One of the residents of the Rehabilitation Center was a 28-year-old woman. In addition to her, two women and three children were in the Center for two weeks. A psychologist, a social worker, a lawyer and a teacher actively worked with them.

Psycho-rehabilitation gave good results - they cope better with emotional and everyday problems. One of the beneficiaries says that she learned a lot about herself, became more confident and stronger. She has accumulated a lot of positive and all this will help her in the future.

The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot

 für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)

The first network meeting, which was held in Kutaisi, was attended by representatives of 17 municipalities.

The meeting participants talk about the need to involve women in the peace process, the challenges in this direction and the possibilities for their solution. The story is about this topic.

The project is implemented with the support

 of the UN Women organization

The story tells about the civil forum, held in Kutaisi on: "Women, peace, security - promoting the implementation of the 1325 UN Resolution action plan at the local level."

Representatives of local governments of the target municipalities assess the dynamics of the project and discuss the prospects for localization of the 1325 UN Resolution  action plan in individual municipalities.

The project is implemented with the support

 of the UN Women organization

- Women who have changed themselves and the world around them. Stories that evoke positive emotions in listeners and increase the level of civic engagement - this is how the mobilizers of the Women Support Centers assessed the meetings held in March.

The participants of the meeting believe that the activities of the Fund "Sukhumi" and the work of the non-governmental sector in general are of particular importance in direction of strengthening the women. They emphasized the necessity of services to support victims of violence.

Five cases were identified in the Women Support Centers of Terjola, Vani, Tkibuli, Chokhatauri and Bagdati. Specialists of the Women Fund "Sukhumi" were involved in the process of the management of these cases.

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 project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot

 für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)

One of the main tasks of the Women Support Centers is to contribute to the prevention of violence against women. That is why the work in terms of informing the public continues actively. Using the positive examples, the meeting participants emphasized the importance of women's power and solidarity. They heard the stories of successful women who changed the world around them. They talked about women's needs and voiced their own desires: they consider peace and love to be the most important issues.

6 beneficiaries addressed the Women Support Centers of Senaki, Tsalenjikha, Kobuleti, Samtredia and Zugdidi. The management of identified cases has already begun using the resources of the Women's Fund "Sukhumi".

The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot

 für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)

The time has come for the final meetings at Youth Empowerment Centers. The meetings in three municipalities of Samegrelo region: Zugdidi, Senaki and Tsalenjikha were attended by 122 people: youth, representatives of youth departmanents, education resource centers and gender equality councils, teachers and parents.

Through presentations, young people presented what they had learned during the five-month course. There were interesting discussions, exchange of impressions. Parents and teachers noted that the students participating in the project have changed for the better, they know a lot and have become quite active.

All three meetings were successful. Young trainers were awarded with certificates and other participants received certificates for active involvement.

The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot

 für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)

Council of Europe Office in Georgia  and the Governmental Administration hosted on 13 February a conference to present the recommendations provided to Georgia by GREVIO, the independent expert body which monitors the implementation of the Council of Europe  Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention), as well as by the Committee of the Parties to the Istanbul Convention. At the event, representatives of non-governmental organisations and academia together with the State agencies and Maria-Andriani Kostopoulou, GREVIO member and second vice-president of GREVIO, discussed the steps to take to implement the 16 recommendations approved by the Committee of the Parties to the Convention in December 2022. The recommendations are the most pressing as indicated in the first GREVIO baseline report on Georgia published in November 2022. Georgia is to submit a report on the implementation of the recommendations to the Committee of the Parties by the end of 2025.

"Women and youth for the implementation of women, peace and security agenda at the local level" - the Women Fund "Sukhumi" organized a civil forum on this topic in Kutaisi, Hotel Bagrati.

The forum was attended by representatives of the legislative and executive structures of Kutaisi, Tskaltubo, Khoni, Senaki and Zugdidi municipalities, as well as members of the women working groups.

The participants got acquainted with the results of the research conducted for the assessment of the needs of IDP and conflict-affected communities and the dynamics of the process of localization of the Resolution 1325 action plan on the example of all five municipalities. They were informed about the successful advocacy of the IDP women working groups and about the Resolution 1325 National Action Plan.

In the second part of the forum, during the group work, further prospects for the localization of the Resolution 1325 action plan of all individual municipalities were identified.

At the end of the forum, representatives of all five municipalities were awarded with letters of thanks for their active cooperation.

The project is implemented with the support

 of the UN Women organization

On February 22, the Women Fund „Sukhumi“ participated in the preparatory consultation for the forthcoming 67th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in 2023 which focuses on “Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls”.

The consultation with all stakeholders, including Women CSO, international organizations and International NGOs was organized by the Government of Ukraine together with the UN Women. During the consultation the gendered implications of war on women and girls both inside and outside of Ukraine, as well as their role in leading and driving change was highlighted.

During the panel discussions different topics were explored, namely how technology and digital solutions are playing an integral role in addressing the socio-economic needs of war-effected women across the region, and how technologies and digital economy could efficiently facilitate gender responsive recovery and development and reduce existing gender digital gaps.

Together with OSCE – The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the WAVE Network in collaboration with four WAVE members: Sexual Assault Crisis Center (Yerevan, Armenia), Women Fund Sukhumi (Kutaisi and Tbilisi, Georgia), Foundation United Women Banja Luka (Banja Luka, Bosnia & Herzegovina), and Centre “Women’s Perspectives” (Lviv, Ukraine).

Based on the specific knowledge and experiences of women’s CSOs throughout war settings, the toolkit not only presents the harm and challenges posed by conflicts but also documents promising first-hand practices with concrete examples and recommendations.

PREVENTING AND RESPONDING TO GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE DURING THE WAR AND IN POST-WAR SETTINGS  EXPERIENCES AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF WOMEN’S NGOS The authors of the toolkit presented their strategies related to different conflict stages: