On December 3, 2021, by the initiative of the Office of the State Minister for Reconciliation and civil equality with the support of the United Nations Women (UN Women), a regular briefing was held for participants of the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism and representatives of the civil society organizations. The meeting was attended by members of civil society, representatives of non-governmental women's organizations as well as conflict-affected women, including women living in IDP villages near the conflict dividing line, and also EUMM and representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited in Georgia.
Kate Fearon, Deputy Head of the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia, Zviad Zviadadze, Head of the Department of State for the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia and Former South Ossetia, and Deputy Director of the Information-Analytical Department of the State Security Service addressed the participants, who focused on the results of recent meetings under the Ergneti Mechanism.
On 16 November 2021, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia hosted a roundtable discussion “Geneva International Discussions and Women, Peace, and Security” supported by the UN Women and the United Kingdom. The purpose of the meeting was to facilitate dialogue with civil society on the peaceful resolution of the conflict and the involvement of women in peace processes. The purpose of the meeting was to facilitate dialogue with civil society on the peaceful resolution of the conflict and the involvement of women in peace processes.
Eka Gamakharia, the representative of the Women's Fund "Sukhumi" in Tbilisi noted at the meeting the importance of creating and launching consulting platforms with women's organizations and underlined the need for more active cooperation with women's organizations on "Women, Peace, Security" issues by all state ministries. She also stressed the need for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ensure the involvement of women's organizations in the planning and development of a "Peaceful Conflict Resolution Strategy", including a conflict-affected society (Abkhazia, South Ossetia) and a gender dimension that would make it more viable and effective.
Copyright: Office of the State Minister of Georgia for Reconciliation and Civil Equality.
On November 5, 2021, in cooperation with the UN Resident Coordinator and representatives of various UN agencies the UN Women in Georgia held an Open Day on Women, Peace, and Security. Open Day promotes dialogue between representatives of the UN system and civil society, women, and young people displaced and affected by the conflict.
The representative of the Women's Fund "Sukhumi" Tbilisi office was allowed to address the meeting and Marika Megrelidze (Pakhulani-Tskhoushi) and Nona Bukia (Khurcha), leaders of the initiative groups operating in the villages of the dividing line in Zugdidi and Tsalenjikha municipalities, and Marie Narmania (Zugdidi), a young activist.
Representatives of the Fund "Sukhumi" spoke about the challenges in the lives of women and young people in the villages near the border, including economic empowerment and limited employment opportunities; Infrastructure problems of schools and outpatient clinics and lack of appropriate technical equipment; Acute problems of water supply in the villages, IDPs in the dilapidated buildings of the IDP accommodation centers, the lack of proper spaces for the development of youth in the villages, etc.
On November 3, 2021, the representative of the Tbilisi office of the Women Fund "Sukhumi" - Ekaterine Gamakharia participated in a Gender Theme Group (GTG) - Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Task Force Meeting. The Gender Theme Group unites international organizations and embassies accredited in Georgia, as well as civil society organizations. Its purpose is to promote the "Women, Peace and Security" agenda in Georgia and respond effectively to challenges identified by individual group members, develop and plan appropriate actions and interventions.
At the meeting, the representative of the Fund "Sukhumi" together with her colleagues spoke about Resolution 1325, the results of monitoring the implementation of the three-year National Action Plan, and the main findings, where she stressed the challenges and the need to respond to them, such as - the development and implementation of a gender-sensitive early warning system;
On September 27, 2021, the representative of the Tbilisi office of the Women Fund "Sukhumi" - Ekaterine Gamakharia participated in an Information Exchange Meeting organized by the Human Security Group of the EUMM Field Office of Zugdidi.
The topics of the meeting were the ongoing "Russification process" in the Gali district, possible prohibition of learning Georgian language in the 11th graders in the lower zone of Gali district and the effectiveness of Georgian language programs initiated by the Georgian government to promote higher education for young people living in uncontrolled areas.
Ekaterine Gamakharia underlined the need to introduce free courses to help pupils to learn Georgian language and prepare students for national exams in the Gali district and the need finance these programs from the side of the Government. During the meeting, the representative of the Fund "Sukhumi" also highlighted the ineffective practice of enrolling students in the higher education system in the Gali district, which needs to change the approach.
The Office of the State Minister of Georgia for Reconciliation and Civic Equality organized a joint meeting of the “Advisory Council for Experts on Reconciliation and Involvement Policy” and “Women, Peace, and Security - Advisory Platform on Enhancing Women's Effective Participation in Peacebuilding”. The aim of the meeting was to discuss the reconciliation and engagement policy strategy and its first evaluation and monitoring phase. The civil society representatives noted the significant progress that is evident in the implementation of the reconciliation policy from 2011 to the present.
Ekaterine Gamakharia, Head of the Women's Fund "Sukhumi" Tbilisi office, together with her colleagues, emphasized the need to take appropriate actions in response to the current challenges and to reflect them in the new strategy and action plan. Also, the need to increase financial and human resources to make existing reconciliation and confidence-building mechanisms more effective.
The members of the Council and the Platform reaffirmed their readiness to continue working closely with the Office of the State Minister on these and other issues and their willingness to engage in thematic groups in the process of developing a new Action Plan.
The workshop on drafting a three-year National Action Plan (NAP) for Implementation of the UN Security Council Resolutions on Women, Peace and Security was held.
One of the priorities of the action plan is to localize the plan and promote the active participation of women IDPs, conflict - affected women and local governmental structures in it. The workshop was attended by Ekaterine Gamakharia – the Chairperson of the Fund “Sukhumi” Tbilisi representative office.
Abrupt refusal to fund higher education tuition fee for students from Tsalenjikha and Zugdidi municipalities, living in villages along the conflict dividing line caused numerous socio-economic problems for them and their families. The recent emergency report of Fund “Sukhumi” highlights the main challenges caused by the cancellation of the “students grant” on the population, as well as provides specific recommendations to reduce the negative impacts.
The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot
für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)
A consultation platform has been set up with the Office of the State Minister on "Women, Peace, and Security - Enhancing Women's Effective Participation in the Peacebuilding Process". The contribution of the Fund "Sukhumi" is important together with the partner organizations in this success.
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.