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.

“This phone has a quick SOS button, which will give me the strength to call people for help, and they will definitely help me.”

“I was told that our phone has a special function. Thank you for that."

“If I need legal advice, is it on the phone you gave me, if I need psychological advice? It is here too. Thanks for this. Maybe we should learn more and be better prepared against violence.”

Such emotions came from the beneficiaries during the next action.

Representatives of the Women Fund "Sukhumi" together with representatives of the local government distributed phones with SOS buttons to women from vulnerable groups in Kobuleti, Senaki, Samtredia, Bagdati, Terjola and Vani.

It has become a tradition to involve representatives of the City Hall, advisors, members of the gender equality council and specialists dealing with children's issues in our activities. The aim is for local authorities to care more about women victims and help them to solve problems.

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

A training on organizational development was held in Batumi. The following topics were discussed during the training: what is the scheme of roles in the organization, powers and responsibilities in the organization, how is the rule of exchanging information between different management levels determined, what is the optimal number of employees, what skills are necessary for them and how the results of the Fund activities be increased.

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

To assess the effectiveness and achievements of project activities, the monitoring group actively conducts internal monitoring. Lessons learned will also be identified, conclusions will be drawn and recommendations will be developed to improve the work.

An online survey in 10 target municipalities covered the direct beneficiaries of the project. To obtain qualitative information, 6 in-depth interviews and 4 focus groups were conducted with the participation of representatives of target city groups.

The monitoring participants emphasized the importance of the web page https://sosfsokhumi.ge/. It was noted that this is a serious information base in terms of domestic violence, and it was considered a priority to increase the scale of its popularization.

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

"The best practice of the support and assistance for the people affected by the war" - this was the topic of the training held for Fund "Sukhumi" staff.

Trainer Keti Vasadze provided the participants with the information about the program developed by the European Council and gave them the opportunity to discuss concrete ideas, actions and ways of advocacy through practical exercises with the involvement of interested parties, which will contribute to more effective support of people affected by the war.

Many positive examples were given about the activities of the Fund “Sukhumi” in terms of helping Ukrainian refugees and what certain steps should be taken in the future to give them possibility to find job and be integrated into the local community.

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

Teachers, parents, members of the Gender Equality Council took part in the information meetings held in the schools of Tkibuli and Senaki municipalities.

The topic of conversation was the importance of society's participation in elimination of the problem of violence against women. In this process, a certain role is assigned to the website of the Women Fund “Sukhumi” - "Digital Resource Center of Services for Violence Victims" https://sosfsokhumi.ge/Here you can find a lot of information that will help to determine ways of violence prevention or ways to respond to it. Participants noted how important the activity of each member of society is for problem solution.

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

The problem of violence against women and the importance of public participation in its elimination - meetings on this topic were held in Vani and Kobuleti. The meeting in the public school of the village Mtisdziri (Vani municipality) was attended by teachers and upper graders and in the kindergarten No 2 of Kobuleti, the coordinator of the children's rights department of the City Hall and the chairman of the Gender Equality Council, together with the staff.

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

Teachers, members of the Gender Equality Council, City Hall staff and representatives of the social agency participated in information meetings at the City Hall of Khobi municipality. An information meeting was also held at the public School No 3 - Samtredia and was attended by teachers and school administration.

During the meetings, it was noted that, envisaging the importance of the problem, it is important for everyone to take part in the campaign of 16 Active Days against Gender-based Violence.

The participants got acquainted with the digital resource center for violence victims https://sosfsokhumi.ge/, which aroused great interest. It was noted that it is important to disseminate information about this page so that both victims and abusers can receive information about mechanisms of protection and response. All this will contribute to the prevention of violence.

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

Two more information meetings were held in December with the support of the Equality Fund (Canada).

The first meeting was held in the conference hall of Chokhatauri City Council (participants: kindergarten teachers and directors), the second meeting was held in the school of the village Etseri - Terjola municipality (participants: high school students and teachers).

During the meeting they talked about the 16-day campaign against gender-based violence and the importance of community involvement in the process of eliminating violence. Everyone noted that active participation is needed in order to reveal the facts in time and then react to them.

The participants got interested in the web page of the Women Fund "Sukhumi" - https://sosfsokhumi.ge/, which contains comprehensive information about the mechanisms of response and victims’ support.

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

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)