An information meeting of Fund “Sukhumi” representatives with the gender equality Council of Bagdati Municipality was held in the meeting room of the Resource Centre. The conversation was about gender oriented policy of the municipality, experiences and challenges as well as work experiences of Gender Councils of other municipalities.

The main part of the meeting was dedicated to consideration of a draft of Gender Policy Action Plan. Main directions, goals and activities were defined.

The meeting was held in the frames of the project "Learning from the experience of Visegrad 4 to advocate for equal, inclusive and democratic local governance".

The project is implemented with the support  of the Visegrad Fund

Fund Sukhumi organized an information meeting with the Gender Equality Council of Lanchkhuti Municipality.

Participants of the meeting discussed Strategic Guidance on local gender policy elaborated by Fund “Sukhumi”, including such issues as: gender mainstreaming at local level, what should individuals, working in this direction take into consideration, what means gender focus in the budget etc. A draft of the Gender Action Plan of the Council was also reviewed. Main directions of the Council’s activity were defined.  

The meeting was held in the frames of the project "Learning from the experience of Visegrad 4 to advocate for equal, inclusive and democratic local governance.

The project is implemented with the support  of the Visegrad Fund

In order to enable civil society organizations in the South Caucasus and Central Asia to work on peacekeeping, for transformation of conflicts peace education, to cooperate and share best practices, lessons learned online and offline, and to discuss key issues related to civil society, the second meeting of the Regional Peacekeeping Platform in Tbilisi was held from May 28 - 31.

The platform included two organizations from Armenia, two from Georgia and one from Kyrgyzstan. As a result of the meeting, a Memorandum of Cooperation was discussed and adopted. The meeting was attended by the Chairperson of the Fund "Sukhumi" Alla Gamakharia and the assistant - Larisa Shengelia.

NGO partnership organized by the NGO “Women for Development” (Armenia) with the support of BfdW (Germany)

 

  

On the initiative of the Fund “Sukhumi”, a meeting was held in the municipality of Tkibuli, with the participation of the top figures from the local self-government, representatives of the local Sakrebulo and City Hall, the local department of the Social Service Agency, members of the municipal Gender Equality Council, and local NGOs.

The general principles of the manual for gender strategies at the local level, developed by the Fund "Sukhumi", have been introduced to the public during the meeting that was followed by an interesting discussion, held during the meeting on gender policy and practice, experiences and challenges in the municipality. Participants talked about the needs identified in terms of more effective social policy.

As it turned out, the municipality has a very good practice of promoting social services for local vulnerable groups aiming at supporting social integration of women, youth and especially the elderly. According to the representatives of the Fund "Sukhumi", it is easy to introduce gender-sensitive approaches in places where there is a fair social practice focused on vulnerable groups, and there are numerous examples of this in Tkibuli, thanks to the Social Engagement Project implemented by PIN (People in Need), which had met the respective political will on the part of the local self-government.

The project is implemented with the support  of the Visegrad Fund

The Fund "Sukhumi" held a roundtable meeting in Zestaponi Municipality on the topic of “the implementation of gender approaches in local politics (Gender Mainstreaming)”. Together with the representatives of the local municipality and civil groups, the representatives of the Kharagauli and Baghdati Municipalities also attended the meeting.

The principles of the manual for gender strategies at the local level, developed by the Fund "Sukhumi" and four main areas - what issues should be reflected in local political strategy and action plans, and who is the manual for - have been introduced during the meeting.

Interesting discussions were held during the roundtable meeting on gender policy and practice, experiences and challenges in municipalities. Participants talked about the needs identified in terms of gender education of personnel, gender budgeting, and needs assessment methodology and stressed the necessity of cooperation with qualified non-governmental sector. The outlines of the future work have been identified. Particular recommendations have been discussed, which, in the opinion of the participants, would necessarily affect the condition of women, youth and other groups.

The meeting was held as part of the project “Learning from the experience of Visegrad Four to advocate for equal, inclusive and democratic local governance”.

The project is implemented with the support  of the Visegrad Fund

On May 27, the guests from Austria - 18 representatives of the trade union visited the Fund “Sukhumi”. They familiarized with basic directions of the organization, which has 20 years of experience. Guests spoke about their activities, current projects and expressed the desire for future cooperation.

Inclusion of local government in the implementation of law - combating violence, victims’  assistance and prevention. Focus groups and in-depth interviews in Tskaltubo, Khoni, and Kutaisi were held as part of monitoring Georgian Law on: “Elimination of Domestic Violence / Violence against Women, Protection and Assistance to the victims". The positions of Gender Equality Councils of municipalities were revealed.

In order to receive detailed information, an in-depth interview was held with the gender adviser of the Department for connection with Local Governments of the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure. The policy of the Ministry in this direction was defined.

The Swedish women organization Kvinna till Kvinna has been supporting the fund “Sukhumi” since 2002. On May 2, the field representative of Kvinna till Kvinna to Georgia - Joanna Arkasen had a business visit to the Fund “Sukhumi”.

The meeting was attended by the chairpersons of the organization and the staff members who are included in the project. Participants of the meeting spoke about the details of the current project and the prospects for expanding future cooperation.

On May 11, a conference on “the Experience of Visegrad Four and Georgia to Advocate for Equal, Inclusive and Democratic Local Governance” was held in Tbilisi. Representatives of various embassies, international and local NGOs, and government authorities participated in the conference, together with the representatives from 15 municipalities of Western Georgia. Experts from Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Georgia made 8 presentations on public participation in decision-making process, gender mainstreaming, participatory budgeting and other topical issues.

The participants asked the experts questions regarding the topical issues and received answers that were based on the experience of 5 countries.

The project is implemented with the support  of the Visegrad Fund

 

  

The final conference of the project "Inclusion of NGOs working on issues of social protection in the strategic dialogue in Georgia" was held at the initiative of the international organization PIN (People in Need) in Tbilisi - with participation of target organizations, including the fund “Sukhumi”, beneficiaries, governmental structures and embassies accredited in Georgia.

During the event there were held a presentations of representatives of target municipalities, teams of project executors.

The Mayor of the municipality of Khoni Lado Jurkhadze told about the importance and results of the project, he positively evaluated the efforts of the organization PIN, fund “Suklhumi”, Khoni Advisors’ Council and presented changes that were reflected in local social policy.