Women support centers - following the challenges

Violence against women continues to be the main topic of information meetings of the Women Support Centres. Problems regarding the identification of cases of violence and the lack of information about victim support services still remain.

In order to overcome these problems, Women Support Centers are actively working in villages, in different communities. They help to identify active, leader women in the field. The necessary information is disseminated.

Women Support Centers of Samtredia, Chokhatauri, Terjola and Khurcha (Zugdidi Municipality) already have results in identifying new cases and providing assistance to victims.

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 project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot

 für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)