On June 26-27, 2023, Ekaterine Gamakharia, the representative of the Women's Fund "Sukhumi," participated in a regional conference organized by the Global Network of Women Peace Builders (GNWP) and supported by the OSCE. Elene Rusetskaya, the head of the Women's Information Center, and Yulia Kharashvili, the head of the Displaced Women's Association "Consent," also attended the conference from Georgia.
The conference brought together women mediators and peace builders from the South Caucasus, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia. The primary objective of the regional conference was to develop a roadmap for civil society networking and advocacy in the field of peace building.
During the conference, the participants actively shared the progress of the implementation of the "Women, Peace and Security" agenda in their respective countries. They discussed existing experiences, challenges, and best practices related to participation in the peace-building and decision-making processes.
Family conflicts, discrimination, bullying, gender equality, femicide - these topical issues were chosen by young people for their mini-projects. Within the framework of the project, forum-theaters were created on the basis of Kutaisi, Khoni, Tskaltubo, Senaki, Zugdidi youth initiative groups. Two scenarios were prepared in each group. During two months, young people held 42 meetings using the forum-theatre format. Meetings were held in different locations: towns and villages schools, settlements, public places. Number of discussions was held on the issues of gender equality, bullying, domestic violence and femicide. During the meetings, the participants discussed the relevance of the problems and discussed ways to solve them.
Another informational online meeting was held with members of Zugdidi Women Initiative Group.
The meeting participants recalled the problems that have already been advocated and resolved. They also discussed priority issues and chose the most relevant ones.
Members of the initiative group discussed the ways of problem solution and will start working on specific activities.
The project is implemented with the support
of the UN Women organization
Psychologist Manana Gotsiridze worked in three directions in June:
- She met 5 beneficiaries of a day rehabilitation center who are learning how to work with polymer clay. She did some work with them to get rid of negative emotions, to reassess priorities and increase self-esteem.
She had daily interaction with the women in the rehabilitation center. Intensive work was carried out with traumas using various methods: art therapy, elements of cognitive-correctional psychology, psychological exercises and associative cards.
- 12 individual psychotherapy sessions were held online and 15 sessions with women living in Kutaisi. Three of them were new, and with the others, the previously started work continued.
35-year-old Khatuna passed psycho-rehabilitation for more than 6 months. After the death of her husband, she did not want to live, even her daughter irritated her, nothing pleased her, she did not believe that after the sessions of the psychologist there would be any positive changes. But working with different methods gave results: fear and irritation gradually disappeared, new priorities, new goals appeared. She thanks the psychologist for her humanity and professionalism, patience and invaluable assistance.
The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot
für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)
Women Support Center mobilizers took part in the training: "Evidence Based Advocacy", held in 10 target municipalities.
The training was aimed at strengthening the skills necessary for advocacy. Particular emphasis was placed on identifying and ranking the problems. The essence, stages and forms of evidence-based advocacy were discussed in detail.
Using practical examples, the participants discussed the factors hindering the advocacy process, identified target groups and stakeholders.
It was noted that participation in the training is important for representatives of the Women Support Centers, as they are actively involved in the process of forming municipal policy and advocating for local problems.
The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot
für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)
One of those, met by the psychologist of the Women Fund “Sukhumi” - Manana Gotsiridze in June, was 76-year-old Lyubov Maksimenko from the Mykolaev region. She lived in Tskaltubo, but 30 years ago she sold her apartment and moved to Ukraine. She lived happily, but when the situation escalated during the war, she came here, intending to stay for a while. She did not meet any of her acquaintances here, neither the new owners of her apartment, nor former neighbors, nor friends ... For some time she lived with the daughter of an old acquaintance, then the City Hall settled her in a hotel ... She decided to return home again. However, she did not have enough finances. Fund "Sukhumi" bought a bus ticket, gave food for the journey and sent her to Ukraine...
In June, the psychologist met with another 12 people - representatives of 5 families. The initial consultations, anamnesis, work with traumas and stress was started with them. Two beneficiaries have completed individual psychotherapy sessions and one continues to receive psychotherapy on Wednesdays. Also, all families received a set of humanitarian aid from our organization.
The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot
für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)
A meeting with Kemlin Furley, the representative of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Georgia was held In Kutaisi, at the head office of the Women Fund "Sukhumi". The meeting was also attended by a representative of the Georgian Red Cross Society Kutaisi branch.
Mrs. Kemlin was informed about the ongoing projects implemented by the Fund "Sukhumi" and the Red Cross for the assistance of Ukrainian refugees. The conversation touched upon the condition of Ukrainians, existing challenges and needs. Particular attention was paid to problems in terms of health and education and their advocacy at the national level.
The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot
für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)
Gender, gender-based violence, identification of violence, communication with a child and referral stages, legal mechanisms and the role of teachers in the prevention of violence, international documents - these issues were discussed at the training for teachers held in Kutaisi. The participants represented 5 municipalities: Senaki, Tsalenjikha, Terjola, Samtredia, Kobuleti.
At the meeting, the participants were also informed about the practical guide/toolkit: "Preventing and responding to gender-based violence in war and post-war settings - experiences and recommendations of women's NGOs", which was developed by the WAVE Network in collaboration with its four WAVE members in 2022 by the support of the OSCE. The Toolkit describes best practices and the strategies employed by the women's NGOs to prevent and respond to gender-based violence in different phases of conflict.
- Strategies during Wartime and emergency response settings were shared by Ukrainian and Armenian partners Sexual Assault Crisis Center (Yerevan, Armenia), Centre “Women’s Perspectives” (Lviv, Ukraine);
- Strategies during Protracted conflict were described by the Women's Foundation "Sukhumi" (Kutaisi, Tbilisi, Georgia);
- Strategies during Post-war and long-term perspective were based on the experience of the Bosnia-Herzegovina partner. Foundation United Women Banja Luka (Banja Luka, Bosnia & Herzegovina)
(A practical guide is available here https://www.osce.org/secretariat/530695)
Participants were actively involved in the training process, in discussions, sharing their experience with each other. According to them, the training will contribute to the destruction of gender stereotypes and the prevention of violence - the mechanisms of early identification and intervention.
It was noted that after the training they will introduce gender approaches in schools and will actively participate in the process of identifying cases of violence.
The project is implemented with the support the Equality Fund (Canada)
The groups were updated with new members and are already staffed with women who are ready for active work. They got acquainted with the municipal programs for social protection and health care. During the meetings, they talked about existing services and they used. All groups have identified issues that they will start advocating.
There are already first results: one woman was assisted with medicines, another - in resolving the housing issue.
Each result is a motivation to the next success.
Project Assistant Nino Chabukiani met with women self-assistance groups established in Vani and Senaki, also in Chokhatauri, Terjola, Kobuleti and Samtredia municipalities. Meetings were held by group leaders, representatives of our organization.
The project is implemented with the support the Equality Fund (Canada)
