Maka Jishkariani completed one of the courses of polymer clay at the Day Rehabilitation Center of the Women Fund “Sukhumi”. She had never done this before. During the course she differed from others. A few months later, an exhibition and sale of her products was arranged, and she had more motivation. Then she was offered to work as a teacher of the courses. She is already giving her knowledge and experience to the beneficiaries.

Now I have a special group - she says. Motivated, talented, hardworking women, with amazing ideas. They do their work with all their heart. Everyone understands from a half-word. They are very creative, creating examples of art...

They were brought from one of the municipalities of Western Georgia, where the Fund "Sukhumi" Women Support Center operates.

I. 37 years old - was the eldest in the family. She helped her father in raising younger brothers and sisters after her mother left the family. Since childhood, she has gone through suffering and trauma. She was married twice. She is a victim of violence. She looks after a niece with disabilities. Her second child has a problem with birth trauma. This is a family living below the poverty line.

A woman with three children stayed in the rehabilitation center of the Women Fund "Sukhumi" for 10 days. During this time, a comprehensive joint daily intensive psycho-rehabilitation was held. A psychologist, a lawyer and a social worker actively worked with the victim. For the first time, a teacher was included in the process. She took care of the children - played with them, conducted various activities.

Finally, live communication with the audience has begun!

April was especially active for the forum - theater. There were 4 performances: in the school of the village Didi Nedzi (Zugdidi municipality), in the conference hall of Zugdidi municipality, in Terjola Youth Center and in Kutaisi Central Park.

A live performance in front of the audience was important for the actors of the forum-theater. The audience was actively involved in the discussion. Young people frankly spoke about how important it is for society to be involved in violence prevention. It was noted that such real scenes give the viewer, especially teenagers, the opportunity to think and look for a way out.

The teachers, who attended the performances noted that it would be fine to invite the forum - in schools in order to have a positive impact on teenagers.

The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot

 für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)

Tekla Genelidze is a 17-year-old entrepreneur from the village of Fersati in Baghdati Municipality. She has been interested in winemaking from an early age and is actively involved in this business.

Women's Fund "Sukhumi" continues the campaign to break down gender stereotypes - to provide equality, tolerance, and a non-abusive environment in our society.

The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot

 für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)

Salome is a mother of two children. She lives in Vani municipality. Traces of violence on her life were reflected as a black spot.

For her, it is very difficult to remember the pleasant moments, she can not even remember the concrete reason or situation when violence started. But she remembers well, how the first verbal abuse transformed into physical violence. She was psychologically debilitated and could only be silent. She endured.

They lived together for five years, nothing changed for the better. The husband systematically abused. Life has become unbearable. Salome, with two children, moved to her mother. Stress has left its mark. Depression intensified. During a year no one knew that she was divorced. She suffered, did not leave the house, did not talk to anyone about it.

A friend invited her to one of the information meetings of the Fund "Sukhumi". She could not imagine that after a long time, she would break the silence. She talked about her problem and shared her pain for the first time. She felt that she had supporters.

She could not imagine that anyone would help her. When she was offered to have a meeting with a ps

The advocacy group of the Women Fund "Sukhumi" held the second meeting from the series of information meetings in Terjola municipality City Hall. Among the participants there were women living in the municipality, representatives of the City Hall and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, heads of departments, members of the Gender Equality Council.

The participants received information about two researches of the Women Fund "Sukhumi" - “Importance of Behavior Change Programs of the Perpetrator at an Early Stage and Existing Best Practices” and "Development of Child Care Services - to Promote Women's Employment and Ensure Effective Prevention and Response to Domestic Violence."

A short presentation familiarized the participants with the web page created by the Women Fund "Sukhumi" - "Digital Resource Center for Services of Victims of Violence" - www.sosfsokhumi.ge. During the meeting, flyers were distributed, and at the end there was an active discussion - they talked about the situation in the municipality in terms of domestic violence and assistance to victims.

The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot

 für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)

Another six-month work cycle is over. New groups were formed in Samtredia, Vani, Senaki, Tsalenjikha and Zugdidi municipalities and the first meetings were held. Conflict management and violence prevention - these topics were introduced to young people, they discussed, expressed their views.

The training process was successfully conducted in the youth empowerment centers. There were discussions, role-games, interactive work.

- Such trainings are important for us, we meet active peers, discuss new topics, we have interesting discussions, which gives us possibility to hold discussions with arguments and gives more information, - said the young people at the end of the meetings.

The trainers introduced all the groups to the website "Digital Resource Center of the Services for Victims of Violence" created by the Women Fund "Sukhumi" - http://gbvdigitalresourcecenter.ge/ Knowing this is important for young people to provide timely information to those who need it...

The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot

 für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)

In April, the advocacy group of the Women Fund "Sukhumi" planned a series of information meetings to raise the awareness of active groups of citizens and referral entities on the elimination of domestic violence/violence against women and assistance to the victim.

The meeting at the City Hall of Senaki Municipality was attended by women victims of violence, single mothers and mothers with many children, teachers and the City Hall staff.

The participants of the meeting got acquainted with the results of two researches conducted by the Women Fund "Sukhumi" - on the promotion of women's employment and childcare services, as well as the correction of the behavior of a perpetrator.

At the meeting, a short presentation of the digital resource center of the services for victims of violence was made. The participants were given flyers with detailed information about the web page - www.sosfsokhumi.ge.

The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot

 für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)

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)