In May, the psychologist received 56 phone calls from Kutaisi and from those regions where Women's Support Centers operate. It shows the alarming - traumatic stressful situation of people.
10 online and 8 offline individual psychotherapy are provided for the beneficiaries, 3 of them are teenagers.
During a month, the lawyer of the Fund "Sukhumi" also actively worked together with the psychologist. Online group meetings and consultations with beneficiaries and meetings with members of the crisis families were held.
Everyone is happy to note the importance of this support, which is free and often people get this service from the comfort of their homes.
This article tells the reader of the newspaper “New Education” about the peacekeeping activities of the Fund "Sukhumi" - mainly about the new project “Bridging the Gap: People to People Initiatives for Conflict Resolution”.
It covers a series of trainings conducted for youth initiative groups.
The role of young people is special in this work. The article emphasizes their interest: to learn more about the conflict and discuss current topics, their desire is: to take initiatives and become peacemakers...
This is the new website of the Fund "Sukhumi" - "Digital resource center of the services for violence victims."
This platform contains the following information: services for violence victims, legislation, national referral mechanism, publications (reports and researches), mobile application and hotline numbers, answers to various questions, innovations.
The aim of the website is to improve accessibility to all types of services to protect the victims (survivors) of violence against women and domestic violence.
The website was created with the support of the Equality Fund (Canada) and currently works in a test mode.
“Tolerance and conflict” - this topic was discussed in the village Lia (Tsalenjikha municipality) with the youth initiative group.
At the end of the meeting, the general mood of the participants was as follows: you should treat people the way you want them to treat you - these are the words of great importance. We must respect each other. We can create a tolerant society ...
The second meeting was held with the women initiative group of the village Pakhulani (Tsalenjikha municipality). An assessment of the technical side of the women’s needs research was made. The group members, who participated in the research talked about the process of implementation, about the obstacles and what contributed to the work.
The meeting participants also touched upon the plans. It was noted that the work of the groups is quite effective.
Changes in the working plan was discussed during the meeting of Vani working group. It was noted that the plan should reflect the issues, the solution of which is under their competence: the problems identified during the first local needs research and the recommendations of the third monitoring of public administration reform. There was also a conversation regarding the website of the municipality, which is being updated at this stage. It was decided that the members of the group will be involved in posting information on the page.
Vani working group contributes to the implementation of public administration reform with its activities.
The needs research is completed, the problem is identified, and advocacy process starts.
How to plan the advocacy process, what are the principles should be envisaged when forming the messages, what arguments can prove the urgency and priority of the problem? Online trainings on these issues were held on May 21 and 25 for women initiative groups of Imereti and Samegrelo.
Participants worked on specific issues, identified the details of advocacy campaign.
The feedback showed that the training was fruitful:
“As a community leader, I should have known and already know about the ways of advocacy. It will help me in responding to problems".
“I got acquainted with the specifics of the advocacy plan. I especially liked the practical part of the training and learned a lot".
Representatives of the Civil Society Organizations are actively involved in the process of local needs assessment in eight municipalities of Western Georgia. They attended a workshop on online – survey, which was implemented using the google form. The participants got acquainted with the functionality and capabilities of the Google form, the principles of work. Much attention was paid to the transfer of the received data into an electronic list and their preparation for further processing.
The workshop was conducted in an interactive format, the participants had the opportunity to ask questions and get answers through practical examples.
A training on “Regional needs assessment with participation of a wide civil society - for the implementation of the Roadmap (PAR) at the local level (organized by the Fund of Women Entrepreneurs). The training was attended by 35 people from 3 regions (Imereti, Guria, Racha-Lechkhumi). The training covered both: theoretical part of the needs research of target groups (transparency, efficiency, inclusiveness), and practical work to develop a research questionnaire and discuss working versions. The training discussed the following issues: processing of primary reports, preparation of recommendations, methods of conducting focus groups and in-depth interviews.
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”.
On June 1, a meeting of the mobilizers from Kutaisi, Vani, Terjola, Bagdati, Tkibuli, Senaki, Chokhatauri, Kobuleti, Tsalenjikha, Zugdidi Women Support Centers was held. The participants of the meeting summarized the month's work: they exchanged information and talked about the difficulties they meet in the field in terms of identifying the problem of violence.
At the end of the meeting, the participants discussed the plan for the next month. Their suggestions are reflected in the working module, which will increase the efficiency of the work.
The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot
für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)
The round table, which was held in Chokhatauri, was attended by the leaders of the municipality, members of the Gender Equality Council, representatives of the police, educational and medical institutions. They got acquainted with the document “Monitoring of Services for the Victims - Support Services for Victims of Domestic Violence and Existing Challenges” prepared by the Fund “Sukhumi”.
It was noted that the situation in the municipality in terms of cooperation of local referral entities is not bad. There are also budget programs, which gives possibility to see the victim's problems, respond to them, and help the victim in employment in the long - term prospect.
Insufficient response from the side of the society itself to the facts of violence was mentioned as the biggest challenge, and a serious need for information and educational work was highlighted. It was said that the experience of the Fund "Sukhumi" in this regard will be very useful for the municipality.