Western Georgia (Kobuleti, Senaki, Tsalenjikha, Zugdidi, Samtredia, Vani, Terjola, Tkibuli, Bagdati). In agreement with local governments and resource centers, the Fund “Sukhumi” cooperates with youth departments, on the basis of which youth empowerment centers are established.

Link: https://bit.ly/3ew5m3x

Projects of 16 experienced and 14 new organizations - new ideas, interesting initiatives!

Specifically:

In 2019, within the framework of the project, the Forum of Civil Society Organizations was established, which joined 16 organizations from 8 municipalities. They participate in many activities. For them, a mini-grants competition was announced for the second time. And all 16 small projects were financed, just like the first time.

This time there is an innovation: in recent months, our project has contributed to the creation of 14 new organizations in Imereti, Guria and Racha-Lechkhumi. Moreover, it was decided to support their first projects.

On April 28, during the ordinary meeting of the competition committee, the results of the evaluation of project applications were discussed and a decision on their financing was made.

Thus, 30 small projects have been financed. Their implementation has already begun in Vani, Khoni, Bagdati, Terjola, Tsageri, Ambrolauri, Lanchkhuti and Ozurgeti municipalities.

"New visions in the process of conducting public administration reform to introduce the needs of citizens" - a round table was held on this topic in Tsageri City Council. The organizers of the meeting were the Civil Society Organizations “Active Citizen - Accountable Government”, “Tsageri Center for Women's Rights and Equality” and the Fund of Women Entrepreneurs.

The facilitator and the speakers of the meeting spoke about the results of the project “A common forum for CSOs from Guria, Imereti and Racha-Lechkhumi for PAR Roadmap monitoring”, about the “working groups” created within the project and the activities. The presentation of the report on citizens’ needs evaluation was held, and at the end the emphasis was made on the vision of the municipality to solve the problems identified in the research. The meeting was attended by representatives of the City Hall and City Council of Tsageri, mass media, NGOs and different spheres of society.

Representatives of local self-government positively assessed the project and underlined the need for its implementation.

"I received the correct information about the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict."

"I am an IDP from Abkhazia, but I know very little about reasons and duration of conflict. This training gave me the opportunity to learn more. "

“I have heard only about the consequences of conflict. I always wanted to know more about the history of conflict. Thank you for this training and for answering my questions. "

This is a feedback from one part of the training participants. The training was conducted by the conflict expert Keti Vasadze.

“Prehistory of Georgian-Abkhazian conflict, its continuation and consequences”

- the participants of the online training on this topic were members of the Youth Initiative Group of Khoni municipality.

Discussion of the work in frames of sub-grants, development of a strategy and plan-schedule for the project implementation, envisaging relevant regulations during pandemic; consideration of issues for a round table, coordination with speakers, selection of a facilitator, familiarization with the recommendations, received as a result of the third monitoring of public administration reform and plans for the future.

These issues were discussed by representatives of the Fund  of Women Entrepreneurs on April 23 and 26 in Tsageri and Ambrolauri during meetings with partner organizations and representatives of local government.

The work is carried out in the framework of the project “A common forum for CSOs from Guria, Imereti and Racha-Lechkhumi for PAR Roadmap monitoring”.

City Council of Bagdati municipality approved the code of ethics and rules of behavior for public officials.

The document was drafted by the chairman of the legal and procedural committee, who is a member of the working group, established in frames of the project. Before the presentation at City Council meeting, the document passed all the procedures, it was posted on the website of the municipality and everyone had the opportunity to familiarize with it. As a result of lobbying from the side of working group members, the document was approved.

On the one hand, the code defines a common standard of ethics and behavior for public officials based on general principles (fairness, responsibility, professionalism, efficiency, objectivity, political neutrality, informing the population about the powers they have in communication with public officials) and, on the other hand, together with protecting the interests of public officials, the decree serves to raise trust towards local government and public service.

Khoni working group raised important issues at the round table. The meeting was attended by representatives of local government, schools, mass media, as well as social workers and young leaders.

The head of the working group, Alexandre Akobidze, presented the work of the group, and member of the group Eliso Jikia presented the results of the third monitoring of public administration reform, carried out within the framework of the project.

During the round table, the participants were introduced to the effectiveness of the hotline, activated after the implementation of the mini-project. They talked about a code of ethics that will soon take its final form. The recommendations developed after analyzing the monitoring in terms of gender and participatory budget, adaptation of the city hall building and other topical issues were also significant.

Meeting of the Women Initiative Group was held in the village Pakhulani (Tsalenjikha municipality). The meeting discussed the tools of the Gender Responsive Early Warning System, the main stages of its implementation, as well as the components of human security. Emphasis was placed on studying the needs of women and participants were selected to conduct the research (focus groups, in-depth interviews and questionnaires).

On the same day, a similar meeting with a youth initiative group was held in school # 2 of the village Lia (Tsalenjikha municipality). The children also wrote essays on the topic of Abkhazia and sent messages to Abkhazian peers. Three members of this group shared the knowledge gained at the common training of the initiative groups with friends.

Meetings of Women Iitiative Groups and youth were held in Kutaisi on the topic “Gender-Responsive Early Warning System ”. At the beginning of the meeting, the participants of the general training of initiative groups spoke about this system as the best way to avoid conflict (groups were also created in Khoni, Tskaltubo, Senaki, Zugdidi, Tsalenjikha, and 2-3 members from each group participated in the training).

Through the presentations, the participants of the meetings got acquainted with the main stages of the early warning system and response to them, with the essence of human security and other important issues.

At the end of the meetings, it was noted that, Kutaisi initiative group together with the initiative groups of other municipalities, will conduct a research of the population human security and gender needs.