Everyone should take their own responsibility - plant a tree, green the environment, take care of nature - this was the aim of the campaign dedicated to the week of the Day of Earth. Kutaisi Youth Club of the Women Fund "Sukhumi", in cooperation with Kutaisi Public Schools #32 named after Avtandil Dekanoidze and Public Schools #6 of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia named after Zhiuli Shartava, organized a greening campaign. Pupils, together with the teacher Lela Bregadze, planted Georgian walnut seedlings in the school yard and in the yard of the rehabilitation center of the Fund “Sukhumi”. Families residing in the rehabilitation center also participated in the event.
"Evidence-based advocacy process" - training on this topic was conducted with the members of Senaki women initiative group. What does the process of problem advocacy mean and how important is it to be based on evidence - the participants heard information about these issues. On the same day, a meeting with members of the youth group was held in Senaki. The participants worked on the plan of project activities. The persons responsible for the organizational issues were determined and the functions and duties were distributed.
A project supported by the Equality Fund (Canada) continues.
The main goal of the project is to provide access for women victims/potential victims of violence and other stakeholders to a wide range of information related to domestic violence (legal mechanisms for domestic violence/ violence against women, victim support services, referral entities, etc.) for the prevention and appropriate response to violence against women.
The project will be implemented during 3 years in 10 municipalities of Western Georgia (Vani, Bagdati, Samtredia, Terjola, Tkibuli, Tsalenjikha, Senaki, Zugdidi, Kobuleti, Chokhatauri).
Within the framework of the project, the website “Digital Resource Center for the Services of Violence Victims” will continue to function https://sosfsokhumi.ge/
Systematic assessment of the risks of domestic violence and violence against women will be carried out in the above mentioned municipalities.
Didinedzi Youth Club works on the activities planned by the project. The goal of the project is to create a healthy inclusive environment for pupils with special needs. It is necessary to raise awareness in the school community (teacher, pupil, parent), which will help to develop and establish the correct communication methods. Using the forum theater method, performances will be shown, a discussion will be held regarding the existing problem and its solution. As for Didinedzi women initiative group, they conducted research on the topic - assessment of the quality of human security and gender needs of the population in Zugdidi municipality. As a result, the problems that are relevant in the community were highlighted. An advocacy plan will be developed for their solution.
Koki women initiative group - Zugdidi municipality conducted a research on the topic - assessment of the quality of human security and gender needs of the population in Zugdidi municipality. As a result, the problems of the community were highlighted. An advocacy plan will be developed to solve them. "Identifying misinformation and finding correct, verified information" - Koki Youth Club plans to implement this project. How to distinguish correct and incorrect information in the modern information age, how to avoid conflict situations based on misinformation - young people will prepare scenes for the forum theater on these issues.
On May 1, 2023, Ekaterine Gamakharia, the representative of the Women's Fund "Sukhumi", attended the presentation of the thematic inquiry report - "The Accessibility to Financial Resources for Women and Girls" presented by the GEC member, Ana Natsvlishvili, which was held at the Writers' House of Georgia.
The main speaker of the thematic inquiry group, Ana Natsvlishvili, together with the expert, introduced the inquiry outcomes and key findings. She emphasized the multi-sectoral format of work on the inquiry and noted that women's empowerment needs a systemic approach from the state, as well as a unified clear vision and policy. As elucidated, the inquiry included meetings with the representatives of the state institutions, the banking sector, civil society, and donor organizations. The Group held thematic meetings in 9 municipalities with the entrepreneur women, local authorities, and society, where the head of the Women Fund "Sukhumi" Tbilisi office also participated and shared information about the challenges of displaced and conflict-affected women with the inquiry group.
The thematic inquiry report is available here:
Ekaterine Gamakharia, the representative of the Women's Fund "Sukhumi" Tbilisi office, participated in the two-day seminar held during the Council of Europe Visibility Week on April 27-28, within the framework of the cooperation of the Council of Europe Congress and the National Association of Local Authorities of Georgia. The seminar was held within the framework of the "Strengthening Participatory Democracy and Human Rights at the Local Level in Georgia" project, the main topic of which was the strengthening of inclusive communication.
One of the workshop sessions was dedicated to the participants of the local authorities using the "Living Library" method to get to know the personal stories of various vulnerable groups, the challenges they face, and their visions of solving the problems.
Ekaterine Gamakharia, the representative of the Women's Fund "Sukhumi", presented the challenges of the displaced woman to the representatives of the municipality, and spoke about the need for the participation of the displaced people, including women and girls, in the process of developing local policies, and the need to introduce municipal services and social programs to solve the problems they face.
Training courses continued actively. Another five meetings were held in the Youth Empowerment Centers of Bagdati, Vani, Samtredia, Chokhatauri and Senaki.
School directors, teachers, representatives of youth services took part in the trainings. The process was interesting and fruitful in all municipalities.
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)
The total number of participants of 10 trainings held in April is 266 people. Everyone showed great interest towards the training course. This is very important to us and always gives more effect to our work.
The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot
für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)
Екатерине Гамахария, руководитель Тбилисского представительства Женского фонда «Сухуми», приняла участие в рабочей встрече гендерной тематической группы - женщины, мир и безопасность. Заседание проходило под председательством Тамар Лобджанидзе, аналитика программы «ООН-женщины» в Грузии и Регины Егоровой-Аскеровой, старшего офицера программы Kvinna till Kvinna на Южном Кавказе.
Представитель Тбилисского офиса Женского фонда «Сухуми» обратила внимание на проблемы передвижения населения, разделенного конфликтом с обеих сторон, ограничения, введенные на перевозки грузов для населения на линии раздела, а также на необходимость повышения информированности, навыков и компетенций в плане конфликто-сенситивных принципов для представителей госинститутов, в том числе представителей сектора безопасности, включенных в процесс восстановления доверия.
