A roundtable discussion was held in Bagdati with participation of the representatives of local self-government and civil society. During the meeting, a presentation was made on Bagdati working group, its activities and results. The report on the needs assessment and recommendations of the population in the process of public administration reform in the municipality has aroused great interest. Participants also learned about the work of civil society organizations registered in Bagdati in direction of informing the local population about public administration reform.
Interesting accents were placed on the round table, especially regarding the barriers that hinder the use of electronic services. According to the participants, this is related to the low level of awareness and the problem of internet providing. Special attention should be paid to these issues.
The needs research is completed, the problem is identified, and advocacy process starts.
How to plan the advocacy process, what are the principles should be envisaged when forming the messages, what arguments can prove the urgency and priority of the problem? Online trainings on these issues were held on May 21 and 25 for women initiative groups of Imereti and Samegrelo.
Participants worked on specific issues, identified the details of advocacy campaign.
The feedback showed that the training was fruitful:
“As a community leader, I should have known and already know about the ways of advocacy. It will help me in responding to problems".
“I got acquainted with the specifics of the advocacy plan. I especially liked the practical part of the training and learned a lot".
The third monitoring was completed in Khoni, Bagdati, Terjola, Vani, Ozurgeti, Lanchkhuti, Tsageri and Ambrolauri municipalities, which assessed the work of local government in terms of efficiency, transparency and inclusiveness. The monitoring was carried out by the Fund "Sukhumi" in partnership with Imereti Scientists’ Union “Spectri” and the Fund of Women Entrepreneurs.
The publication “Public Administration Reform (PAR) Roadmap Monitoring in 8 municipalities of Western Georgia” presents the report of the third monitoring: the progress, achieved after the second monitoring and recommendations for achieving better quality e-services in local municipalities.
The work is carried out in the framework of the project “A common forum for CSOs from Guria, Imereti and Racha-Lechkhumi for PAR Roadmap monitoring
Women initiative groups, organized by the Fund "Sukhumi" are actively involved in advocacy for the problems of IDP women, conflict-affected women, as well as citizens living near the conflict line.
They have a systematic dialogue with local authorities, structures on IDP issues, local and international non-governmental organizations. For the given moment, international organizations have become the "target" of the group members.
Nona Bukia, the leader of the women initiative group of the village Khurcha (Zugdidi municipality), had an opportunity to talk to the UN Resident Coordinator in Georgia Sabina Mahl, who met with representatives of local NGOs, IDP women and conflict-affected women in Anaklia.
The participants of the meeting discussed the problems of women, peace and security, Resolution 1325, localization of 2018-2020 National Action Plan, the involvement of women IDPs and women affected by the conflict in decision-making, peacekeeping and security processes.
Online trainings on: “Problems of tolerance among the youth. Conflict management. Bullying” were held with youth groups of Kobuleti, Tkibuli, Samtredia, Vani and Terjola.
All groups differ from each other, but they are united by the fact that they really like non-formal education, the issues that are discussed. All participants are motivated to get as much information as possible and learn new skills.
There are leaders, who successfully complete their "homework". In May, they held informational meetings with peers on the topics of tolerance, conflict and bullying. Similar meetings are continued ...
On May 24, 2021, Ekaterine Gamakharia, the head of the representative office of Fund “Sukhumi” participated in a regular information meeting between the participants of the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) in the direction of Ergneti and representatives of civil society. Representative Offices of the State Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality of Georgia and the State Security Service, the European Union Monitoring Mission, the UN Women, local CSOs and women's organizations, IDPs, and women affected by the conflict have participated in the info-sharing meeting.
At the meeting Ekaterine Gamakharia emphasized the importance of the inclusion of women's organizations with gender expertise in the group of experts, and other professionals in a specific field such as economics, ecology, violence against women, gender equality, healthcare, etc.
In May, the work on the performance "Gvriti" (turtledove) was completed: the dolls were created, text and music were written.
Young actors recorded their roles in the studio. Active rehearsals were held in Kutaisi, Meskhishvili Theater.
The main rehearsal and premiere will take place soon - "Gvriti" prepares for a meeting with the audience.
The forum theater and the shadow theater of the Fund "Sukhumi" have always had a lot of audience. Now the viewer will wait for the performance of the puppet theater with interest.
Changes in the working plan was discussed during the meeting of Vani working group. It was noted that the plan should reflect the issues, the solution of which is under their competence: the problems identified during the first local needs research and the recommendations of the third monitoring of public administration reform. There was also a conversation regarding the website of the municipality, which is being updated at this stage. It was decided that the members of the group will be involved in posting information on the page.
Vani working group contributes to the implementation of public administration reform with its activities.
A training on “Regional needs assessment with participation of a wide civil society - for the implementation of the Roadmap (PAR) at the local level (organized by the Fund of Women Entrepreneurs). The training was attended by 35 people from 3 regions (Imereti, Guria, Racha-Lechkhumi). The training covered both: theoretical part of the needs research of target groups (transparency, efficiency, inclusiveness), and practical work to develop a research questionnaire and discuss working versions. The training discussed the following issues: processing of primary reports, preparation of recommendations, methods of conducting focus groups and in-depth interviews.
The work is carried out in the framework of the project “A common forum for CSOs from Guria, Imereti and Racha-Lechkhumi for PAR Roadmap monitoring”.
