During October meeting the members of the Women Initiative Group of the village Pakhulani - Tsalenjikha municipality spoke about the problems identified during the advocacy. They reviewed the direction in which the work should be improved to solve the problems identified by them.

Meeting with members of women and youth initiative groups was held in Senaki, which was visited by representatives of the donor organization (USAID - United States Agency for International Development): Ekaterine Gamezardashvili and Giorgi Khechinashvili. In the first part of the meeting, the participants talked about the results of the project. Peace activities, participation in research, advocacy, informal debates, meetings with a psychologist, trainings, Georgian-Abkhazian meetings - group members give priority to these main segments and believe that involvement in the project had a positive impact on them. In the next part of the meeting, the participants talked about issues of gender equality: the rights of girls and the daily life of women living in rural areas. Participants believe that due to the mentality problems, there is still a lot of work to be done in terms of gender equality.

 Training on the topic of peace was held with the members of the youth group of the village Koki - Zugdidi municipality. The participants talked about meaning of peace. With the help of a simulated exercise, they discussed that dialogue, communication, cooperation, trust, tolerance are necessary for peace. The training showed how important the involvement of young people in peace processes is. The Women Initiative Group of the village Koki is working on advocacy of identified problems. During the meeting, the participants shared with each other the results achieved in terms of advocacy, they talked about the direction in which the work should be improved.

The members of the youth club of the village Didinedzi discussed gender issues seen through the eyes of young people. They talked about how much information their peers have on the mentioned issue and named the existing problems and challenges in terms of gender. The members of the Women Initiative Group of the village Didinedzi spoke about the advocacy of the identified problems. They discussed the issues in detail and negotiated the future plan.

Trainings in Youth Empowerment Centers continue. After the first five meetings, trainings were held in of Zugdidi, Chokhatauri, Tsalenjikha, Bagdati and Kobuleti municipalities.

The members of the new groups are motivated young people. From participants of previous training course they know that the course is interesting and will help to develop their leadership skills. Therefore, they participate in trainings and take the initiative to use the acquired knowledge in practice. It is gratifying that representatives of youth departments are involved in the process of creating the groups, because they also welcome the formation of an active youth group in their municipalities.

The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot

 für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)

The little Ukrainian boy has been in Georgia with his mother for two years now, but he still hasn’t got used to the situation. He misses his father, his family... His behavior shows stress. So his mother took him to a psychologist. Drawing, touching pebbles, sand - with the help of these methods the psychologist studies his emotional state. This is how the first sessions go. Gradually the boy becomes bolder, his fears disappear, and he builds better relationship with classmates at school. Of course, mom is very grateful.

Psychologist of the Women Fund “Sukhumi” held meetings with representatives of 7 families. She spoke with 15 people - refugees from Ukraine who survived the war - and felt their experiences. The main thing in working with them is to overcome trauma, cope with the crisis... Some of them were for the first time and the psychologist learned about their needs, and with some of them she continued the process of psycho rehabilitation. Refugees from Ukraine mention that such support is of great importance.

The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot

 für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)

Maria Sosnitskaya from Ukraine. The war brought her to Georgia. In Women Fund “Sukhumi”, she learned about courses of working with polymer clay and became interested. Now she is studying this interesting work with other students. Maria is satisfied with the teaching methods. According to teacher Maka Jishkariani, she is a talented, diligent student and can turn this hobby into a source of additional income.

Maria is going to apply for a grant announced by CareCaucasus. Our 10 Ukrainian beneficiaries will take part in the training, after which they will be able to write a grant project. In the previous competition, three Ukrainians received a grant for small business activities. We believe that the these results will also be successful.

The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot

 für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)

The support in figures is following:

There are 357 people in our database.

In October, 22 new people were added.

We paid utilities for 4 families.

We paid rent for 7 families.

One of the oncological patients was given 300 GEL for medicines.

The second patient was reimbursed for the MRI - 326 GEL.

15 people received psychological consultation.

36 families received food vouchers.

The Women Fund “Sukhumi” does all this for refugees from Ukraine. Everyone is grateful for this support.

The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot

 für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)

Handing over the phone is considered as assistance in our project, because its absence often creates many problems.

Handing over a phone helps to empower women (using the phone they can find information about vacancies or daily work), protection and assistance to victims of violence using the SOS button, communication according to various needs.

In short, necessity of phone is obvious today. That is why our organization distributes the phones according to certain criteria. Over the past three months, 6 women have received phones: in Tskaltubo, Chokhatauri, Kobuleti, Samtredia and Terjola (two women received them here).

In addition, three of these six women spent two weeks in our rehabilitation center and received comprehensive support.

The project is implemented with the support of the Urgent Action Fund for Women's Human Rights

Initiative, active mutual support groups were created in 10 municipalities.

Project assistant met group members in Tskaltubo, Chokhatauri, Zugdidi (village Khurcha) and Vani municipalities, and held an online meeting with the Bagdati group.

Case related to early marriage was discussed in Tskaltubo, in Chokhatauri they talked about the problems of rural women. Bagdati group talked about more effective assistance to violence victims, and in Khurcha, the active participation of local government was emphasized. Psychologist held an ordinary meeting with Vani women group.

other five municipalities - Senaki, Tsalenjikha, Samtredia, Terjola and Kobuleti - the group leaders held meetings themselves. Problems were identified everywhere (payment of alimony, housing or property cases), and advocacy is carried out in cooperation with local government. Group members want their work and results to be an example for other women.

The project is implemented with the support the Equality Fund (Canada)