“Strengthening the role and functions of the Gender Equality Council in the process of introducing local gender policy” - a round table on this topic was held with participation of representatives of Khoni Gender Equality Council, local self-government and civil activists.
The municipality makes important changes in terms of reorganizing the Council, creating thematic groups, choosing their strategies and initiating local programs with target on vulnerable groups. Particularly important for the participants was the question of how the budgetary support of the issues, envisaged in the plan should be carried out, as well as the issue of maximum involvement of the units responsible for the implementation of the plan.
Women Support Centers had variety of activities these days. The 8th of March was marked by events of various formats: information meetings with the villagers, round tables in kindergartens and schools, meetings with representatives of local governments, literary evening.
During the meetings, it was emphasized that this is the International Day of Women's Solidarity, a global celebration of their economic, political and social achievements.
According to the meeting participants, lots of changes happen in our everyday life from year to year. These are changes in legislation, in municipal programs, but women's rights are still violated, cases of violence are still frequent, the level of human security is still low and therefore advocacy and solution of many problems are necessary. This is what the Women Support Centers in 10 municipalities of Western Georgia are doing.
The working group met in Khoni City Council for the ordinary meeting. The group members discussed the implementation of the action plan. There are two important issues among those, to be addressed - the development of an anti-corruption plan and a code of ethics. It was decided that, first of all, they will actively work on the code of ethics. A consultation meeting was scheduled and the final version of the code of ethics will be presented at the next meeting.
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”.
The Fund "Sukhumi" presents its new rapid assessment report – “Dashed hopes of the fire-affected population in the Gali district: Needs and response strategies”, which discusses priority needs and human security concerns of the population affected by the wildfires that broke out in January 2021 in the Gali district.
Ekaterine Gamakharia, Head of the Tbilisi Representative Office of the Fund "Sukhumi" has participated in a meeting organized by the Association “Peaceful and Business Caucasus”. The meeting was dedicated to the situation of the fire-affected population in Gali district. The representative of Fund “Sukhumi” has made a presentation and informed meeting participants about key findings and urgent needs of fire-affected population reflected in the organization’s recently published rapid-assessment report.
The meeting was attended by the civil society organizations working on the issues of IDPs and conflict-affected population, representatives of the de jure authorities of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia, and the fire-affected persons.
The response strategies and actions of joint efforts were actively discussed during the meeting.
The Fund "Sukhumi" in partnership with the Association "Peaceful and Business Caucasus" and with the support of the USAID is implementing the project “Bridging the Gap: People to People Initiatives for Conflict Resolution”.
The project has been actively started since February and includes civil, educational, medical and economic areas.
Numerous activities are planned during two years on both sides of the conflict dividing line. Youth clubs and councils will be established in 11 municipalities, trainings and meetings will be held, exchange programs will be organized, small grants will be funded, etc.
All of these activities are based on a trilateral strategy: overcoming mistrust through personal contacts, identifying common topics, finding and supporting ways of reconciliation.
The project is implemented with the support of the USAID
The next meeting of the Project Coordination Council was held today. The meeting discussed the current project activities, in particular the process of preparing the third monitoring of the report on public administration reform, the next training scheduled in March for the member organizations of the Forum and other future plans.
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”.
Violence is very often caused by gender stereotypes, so it is necessary to solve them, and the school can play a major role in this process.
“Gender stereotypes and the role of schools in their solution” is a short film prepared by the Tbilisi Representative Office of the Fund “Sukhumi”. The film shows one of the directions of the Fund "Sukhumi" - work with youth and the results of this work, the experience and the lessons learned.
"Young leaders for peace, tolerance and non-violent culture" - this is the name of new project of the Fund "Sukhumi".
First of all, schools and participants under the age group envisaged in the project - pupils of the eighth-eleventh grades were selected.
The project includes 8 schools of Kutaisi, Zugdidi and Tsalenjikha municipalities.
At the first stage of the work envisaged the survey on: how tolerant, sociable and peaceful adolescents are and how they contribute to the formation of a non-violent culture.
Fifty questionnaires are filled in, they are in the process of adaptation and in parallel, preparation for the next project activities is underway.
