“Local cooperation for social environment focused on children and families” - a meeting on this topic was held in the village Pakhulani (Tsalenjikha municipality).

Representatives of the Social Department and the Children's Department of the City Hall provided the meeting participants with information about social and health programs and the specifics of the work of the Children's Department. They also got acquainted with the results of the activities of the departments for the protection of children's rights and their support, which were identified as a result of the monitoring conducted by the Women Fund "Sukhumi". During the meeting, there were identified the recommendations that will increase the efficiency of work in this direction.

The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot

 für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)

The second month of the training course at the Youth Empowerment Centers continues successfully. The first meetings were held in Samtredia, Terjola, Senaki, Tsalenjikha and Zugdidi municipalities.

The trainings were attended by teachers, representatives of the youth services. And, of course, the main thing is active youth, who not only join the training with interest, but also carry out the initiated events in their schools with responsibility. It is gratifying that the support of the school administration and the teachers of civic education is felt everywhere.

The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot

 für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)

Everyone should take their own responsibility - plant a tree, green the environment, take care of nature - this was the aim of the campaign dedicated to the week of the Day of Earth. Kutaisi Youth Club of the Women Fund "Sukhumi", in cooperation with Kutaisi Public Schools #32 named after Avtandil Dekanoidze and Public Schools #6 of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia named after Zhiuli Shartava, organized a greening campaign. Pupils, together with the teacher Lela Bregadze, planted Georgian walnut seedlings in the school yard and in the yard of the rehabilitation center of the Fund “Sukhumi”. Families residing in the rehabilitation center also participated in the event.

In April psychologist Manana Gotsiridze worked with three families - 7 people from Ukraine. She identified their condition and began a free course of psychotherapy.

Everyone needs help because they have gone through lots of difficulties.

Olena, 41 and her family arrived from Mariupol last August. They were in hell for a whole month, their neighbors were dying every day. They had fear and hopelessness. It was a terrifying sight: burned houses, burned animals, destroyed streets... They moved to another city in Ukraine, but there was no peace, no food also... They decided to leave and chose Georgia: familiar, warm, close. According to Olena, it is very good that the Women Fund "Sukhumi" helps with products, but the advice and support of a psychologist is no less important. It makes problem solution easier...

The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot

 für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)

Training courses continued actively. Another five meetings were held in the Youth Empowerment Centers of Bagdati, Vani, Samtredia, Chokhatauri and Senaki.

School directors, teachers, representatives of youth services took part in the trainings. The process was interesting and fruitful in all municipalities.

At the meeting, the participants were also informed about the practical guide/toolkit: "Preventing and responding to gender-based violence in war and post-war settings - experiences and recommendations of women's NGOs", which was developed by the WAVE Network in collaboration with its four WAVE members in 2022 by the support of the OSCE. The Toolkit describes best practices and the strategies employed by the women's NGOs to prevent and respond to gender-based violence in different phases of conflict.

• Strategies during Wartime and emergency response settings were shared by Ukrainian and Armenian partners Sexual Assault Crisis Center (Yerevan, Armenia), Centre “Women’s Perspectives” (Lviv, Ukraine);
• Strategies during Protracted conflict were described by the Women's Foundation "Sukhumi" (Kutaisi, Tbilisi, Georgia);
• Strategies during Post-war and long-term perspective were based on the experience of the Bosnia-Herzegovina partner. Foundation United Women Banja Luka (Banja Luka, Bosnia & Herzegovina)

(A practical guide is available here https://www.osce.org/secretariat/530695)

The total number of participants of 10 trainings held in April is 266 people. Everyone showed great interest towards the training course. This is very important to us and always gives more effect to our work.

The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot

 für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)

New forum theater scenes were created in the youth groups of Tskaltubo public schools No 1 and No 4. The scenes deal with domestic violence, bullying, the feelings and emotions of the victim. Both groups will hold discussions in different schools of Tskaltubo with the help of these scenes, and the members of the women initiative group heard the results of the research and got acquainted with the recommendations. The research revealed the threats that women are particularly worried about in terms of security. The members of the group will try to take into account the highlighted recommendations through advocacy.

The members of Senaki women initiative group got acquainted with the results of the research conducted within the project. Faulty infrastructure, unemployment, frequent domestic violence, low quality of education - the research identified the main threats that violate the basic standards of human security. From next month, members of the group will try to advocate the identified problems. The members of the youth group created a new performance in the format of a forum-theatre, which presents the main reasons of domestic violence. Young actors will perform these scenes in front of different audiences and hold discussions.

Since the initiation of the Russian draft law, we have launched a social campaign "No Russian law". Representatives of various fields of society and our female leaders actively participated in the campaign as volunteers.

All the Georgian people were united in the aforementioned contradictory process, which called up this draft law.

Our monitoring and advocacy team has started work on a new study - "Evaluation of the effectiveness of prevention tools of violence against women or/and domestic violence at the municipal level".

Monitoring is currently underway in the following target municipalities: Tkibuli, Baghdati, Terjola, Vani, Samtredia, Chokhatauri, Tsalenjikha, Zugdidi, Senak, Kobuleti.

With the cooperation of Khoni women initiative groups, the Gender Equality Council and the Community Education Center, a variety of activities were held under the slogan "No to violence". Within the framework of the event, the Mayor of the municipality Lado Jurkhadze, members of the Gender Equality Council of Khoni City Council, representatives of the Fund “Sukhumi” and the attendees took part in the creation of the composition of "Street Art" and said "no" to violence with their handprints. Within the framework of the festival, the representative of the Fund “Sukhumi” presented the results of the research "Assessment of the quality of human security and gender needs of the population" at the House of Culture on Abkhazeti Street. A discussion was also held. The members of the youth club of the public school No 3 of Khoni municipality worked on the scenes of the forum theater. The school director also attended the process. The young people made parformance at the gender festival and were well received. At the same time, they work on ideas for a mini project to be presented to the competition commission.