- No matter how much time passes, talking about the conflict will always be painful for an internally displaced person, but it is necessary to talk.
- Unfortunately, the borders of Georgia are also moved today, people are kidnapped from their territories.
- It's terrible when you look at the cemeteries of your loved ones from afar.
- We do not want to return Abkhazia by war.
- Many people do not know about the format of Geneva negotiations.
- All social benefits have increased, and the benefits for IDPs are on the same indicator.
- How much time has passed, and the IDPs are still not provided with accommodation.
These are the words of the participants of the two-day training. It is clear what was discussed and what issues were emphasized...
The training was attended by project assistants and 50 members of IDP Women Initiative Groups from five municipalities (Kutaisi, Khoni, Tskaltubo, Zugdidi, Senaki).
The project is implemented with the support
of the UN Women organization
The meetings held by the Women Support Centers in Tsalenjikha, Chokhatauri, Bagdati, Tkibuli and Samtredia municipalities were productive.
Civil activists, representatives of local governments and different spectrum of society discussed effective mechanisms of victim assistance.
The participants of the meeting focused on their own responsibility and spoke about the need to create joint mechanisms to help the victim. It was noted that the unified chain of assistance should not be broken, only it will bring the response effect.
The mobilizers of the Women Support Centers will continue to hold meetings to strengthen coordination in the future.
Проект осуществляется при поддержке организации Brot
für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Германия)
Family conflicts, violence against women, victim protection mechanisms - meetings on these issues were held in the Women Support Centers of Vani, Senaki, Kobuleti, Terjola and Zugdidi.
Participants noted that openness on the facts of domestic violence has been increased, but at the same time, active work is still necessary to inform the population, since many do not know how to respond in case of violence, what is their responsibility.
Participants believe that such meetings are necessary to fill the information vacuum, and to make society ready to resist violence.
The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot
für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)
Comprehensive daily psycho-rehabilitation work was held in the rehabilitation center of the Women Fund "Sukhumi". 8 beneficiaries lived here for 10 days - women with children. A social worker, a lawyer and a psychologist actively worked with women and a teacher worked with children.
Briefly about one woman:
L. 35 years old, is a victim of psychological, physical, and sexual abuse. She came to the rehabilitation center on the recommendation of a mobilizer from one of the Women Support Centers.
“I came here with a bad mood, heavy emotions, hopelessness and tension. For 10 years I waited for my husband to change for the better, but everything became unbearable until it became scary for her life and for her children - then she called the police. Now I am alone with the children. During my stay in the rehabilitation center, I felt satisfaction, security and positive mood. I leave happy, full of hope and goals. Thank you for giving me this opportunity.”
The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot
für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)
The cycle of meetings in partner municipalities on: “Inclusion of society in the elimination of domestic violence” continues. The monitoring group and the Women Support Center of the Fund "Sukhumi" held a regular meeting in Chokhatauri municipality. The event was attended by representatives of the Mayor in administrative units, municipal services and different groups of society.
A dialogue was held on increasing the role of local governments in combating domestic violence and assisting the victim.
The meeting participants heard information about the research of the Women Fund "Sukhumi": the need for programs of correcting the rapist’s behavior at an early stage; women empowerment - childcare services. There was also a presentation of the web page “Digital Resource Center of Services for Victims of Violence” (http://sosfsokhumi.ge/).
Representatives of the Mayor spoke about conflicts in families, about the education of the future generation and the challenges that exist in society.
Creation of an interdepartmental commission on domestic violence is at an active stage in Chokhatauri municipality and this is a successful result of partnership with the Women Fund "Sukhumi".
The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot
für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)
“Inclusion of society in combating domestic violence” - an information meeting on this topic was held in Samtredia (organizers: the monitoring group and the Women Support Center of the Fund “Sukhumi”). There were representatives of the Mayor in the administrative units, as well as the services of the municipality and different groups of society.
They talked about increasing the role of local governments in terms of combating domestic violence and assisting the victim.
The participants listened to information about the research conducted by the Women Fund "Sukhumi" on the issues of violence in 10 municipalities, also they got acquainted with the web page "Digital Resource Center of Services for Victims of Violence" (http://sosfsokhumi.ge/).
At the end of the meeting, the participants expressed motivation to become more actively involved in the process of violence prevention and victim assistance.
The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot
für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)
The initiative of the monitoring group of the Women Fund "Sukhumi" was first of all supported by Bagdati Municipality - in order to respond to violence in a timely manner, the City Hall established an Interdepartmental Commission to eliminate violence against women / domestic violence, to protect victims of violence and assist them.
The commission is headed by Deputy Mayor Merab Zirakadze. The Commission will cooperate with the Council of Advisors of Bagdati Municipality on the issues of Gender Equality, as well as with the Interdepartmental Commission of the Government of Georgia, working on gender equality, violence against women and domestic violence. It will periodically inform them about the situation on the territory of the municipality, and will provide recommendations on activities to eliminate violence against women/domestic violence, protect victims of violence and provide them with assistance; will coordinate the activities planned by the Interdepartmental Commission of the Government of Georgia and the Gender Equality Council of Bagdati Municipality.
The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot
für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)
"Citizens' participation in the implementation of local self-governance" - training with members of Khoni Women Initiative Group.
The training was held on the background of active discussion.
Legal Acts, principles of self-government financing according to the European Charter, self-governmental unit and its powers.
Lawyer Tamuna Pachulia talked about this and many other issues.
The project is implemented with the support of the USAID
Women Fund “Sukhumi” Tbilisi office representative - Ekaterine Gamakharia has participated in first in-person working meeting organized by the WAVE network in Vienna (May 12th, 2022) to kick off the new OSCE-funded project on supporting women survivors of violence in conflict and post-conflict areas. The aim of the project is to develop a toolkit to capture the promising practices of women’s NGOs in preventing and responding to gender-based violence during and after the war. The project participants have exchanged thoughts about importance of the toolkit, devised its goal and the potential target audience, the structure and the practices to be incorporated in the final document.
The WAVE members involved in the project are the Sexual Assault Crisis Center (Yerevan, Armenia), Women Fund Sukhumi (Kutaisi, Georgia), Foundation United Women Banja Luka (Banja Luka, Bosnia & Herzegovina), and Centre “Women’s Perspectives” (Lviv, Ukraine). More information about the project, available at the following link: https://wave-network.org/new-project-supporting-women-survivors-of-violence-in-conflict-and-post-conflict-areas/
Ekaterine attended the last session of the WAVE Advisory Board Members meeting (May 11th), where she has possibility to share her ideas on how to make the projects implemented by the WAVE and extensive expertise accumulated in the network member organizations more accessible and beneficial for the women’s organizations.
A meeting, organized by the monitoring group and the Women Support Center of the Fund "Sukhumi", was held in Tkibuli. The meeting was attended by representatives of the municipal services and various groups of society.
The series of meetings “Involvement of society in combating domestic violence” aims to increase the role of local governments of partner municipalities in the eradication of violence and assistance to victims.
The meeting presented the conclusions of the researches, conducted by the Women Fund "Sukhumi": the need to implement the programs correcting the rapist’s behavior at an early stage; strengthening the women-childcare services. Presentation of a digital resource center of the services for victims of violence was prepared (http://sosfsokhumi.ge/).
During the direct dialogue, it was noted that the society should think about the measures against violence. Women's economic empowerment programs were recognized as important. A positive assessment was given to the decentralization of social work, the result of which was a department for children's rights. After the reorganization, it was formed into a municipal service and this shows the importance of this direction in the issue of strengthening the family.
It was noted that the cooperation between the Women Fund "Sukhumi" and Tkibuli municipality has positive dynamics, the directions of the future partnership are outlined.
The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot
für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)