US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly C. Degnan attended the presentation of the Women Fund “Sukhumi” project in Kutaisi. The meeting was held at the office of the project partner - the Association "Peaceful and Business Caucasus" with the participation of representatives of USAID and the US Embassy in Georgia.

The Women Fund "Sukhumi" and the Association "Peaceful and Business Caucasus" presented the results of the USAID project, achieved during the two-year work.

US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly C. Degnan thanked the project representatives for their good and important work in strengthening the capacity of civil society, developing economic and medical directions, for helping to restore confidence and strengthen lasting peace.

During the meeting, gratitude was expressed to the US Embassy for almost the first serious support to the Fund “Sukhumi”, which made it possible to strengthen the organization and create a good background. Subsequently, the Embassy repeatedly financed important project proposals of the Fund "Sukhumi" to support and protect women's rights.

The project is implemented with the support of the USAID

Information meetings on the issues of violence were held at the social agency of Senaki municipality and online with a group from Zugdidi municipality. Representatives of various vulnerable groups actively participated.

On the background of frequent cases of femicide in the country, the web page of the Women Fund "Sukhumi" - "Digital Resource Center of Services for Violence Victims" aroused great interest of the audience. The participants believe that information about this page should be delivered to the general public - this will have a positive impact in terms of violence prevention.

The project is implemented with the support the Equality Fund (Canada)

5 people spent 10 November days in our rehabilitation center - three elderly women and two grandchildren of one of the grandmothers. Everyone tried to create family comfort in the center - delicious dinners were prepared for the guests. A social worker, a lawyer and a psychologist were actively involved in the process of women's rehabilitation and a teacher worked with the children. The work was carried out in direction of traumas, fears, resentment, stress and self-esteem.

The women shared their impressions:

- I have been to many places in my life, but I have never felt such a warm attitude anywhere, the advice of a psychologist is very important to me. Thank you so much for being so attentive and kind.

- Elderly people need warmth. There is a lot of warmth here - especially warm human attitude. Everyone helps, smiles, tries to please you. My soul is rejuvenated and renewed.

- For many years I suffered from psychological abuse from family members. And only now I realized that I need to love myself - that's how I was taught here and I will live by this principle.

The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot

 für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)

In the framework of the global 16-day campaign against gender-based violence, the monitoring group of the Women Fund "Sukhumi" held an information meeting in the school of the village Etseri (Terjola municipality), which was attended by teachers and upper graders.

The meeting focused on the importance of the problem of violence and the timeliness of the response. The participants got acquainted with the monitoring results of the work of departments for the protection of children's rights and their support. There was a conversation about the services, achievements and tasks of the department. It was revealed that many people do not know about the departments, so it is necessary to disseminate information. It was considered important that departments have the resources to empower vulnerable families.

The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot

 für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)

Linda Chikhladze, the representative of the Women's Fund "Sukhumi'' was invited to the working meeting held to develop the 2022-2025 gender strategy action plan of the Tbilisi Municipality Assembly. The meeting was chaired by Tinatin Nibloshvili, head of the Gender Equality Council of Tbilisi Municipality. The meeting was attended by Nino Burdzenidze, adviser to the city mayor on gender issues, Indira Robakidze - head of the Tbilisi Crisis Center, Ana Margiani - representative of the Academy of the Ministry of Finance, Sophia Chokheli -  representative of the Human Rights Protection and Monitoring Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Anna Lobzhanidze - representative of the Office of the Public Defender of Georgia.

Council members and invited guests talked about the five main goals of the action plan project, goals, objectives and forms of activities to be implemented.

On November 25, a march of the women's movement against sexual violence was held. Together with other solidarity groups, the Tbilisi representative office of the Women's Fund "Sukhumi" joined the march. The organizers and participants of the rally say that sexual acts with a woman without her consent are rape and violence. According to their own statement, this is recognized by international conventions and courts, but Georgian legislation does not recognize it.

Within the 16 days campaign against gender violence on November 25, the Anti-Violence Network of Georgia presented the program fathers violence behavior and correction, aiming to correct the behavior of fathers and support to become  as a supportive father. At the meeting, our representative - Linda Chikhladze, based on the findings of the monitoring report of the Women's Fund "Sukhumi" - “Importance of Behavior Change Programs of the Perpetrator at an Early Stage and Existing Best Practices", offered recommendations to the attendees about the importance of implementing the mentioned program at an early stage.

At the Peace & Justice café (Hague, Netherlands), in person and online discussion about diverse topics with involvement of wide spectrum of civil society organizations, academia, young activists, students from different countries was held.

The main idea of the event was to discuss the advances and challenges on the path towards gender justice, the ways in which women’s involvement affects and strengthens peace processes, and to gain insights from organizations across sectors making a difference.

With the support of the UN Women Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, one of the roundabout was moderated by the representative of Women Fund "Sukhumi" -Ekaterine Gamakharia. The topic of discussion was "Translating WPS commitments to results – women’s solidarity and joint actions".

During round table, the barriers to women’s meaningful participation in leadership and decision-making, community mobilization and international standards for making women’s contribution visible and recognized, importance of promoting intergenerational cooperation and creating favorable conditions for youth involvement were discussed.

The Peace & Justice Café provides series of networking event cross-sectoral connection and collaboration for a more peaceful and just world. Launched by the Hague Humanity Hub in collaboration with the Municipality of The Hague, it engages the peacebuilders, justice innovators, researchers, humanitarians, impact entrepreneurs, policy makers, and other changemakers from The Hague and beyond.

The Human Rights Protection and Investigation Quality Monitoring Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia (MIA) held a meeting with the Task Force on Ending Violence against Women and Girls (Task Force on EVAWG). Representatives of the international, non-governmental organizations working on EVAWG and the Public Defender's Office of Georgia also participated in the workshop. They discussed the outcome of the activities carried out in combating domestic violence and/or violence against women in recent years, the existing challenges and ways forward. The meeting was held with the initiative of the MIA, in cooperation with UN Women, within the framework of the UN Joint Programme "For Gender Equality" supported by Sweden.

In her speech, Linda Chikhladze focused on the need for additional child care services for the economic empowerment of women, and on the importance of early implementation of programs to correct the behavior of perpetrators for the effective prevention of violence against women.

Brother and sister, doctors from Ukraine. They faced the horrors of war and miraculously survived. In September they arrived from Kharkov to Kutaisi. Their parents worked here as military doctors, they finished from school in Kutaisi, they have friends and acquaintances here.

They told psychologist Manana Gotsiridze that they still wake up from the voice of a siren, a harbinger of death.

“It is hard to imagine whether our city will return its former beauty. Almost all residential buildings were destroyed In Kharkov. There are a lot of stones, glass, iron everywhere... The inhabitants faced the second wave of psychosis when they realized that the war could go on for a long time. War is the fear that the enemy can rape, kill. This is a state of hopelessness. Even after it ends, it will affect the psychics of people for a long time.”

These are the words of our beneficiaries.

All feelings of Ukrainians are similar. Pain, anxiety... There is also some joys for the fact that some towns and villages are returning.