It's spring, and the renewed team of the forum - theater has an interesting April - it meets the audience in the open air.

The performances were shown in the central parks of Kutaisi and on the stage of the amphitheater of Terjola Youth Center.

Soon, together with the forum-theater and the shadow theater of the Fund "Sukhumi", a puppet theater will begin to show its performances.

The first performance of the puppet theater is based on the Georgian folk tale "Gvriti" (turtledove). Samples of dolls are already created, young actors study to “manage” the dolls and are actively involved in the rehearsal process.

Work with the youth has moved to a new stage. Agreements were signed with local governments of 10 municipalities, and the Centers for Youth Empowerment have been established in cooperation with the Youth Departments.

Six-month training courses on leadership, conflict management and violence will be held for the pupils from different schools.

The first trainings have already been held: in Zugdidi and Terjola, trainers and students had the opportunity of live communication, as for Chokhatauri and Kobuleti groups, the work was conducted online.

All participants differed from each other, but they have common characteristic features: great interest in training issues, leadership skills, motivation to learn more ...

Presentation of the project “Strengthening the Women’s Rights in Western Georgia” was held in Tkibuli. The Fund "Sukhumi" starts active work in this direction in Tkibuli municipality for the first time. The presentation was attended by representatives of local government, civil activists, teachers, parents. The emphasis was placed on the problem of domestic violence and the prospect of cooperation with local structures.

According to the meeting participants, identification of the problem will be possible through and the degree of their solution and prevention will be increased.

The Fund "Sukhumi" started intensive work with Chokhatauri municipality for the first time. The first meeting - presentation of the project - was attended by representatives of local government and civil society activists. The conversation concerned the issues that are envisaged in the project: protecting women's rights, strengthening families, preventing domestic violence, supporting the victim, responding to gender problems.

Representatives of the municipality believe that three-year cooperation will contribute to the strengthening of local gender policy and will give positive results.

The meetings of three initiative groups were held in Zugdidi municipality. One group of women was formed in Zugdidi, and the second united women living in two villages - Koki and Khurcha.

The main topics of the meetings were: meaning of the Gender-Responsive Early warning System, its components and stages of implementation. Participants received detailed information about the research. The aim of the research is to study the interests of women from different vulnerable groups.

The third initiative group includes only young people. The group was created in the schools of the village Koki. The activity of the students is special. The members of this group, who passed training organized by the Fund "Sukhumi", shared with their peers the knowledge they gained about the Gender Responsive Early Warning System.

A meeting with a youth initiative group was held in Tskaltubo municipality. With the help of role- games and thematic exercises, the participants discussed the following issues: early conflict prevention, components of human security in a gender perspective. They expressed interest in the topic during the analysis of role- games.

The second meeting was held with members of the women initiative group. They listened to information about research techniques and skills and will be involved in the research process, the purpose of which is to study the interests of different vulnerable groups in terms of human security components.

- What does early conflict prevention mean, how to react according to the components of human security, what kind of dangers do the young people feel - these and other questions, using thematic exercises, were discussed with Senaki youth group.

According to young participants, low level of education, the problem of employment, the migration of women, and the social background is dangerous. In their opinion, every person perceives danger differently, and the response mechanism should also be appropriate.

The second meeting was also devoted to this topic - with members of the women initiative group: what is the early conflicts prevention system and how important is its application in a gender prism. Group members will take part in the research - they learned about the techniques and skills of conducting focus groups and in-depth interviews.

The third monitoring envisaged by the project, which reflects the progress of public administration reform in municipalities, has been completed. Monitoring in Lanchkhuti was carried out by partner organizations - Lanchkhuti Informational Center and Georgian Rural Hall. During the ordinary meeting of the working group, representatives of these organizations made a presentation of the monitoring results. They also talked about the results of the implemented small projects and the goals and objectives of the recently financed small projects.

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”.

One of the Women's Support Centers of the Fund "Sukhumi" has been actively working in Kobuleti during a year. The center will be even more actively involved in the new project "Strengthening the Women's Rights in Western Georgia". On April 19, the presentation of the project was held in Kobuleti. The project is carried out in 10 municipalities of Western Georgia and aims to identify the problems of violence against women and prevent, strengthen families, and establish a non-violent culture in society.

The meeting was attended by members of the gender council of the municipality, representatives of the social service, the department for children’s rights protection and support, civil activists, as well as the members of the Supreme Council of Ajara Pati Khalvashi and Tsotne Ananidze.

Two organizations work with us in Lanchkhuti in the framework of the project “A common forum for CSOs from Guria, Imereti and Racha-Lechkhumi for PAR Roadmap monitoring”.

Lanchkhuti Information Center and Georgian Rural Hall - these two civil society organizations are actively involved in the work process. They were the ones who received the first grants for the implementation of small projects in the municipality.

On April 20, representatives of Imereti Scientists’ Union "Spectri" held a consultation meeting with members of these organizations. The stages of implementation of the funded projects and other important issues were discussed.