Website – sosfsokhumi.ge is the first platform in Georgia that combines all necessary governmental, non-governmental or municipal support and empowerment services and programs, legislative acts, statistics, helpful answers, blogs and news about the success stories and challenges of the victims in one space.
Project work has identified many women leaders.
Mari Chitanava is one of them. Therefore, she was chosen as a main character of the article, published in our partner media publication Act2.
Mari is from Abkhazia. She is 26 and mother of three children.
When she was invited to the working meetings of the Women Fund “Sukhumi”, she refused, she was not interested and she did not have time. But then she nevertheless decided to join the IDP Women Initiative Group of Zugdidi. Her interest gradually grew. She became more and more active and attentively listened to information at live or online meetings and trainings.
A coalition project has been launched in five municipalities of western Georgia. The title of the project is: “Strengthening the capacities of the regional and local administrations in the processes of localization of the National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security and enhancing the meaningful participation of IDP and conflict-affected women and youth in these processes”.
The lawyer of the Women Fund "Sukhumi" held group and individual information meetings: in the village Didi Nedzi (Zugdidi municipality), Dimi (Bagdati municipality), Senaki and Tkibuli. The group meetings were attended by representatives of the City Hall, school teachers and representatives of civil society. During the meetings, a presentation of the web page - "Digital Resource Center of Services for Victims of Violence" was made.
In Tsalenjikha, an individual consultation was given to a woman about the status of a single mother and in Vani - about divorce to a woman who was a victim of violence. All meetings were organized by the Women Support Centers.
The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot
für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)
In August, people almost leave the city, but there are many guests. It was they who attended the performances of the forum theater in Kutaisi.
Two performances were held. The viewer got interested in this format. Some have not seen or heard about the forum theater at all. Some of the audience actively joined the scenes. Unfortunately, everyone refused to take pictures, so only the actors and episodes of the scenes are visible in the photos.
Open-air performances play a big role as a mechanism for informing society and preventing violence.
The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot
für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)
Senaki Women Initiative Group starts to work on the problem using the "one window principle". According to the general decision, a priority issue has already been chosen: The military settlement of Senaki, which is mainly resided by the IDPs from Abkhazia, has a serious problem: a faulty sewer system - basements are flooded, which creates discomfort for the population.
The working group collected photo and video materials reflecting the problem, as well as signatures - for submission to the relevant departments. The Women Initiative Group will continue to work on the problem using the "one window" principle in cooperation with local authorities.
The project is implemented with the support
of the UN Women organization
Gogi Revia has a long experience of working in the local self-government of Zugdidi municipality. For the last ten years, he has been serving the direction of social protection, where, among other issues, significant attention is paid to gender equality. The budget of Zugdidi municipality was the first document where the program for financing victims of violence officially published in 2015.
"For an abused woman who is afraid of society to convey her first emotion to a man she knows or doesn't know at all is an embarrassing problem [in general], but because of my attitude, these women open up to me within minutes. They are sure what they tell me are confidential. I always offered them an effective solution and they were convinced. When there are one, two, ten or many other cases, I really have this confidence from them," - Gogi Revia, the head of the Social Protection and Gender Equality Department of the Zugdidi Municipality City Hall, tells us in the "Gender and Society" column.
158 people joined the mobilization meetings organized by the Women Support Centers in August. Issues of domestic violence, responses and effective mechanisms of victim assistance have become the basis for active discussions. Participants analyzed the facts of femicide. They noted: “We should not be indifferent when cases of femicide have become so frequent. This is an alarming indicator and requires a greater response from both the state and society”.
The meetings showed the necessity to strengthen the role of the Women Support Centers in terms of informing the population so that as many people as possible know that violence is punishable and the victim is not alone.
The Women Support Centers of Samtredia, Terjola, Tkibuli, Vani, Bagdati, Senaki, Tsalenjikha, Zugdidi, Chokhatauri and Kobuleti, along with informing the population, revealed eight new cases of violence during the month. The response has already begun, the beneficiaries are actively using the services of the Women Fund "Sukhumi" - this increases the guarantees of the victim's safety.
The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot
für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)
On August 12, the world celebrates International Day the Youth.
This day was founded by the resolution of the United Nations Assembly on December 17, 1999 and on August 12, 2000 the civilized world celebrated the International Day of Youth for the first time. The United Nations called on the international community to recognize the intergenerational relationship and solve the problems of people of different ages jointly, to raise the awareness of young people about existing problems, risks and ways to solve them.
This date is specially celebrated by the Fund "Sukhumi", which has been working with young people for a long time and gives great importance to this direction.
The members of the youth initiative groups held information meetings, made presentations, provided their peers with comprehensive information about this important day, showed short films and at the end of the meetings organized a discussion on what challenges the new generation sees in today's reality.
The project is implemented with the support of the USAID
Zaza Gochelashvili is a child and family social worker in Tkibuli municipality. He is also actively involved in the civil sector as a volunteer. He has a lot of experience working with minors.
"Mostly social workers are women, and I am one of the exceptional men, especially at the self-governing level, although I have male colleagues as well. Therefore, it is very important that two social workers in the municipality are a woman and a man,"- based on his own experience, he tells us in the column "Gender and Society".
