Minister of State for Reconciliation and Civil Equality - Thea Akhvlediani, the "Consultative Council of Experts Working on Reconciliation and Engagement Policy Issues" and the "Women, Peace and Security - Advisory Platform on Strengthening Women's Effective Participation in the Peacebuilding Process" (of which the Women's Fund “Sukhumi” is a member) held a work-meeting with them.

Civil society representatives spoke about the challenges faced by the population near the dividing line, emphasized the need to make more efforts of peace building, to strengthen and develop the existing programs for restoring trust and reconciliation between the conflict divided communities. The members of the platforms at the State Minister's Office expressed their readiness to continue close cooperation with the Minister.

At the Peace & Justice café (Hague, Netherlands), in person and online discussion about diverse topics with involvement of wide spectrum of civil society organizations, academia, young activists, students from different countries was held.

The main idea of the event was to discuss the advances and challenges on the path towards gender justice, the ways in which women’s involvement affects and strengthens peace processes, and to gain insights from organizations across sectors making a difference.

With the support of the UN Women Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, one of the roundabout was moderated by the representative of Women Fund "Sukhumi" -Ekaterine Gamakharia. The topic of discussion was "Translating WPS commitments to results – women’s solidarity and joint actions".

During round table, the barriers to women’s meaningful participation in leadership and decision-making, community mobilization and international standards for making women’s contribution visible and recognized, importance of promoting intergenerational cooperation and creating favorable conditions for youth involvement were discussed.

The Peace & Justice Café provides series of networking event cross-sectoral connection and collaboration for a more peaceful and just world. Launched by the Hague Humanity Hub in collaboration with the Municipality of The Hague, it engages the peacebuilders, justice innovators, researchers, humanitarians, impact entrepreneurs, policy makers, and other changemakers from The Hague and beyond.

Together with OSCE – The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the WAVE Network in collaboration with four WAVE members: Sexual Assault Crisis Center (Yerevan, Armenia), Women Fund Sukhumi (Kutaisi and Tbilisi, Georgia), Foundation United Women Banja Luka (Banja Luka, Bosnia & Herzegovina), and Centre “Women’s Perspectives” (Lviv, Ukraine). Based on the specific knowledge and experiences of women’s CSOs throughout war settings, the toolkit not only presents the harm and challenges posed by conflicts but also documents promising first-hand practices with concrete examples and recommendations.  Preventing and Responding to Gender-based Violence during the War and in Post-War Settings Concept note Experiences and Recommendations of Women’s NGOS The authors of the toolkit presented their strategies related to different conflict stages:

The international conference on preventing and responding to gender-based violence (GBV) during the war and in post-war settings took place in Tbilisi, Georgia. It was organised by the WAVE Network and the OSCE Gender Issues Programme/WIN Project.  The Women's Fund "Sukhumi" was selected as one of the partners of the project supported by the OSCE and was involved in the process of developing a toolkit, in which we described the strategies and experience implemented by the organization in the direction of prevention and response to violence against conflict-affected and displaced women in the conditions of protracted conflicts. Based on the specific knowledge and experiences of women’s CSOs throughout war settings, the toolkit not only presents the harm and challenges posed by conflicts but also documents promising first-hand practices with concrete examples and recommendations. The first half of the conference started with opening remarks from Lara Scarpitta, OSCE Senior Adviser on Gender Issues, and Stephanie Futter-Orel, Executive Manager of the WAVE Network. Keynote speeches were provided by representatives of international institutions and national stakeholders of the Government of Georgia: Chair of the Gender Equality Council, Nino Tsilosani and member – Teona Akubardia, and Head of the Human Rights Secretariat of the Government of Georgia – Maka Peradze.

Open Day

UN Women in cooperation with the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office and UN system representatives convened the Open Day on Women, Peace and Security in Georgia.

The meeting was chaired and opened by the representative of UN Women in Georgia - Kaori Ishikawa.

This meeting serviced as a venue for exchange between the UN system representatives and CSOs, grassroots IDP and conflict-affected women and youth around the issues and priorities related to the women, peace and security agenda.

Among the 9 community leaders, three community leaders mobilized by the Women's Fund "Sukhumi" also spoke about the urgent challenges faced by the IDPs and the conflict-affected population, where Ekaterine Gamakharia, the head of the Women's Fund "Sukhumi" Tbilisi representative office, and three community leaders mobilized by the Women's Fund "Sukhumi" also participated.

On September 14, 2022, an info-sharing meeting between the participants of the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) and civil society representatives in Gori was held.

At the meeting the audience was addressed by the State Minister on Reconciliation and Civic Equality - Thea Akhvlediani, UN Women Representative to Georgia - Kaori Ishikawa; Head of the EU Monitoring Mission - Marek Szczygieł, Deputy Director of the Information and Analytical Department of the State Security Service - Irakli Antadze and the representative of the Office of the Minister of State for Reconciliation and Civic Equality - Zviad Zviadadze.

Ekaterine Gamakharia, representative of Women's Fund "Sukhumi"’s Tbilisi office, in her speech, focused on the restriction of movement for the Georgian population living on both sides of the Enguri river near to the conflict dividing line with Abkhazia, as a result of the suspension of issuance of movement documents by the de-facto Abkhaz government from January 2022. She highlighted the challenges that women encounter due to the restriction, namely crossing the dividing line by roundabout ways, at their own peril; surrendering to Russian soldiers, which cost them fine payment in exchange of release; This not only negatively impacts on their emotional state and increases stress but also puts on them a heavy financial burden. She also spoke about the complicated procedures and restriction of transporting products and cargo at the checkpoints, which hinders both the economic activity of the population and cooperation with the Abkhaz side in general.

Women Fund “Sukhumi” Tbilisi office representative - Ekaterine Gamakharia has participated in first in-person working meeting organized by the WAVE network in Vienna (May 12th, 2022) to kick off the new OSCE-funded project on supporting women survivors of violence in conflict and post-conflict areas. The aim of the project is to develop a toolkit to capture the promising practices of women’s NGOs in preventing and responding to gender-based violence during and after the war. The project participants have exchanged thoughts about importance of the toolkit, devised its goal and the potential target audience, the structure and the practices to be incorporated in the final document.  

The WAVE members involved in the project are the Sexual Assault Crisis Center (Yerevan, Armenia), Women Fund Sukhumi (Kutaisi, Georgia), Foundation United Women Banja Luka (Banja Luka, Bosnia & Herzegovina), and Centre “Women’s Perspectives” (Lviv, Ukraine). More information about the project, available at the following link: https://wave-network.org/new-project-supporting-women-survivors-of-violence-in-conflict-and-post-conflict-areas/

Ekaterine attended the last session of the WAVE Advisory Board Members meeting (May 11th), where she has possibility to share her ideas on how to make the projects implemented by the WAVE and extensive expertise accumulated in the network member organizations more accessible and beneficial for the women’s organizations.

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 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.

 

Women and children of Ukraine! Their heroism and sustainability!

The role of women in politics, in making important decisions.

What services is necessary to be improved in the state for a woman to become more realized.

And much more about women’s devotion and, of course, solidarity to Ukraine!

Ekaterine Gamakharia, head of the Tbilisi Representative Office of the Women Fund “Sukhumi” - in the TV program of the Public Broadcast "Code of the Day" on Mother's Day, which has been celebrated in Georgia since 1991.

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