In order to help, you must first find the one who most of all needs compassion, support, empowerment.
In order to empower, you need to know what she needs more!
You must offer what will strengthen her most.
In order to give the support more effect, you need to have allies.
This is a brief concept of the activities of Women Support Centers. The mobilizers of the Women Fund "Sukhumi" operate with this strategy in all ten municipalities (Samtredia, Terjola, Bagdati, Vani, Tkibuli, Senaki, Zugdidi, Tsalenjikha, Kobuleti, Chokhatauri).
The "discovery" of a victim of domestic violence remains a challenge to this day. They are everywhere, next to us, in front of us, but it is still difficult to see them. Because they are silent, they do not trust anyone.
There is a lot of work to do in terms of identifying cases of violence, because the scale of the problem is still not recognized in society. All information related to assistance to a victim of violence is important – the mobilizers of the Women Support Centers agree with this opinion, who meet monthly with women of different ages and professions.
Information is distributed quickly and reaches the addressee in a timely manner. Identified cases are recorded in the Women Support Centers of Tsalenjikha, Samtredia, Vani, Tkibuli and Zugdidi. The response process continues accordingly until the victim has received all available services. There are already results - some of the beneficiaries completed a course in psychology and some received legal advice.
The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot
für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)
The Delegation of the European Union to Georgia hosted a high-level conference on "Women's participation in politics".
The meeting was held in hybrid mode and was attended by women in politics, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Human Rights, Chairman of the Parliamentary Gender Equality Council, activists of civil society organizations, experts, representatives of international organizations, and 12 embassies accredited in Georgia.
Ekaterine Gamakharia, a representative of the Women's Fund "Sukhumi", though online format, emphasized that political empowerment and participation of such marginalized groups as conflict-affected women, IDPs, and people living in remote regions are not paid sufficient attention, and the need to promote the political participation of this category of women is essential.
The last training from the cycle of trainings organized by the Women Fund "Sukhumi" was held In the Zoom format - this time for the heads of administrative units and specialists from the services of the municipalities of Tkibuli, Kobuleti, Chokhatauri and Tsalenjikha.
The training covered the following issues: the role of local governments in achieving gender equality, prevention and response to domestic violence; forms of civic participation, mechanisms of protection from violence, cooperation with the referral entities in identifying cases of violence and assistance to the victim.
The training participants were introduced to the innovative platform - the web page "Digital Resource Center for Victims of Violence" created by the Women Fund "Sukhumi". The web page gives information to the victim of violence and the person who is interested in her assistance about existing services, protection mechanisms and other relevant topics.
The pandemic prevented the work of the forum - theater. Now pleasant innovations have begun: the group was filled with new actors, new scenes were written, rehearsals and performances were updated. In March, the forum - theater held two performances in Kutaisi, in the open air.
The group of young actors is planning an even more active spring - they will travel to different municipalities, show the viewer scenes on actual topics, and then there will be discussions so that everyone can see the problems and ways to solve them...
The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot
für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)
The lawyer of the Women Fund "Sukhumi" held consultation meetings for the beneficiaries of the Women Support Centers of Tkibuli, Terjola and Senaki.
The lawyer also gave three online legal consultations to the beneficiaries of the Women Support Centers of Samtredia, Vani and Chokhatauri - on the issues of changing the surname, also alimony and divorce.
The lawyer actively worked in the rehabilitation center together with a social worker and psychologist of the Women Fund “Sukhumi”. Women-victims of domestic violence living in the center, received the legal consultations on interesting issues.
The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot
für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)
"Today I saw my responsibilities in a different prism; I realized that a lot depends on me in terms of having an active population in the community".
"I have heard topics that I have heard about, but it turns out I did not know them."
"Representatives of the Mayor are the implementers of our policies in their community, so it is important for us to help them to improve their skills"...
These are the evaluations of the participants. The online training was attended by 82 people from Bagdati, Vani and Terjola municipalities: representatives of the Mayor in the village (55 participants) and their assistants. They were provided with information on a variety of issues, including:
The psychologist of the Women Fund "Sukhumi" held offline meetings organized by Tkibuli and Terjola Women Support Centers. Online group meetings were held with the beneficiaries of Chokhatauri, Bagdati and Khurcha (Zugdidi municipality) Women Support Centers.
The work was also carried out in other directions: online sessions with two married couples, online individual psychotherapeutic sessions with participation of 18 beneficiaries from the regions and 13 from Kutaisi. In March, 5 people addressed a psychologist for the first time.
32 years old: “Thank you for your great work and your time. I not only got rid of fear, but also matured for big changes in my life, I began to enjoy the little things,” these are the words of one of the beneficiaries.
The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot
für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)
She is one of the students, who is passing a course on working with polymer clay. The course is successfully functioning in the Day Rehabilitation Center of the Women Fund "Sukhumi".
- You can't imagine how my life improved, it turns out that many diseases really start from fears and stress. I am very grateful for my better health, restful sleep- she says.
This is one of the results of the work of a psychologist with the beneficiaries of the Day Center. The psychologist conducts a weekly rehabilitation session with victims of domestic violence from families living below the poverty line. Together with the psychologist, a social worker and a lawyer from the Women Fund “Sukhumi” are actively involved in the work.
The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot
für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)
The WAVE Network, which brings together more than 150 NGOs working on issues of violence against women, organized a meeting to support and solidarity with Ukrainian women and children. The purpose of the meeting was to receive information from our Ukrainian colleagues on the urgent needs of women and children as a result of the war in Ukraine and to exchange information on existing support initiatives from partners. Network members discussed future strategies for providing more effective assistance and support.
Eka Gamakharia, a representative of the Women's Fund "Sukhumi", shared with her colleagues the specific initiatives that are being implemented by the organization to support the population of Ukraine and the Ukrainian refugees in Georgia - providing financial resources and humanitarian aid to the population in occupied Melitopol. Assistance in purchasing necessary items and products for Ukrainian refugees in Kutaisi, paying temporary rent, and employment. Also, offer a consultation with a psychologist.