On March 15, the OSCE Special Representative for the South Caucasus Mr. Rudolf Michalka and his accompanying persons - Siegfried Wober and Pietro Gvasiamacchia met with local NGOs in Kutaisi.

Thirteen NGOs working on IDP issues in Imereti region participated in the meeting held in the Fund "Sukhumi".

All participants were able to share their views on the problems of IDPs and talked about the challenges and possibilities of positive dynamics of the peace process.

A wide range of society in Tskaltubo municipality was provided with information on the work within the project “Strengthening the capacity of regional and local administrations in processes of localization of the National Action Plan 1325 Resolution  The UN Security Council and activation of dialogue and the participation of women, including the most marginalized ones, in these processes”.

The meeting was attended by deputies of the Parliament Tsotne Zurabiani and Genadi Margvelashvili, representatives of the local government, local women and IDP women, and young people. The meeting underlined a large role of NGOs in mainstreaming the issue. There was an opinion that in case of implementation of the Road Map, local government will take into account the needs of IDP women and girls.

The project is supported by US State Department and UN Women Organization

The meeting of Tskaltubo Gender Equality Council reviewed the action plan for 2019. Members of the working group, created in frames of the project for localization of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 were actively included in development of the plan. Therefore, Gender Equality Council plan included questions from the Roadmap prepared by the working group. The meeting underlined the role of Gender Equality Council in the process of localizing the action plan of Resolution 1325. The discussed plan was unanimously approved for presentation to Sakrebulo meeting.

The project “Strengthening of medical staff for the protection of violence victims” is carried out only in Kutaisi. In frames of the project, the publication “The role of medical staff in violence prevention” was prepared. The publication caused a great interest among the project participants, so they decided to distribute it to all regions where the Fund "Sukhumi" works. In January and February, the brochure was distributed to medical staff at healthcare institutions of nine municipalities in Western Georgia (Kutaisi, Tskaltubo, Khoni, Terjola, Senaki, Poti, Zugdidi, Lanchkhuti, Ozurgeti).

The purpose of the publication is to help medical professionals respond properly in cases of violence.

In frames of monitoring the Georgian Law on: “Elimination of Domestic Violence / Violence against Women, Protection and Assistance to the victims", the survey of medical personnel continues. 50 medical workers were inquired in In Senaki and Ozurgeti. Focus groups were held with doctors of different profiles in Lanchkhuti and Khoni municipalities.

This is how information is collected, how effectively the law works, how the medical sphere is involved in referral process. There were identified the issues that, according to the respondents, would promote to coordination of referral subjects, and inclusion of medical staff in identification and prevention of violence will be more effective.

Ozurgeti Center for Education and Equality held a discussion with members of the youth club “Orbit”.

- When talking about conflicts, one of the reasons is “language of hate”. Therefore, we chose an actual topic for discussion: “How to change the “language of hate”? - noted moderator Giorgi Chkhaidze.

The participants of the meeting talked a lot about the “language of hate” - in politics, media, between the conflicting parties, in social networks ...

And the ways out were thought together. Young people decided to influence their communication environment - in the family, at school, and not to allow "the language of hate".

At the end of the meeting, sky lanterns were lighted as peaceful messages.

The meeting was held in frames of the activities of the Coalition "Woman and peace". The Coalition included 10 women NGOs from 4 regions of Western Georgia (Imereti, Samegrelo, Guria, Ajaria).

The Gender Advisory Council, established by the Fund "Sukhumi” in 2013 has been actively working in Ozurgeti municipality for three years. On the basis of the Council, the Women's Public Union of Ozurgeti is being created. The union is one of the members of the Coalition “Woman and Peace” and at the end of the year, on December 27, it held an informational meeting during which the discussion mainly touched the future plans. According to the decision of the union, one of the emphasis will be placed on peacekeeping activities, work on human security issues. They are going to involve interested people from all over Guria (Ozurgeti, Lanchkhuti, Chokhatauri municipalities) - representatives of government agencies, NGOs, media, youth.

The meeting was held in frames of the activities of the Coalition "Woman and Peace". The Coalition included 10 women NGOs from 4 regions of Western Georgia (Imereti, Samegrelo, Guria, Ajaria).

A meeting of the working group established in frames of the project “Strengthening the capacity of regional and local administrations in processes of localization of the National Action Plan 1325 The UN Security Council and activation of dialogue and the participation of women, including the most marginalized ones, in these processes”.

The meeting was actively participated by temporal performer of duties of the Mayor of Zugdidi municipality – Maizer Nanava, Chairman of the Sakrebulo - Mamuka Tsotseria, and representatives of the non-governmental sector. The meeting was attended by representatives of donor organizations - the US State Department and the Women's Organization of UN Georgia: Jonathan Leips Hayes, Giorgi Gabunia, Anna Pashalishvili, Tamar Lobzhanidze. They were familiarized with the process of forming the “Roadmap” of the municipality for localizing UN Resolution 1325 and noted the importance of the Working Group activities.

The project is being implemented by the Coalition Union - the Association of Women IDPs “Consent” (Tbilisi), the Women's Information Center (Tbilisi) and Cultural-Humanitarian Fund “Sukhumi” (Kutaisi).

The Fund “Sukhumi” and the Working Group of Tsalenjikha municipality organized an informational meeting in the village Lia (in frames of the project “Strengthening the capacity of regional and local administrations in processes of localization of the National Action Plan 1325 The UN Security Council and activation of dialogue and the participation of women, including the most marginalized ones, in these processes”). The event was attended by local and internally displaced women and girls from the villages Lia and Pakhulani and citizens living beyond the de facto border. The meeting was also attended by representatives of donor organizations.

The conversation touched the working plan for the localization of Resolution 1325, its basic principles, issues for advocacy. The problems of IDPs living in compact conditions were particularly evident: hard living conditions, the uncertain prospect of resettlement. The big challenge is the question of movement, especially for those families whose children are moving from the territory of Gali to the school in the village Pakhulani.

An interesting dialogue took place on how to build closer communication between women’s groups and local/central authorities, facilitate the exchange of information, timely identification of needs and their effective advocacy, the partnership system, in order to attract additional resources for the implementation of various local initiatives listed in terms of localization .

The project is being implemented by the Coalition Union - the Association of Women IDPs “Consent” (Tbilisi), the Women's Information Center (Tbilisi) and the Cultural-Humanitarian Fund “Sukhumi” (Kutaisi).

Resolution 1325 of the UN Security Council, first of all envisages the increased attention to the problems of women living in conflict areas. That is why a meeting was held in the village Khurcha (Zugdidi Municipality) - women and girls were invited, as well as IDPs from nearby villages (Koki, Khurcha, Kakhati, Ganmukhuri, Orsantia, Didi Nedzi).

The meeting was attended by representatives of the US State Department and the UN Women's Organization. They listened attentively to the needs of women in terms of movement and health care. Solving these and other problems is very important for the safety and well-being of women and their families.

The meeting was held in frames of the project “Strengthening the capacity of regional and local administrations in processes of localization of the National Action Plan 1325 The UN Security Council and activation of dialogue and the participation of women, including the most marginalized ones, in these processes”.

The project is being implemented by the Coalition Union - the Association of Women IDPs “Consent” (Tbilisi), the Women's Information Center (Tbilisi) and Cultural-Humanitarian Fund “Sukhumi” (Kutaisi).