“I am passionate about contributing to a peaceful, just, and progressive society, in which women, together with men, are able to make a difference through their activism. I firmly believe that peace and security cannot be sustained unless women have an equal and active role in political, economic, and social policy formulation.”
This is an excerpt from Ekaterina Gamakharia's speech.
On March 25 Ekaterine Gamakharia, Head of the Tbilisi office of the Fund "Sukhumi", participated in an online discussion, held within the framework of the 65th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW65).
In her speech, Ekaterine spoke about the devastating impact of the pandemic, revealed as a result of the rapid response research carried out by the Fund "Sukhumi", as well as about the economic situation of IDPs and conflict-affected women. She stressed the role of women and their participation in policy-making, which plays a critical role in overcoming the crisis.
Familiarization with local and central services, identification of problems for advocacy - these issues were discussed at mobilization meetings in March.
An active communication was held with members of local governments in order to receive information. The meetings were conducted by mobilizers of the Fund "Sukhumi" Women Support Centers in Kutaisi, Tskaltubo, Khoni, Terjola, Senaki, Poti, Zugdidi, Ozurgeti, Lanchkhuti and Kobuleti municipalities. The meetings were also attended by a lawyer, a psychologist and a conflictologist of the organization, who provided the participants with information on the mechanisms for the elimination of violence.
March was an active month for the forum-theater: casting, rehearsals, performances...
After the casting, new actors appeared in the group, who have already joined the work.
After a long pause, the first trip was in one of Kutaisi parks - the performances were held in the open air.
A new initiative of the Fund "Sukhumi" will be implemented soon - a puppet theater will be created. The scenario on the basis of Georgian fairy tale "Gvriti" (turtledove) is already written ...
Forum-theater, shadow theater, puppet theater – this is a variety, offered by the young actors to the audience.
"Young leaders for peace, tolerance and non-violent culture" - this is the name of new project of the Fund "Sukhumi".
First of all, schools and participants under the age group envisaged in the project - pupils of the eighth-eleventh grades were selected.
The project includes 8 schools of Kutaisi, Zugdidi and Tsalenjikha municipalities.
At the first stage of the work envisaged the survey on: how tolerant, sociable and peaceful adolescents are and how they contribute to the formation of a non-violent culture.
Fifty questionnaires are filled in, they are in the process of adaptation and in parallel, preparation for the next project activities is underway.
The newspaper "New Education" actively publicizes the work of the Fund "Sukhumi". The first article, published in March, presents a mini-film "Gender stereotypes and the role of schools in their elimination."
The second article "Online Conference - Conflict Management and Violence Prevention" is dedicated to the final conference of the five-month work with the youth of Western Georgia.
Collaboration with the newspaper began in February and 4 articles have already been published. The wide audience of “New Education” got acquainted with the direction of work with youth and saw the importance of non-formal education in the process of breaking stereotypes, managing conflicts and preventing violence.
The Fund "Sukhumi", with participation of members of Gender Equality Council of Sanaki municipality, held a round table on: “Strengthening the role and functions of the Gender Equality Council in the process of introducing local gender policy”.
The meeting discussed the strategy and various initiatives that will give more effect to the work of the Gender Equality Council. Particular attention was paid to planning of the existing resources for implementation of the plan for 2022, as well as to the issue of maximum involvement of the units responsible for the implementation of the plan.
“Strengthening the role and functions of the Gender Equality Council in the process of introducing local gender policy” - a round table on this topic was held with participation of representatives of Khoni Gender Equality Council, local self-government and civil activists.
The municipality makes important changes in terms of reorganizing the Council, creating thematic groups, choosing their strategies and initiating local programs with target on vulnerable groups. Particularly important for the participants was the question of how the budgetary support of the issues, envisaged in the plan should be carried out, as well as the issue of maximum involvement of the units responsible for the implementation of the plan.
Ekaterine Gamakharia, Head of the Tbilisi Representative Office of the Fund "Sukhumi" has participated in a meeting organized by the Association “Peaceful and Business Caucasus”. The meeting was dedicated to the situation of the fire-affected population in Gali district. The representative of Fund “Sukhumi” has made a presentation and informed meeting participants about key findings and urgent needs of fire-affected population reflected in the organization’s recently published rapid-assessment report.
The meeting was attended by the civil society organizations working on the issues of IDPs and conflict-affected population, representatives of the de jure authorities of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia, and the fire-affected persons.
The response strategies and actions of joint efforts were actively discussed during the meeting.
The beginning, as it often happens, was difficult.
The public administration reform was considered less important in the municipality... but the more they got familiarized with the information, the better it was shown what should be done.
The most important thing, that was done in Vani municipality:
The Code of Ethics for self-government public officials was developed and approved!
Vani Municipality is the first, among the municipalities of Western Georgia in this direction.
The document was prepared by the working group, established within the framework of the Fund “Sukhumi” project “A common forum for CSOs from Guria, Imereti and Racha-Lechkhumi for PAR Roadmap monitoring”.
Implementation of the action plan is one of the goals of Terjola working group. Several issues have already been completed, which were envisaged in the plan. Now they are working on the implementation of a participatory budget. The meeting, held in the municipality, discussed this issue and the following activities were planned: consultation with the Mayor, determination of the funds, formation of a competition commission, announcement of a competition. They are trying to resolve this issue by the end of April, so that soon one more point is fulfilled in the action plan.
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”.