Exchange of experiences is the best way to introduce the innovations. This is a special method for the Fund "Sukhumi" and it often gives municipalities this opportunity.
The Forum of Civil Society Organizations of Guria, Imereti and Racha-Lechkhumi initially envisaged cooperation and mutual assistance.
The project includes three organizations: Fund "Sukhumi", Fund of Women Entrepreneurs and Imereti Scientists’ Union "Spectri".
The Civil Society Forum united 16 organizations in October 2019. Their geographical area is wide: 8 municipalities (Khoni, Vani, Terjola, Bagdati, Lanchkhuti, Ozurgeti, Tsageri, Ambrolauri).
The Forum was created in order to actively involve the society in the process of monitoring the Roadmap for Public Administration Reform.
Already at the beginning of the project, the organizations attended meetings, trainings, studied the criteria for the implementation of public administration reform, also how to draft projects, advocate problems, learned the techniques of research ... They contributed to the creation of new organizations, and 14 new organizations were registered in the municipalities.
Dachi is a smart and businesslike person. He was born this year, in early April. He often "works" with his mother. He helped her even before he was born. So, the residents of Bagdati should be grateful to Dachi for the preparation of serious documents.
If anyone thinks that this is a joke, I cannot agree. Because Dachi actually works with her mom. Dachi's mom is a young, beautiful and clever woman. She graduated from school in the village Dimi, and then graduated from the Faculty of Law and the Master's program of Tbilisi State University.
When the implementation of our project started in Bagdati, City Council members were invited to the working group. Guram Kiknavelidze, the chairman of the commission on financial - budgetary issues, was elected as the chairperson of the group. The second member is Gvantsa Grdzelidze, chairman of the legal and procedural commission. In short, both are necessary people, now the group has its own financial and legal lobbyists. That is why, Bagdati working group is distinguished by its activity and is successfully implementing the Public Administration Reform.
The psychologist and lawyer of the Fund "Sukhumi” are called right people. Their advice and help is essential in solving problems for many people.
During a month consultative services carried out active work the Women's Support Centers, - there were live meetings and remote consultations. Thus, 43 people received assistance.
In addition, the work was carried out with members of four crisis families. 17 beneficiaries passed individual therapy with a psychologist, a lawyer consulted 7 people.
The results are clear: resolved problems, overcome stress, peace in the family ... Based on this, a psychologist and a lawyer are really the right people for those who need help.
Based on the circumstances caused by COVID-19, debates in a a Zoom format were held in Tsageri, which was organized by the Fund of Women Entrepreneurs. During the meeting, the participants - representatives of the City Council and the City Hall, the civil sector and the media - had the opportunity to listen to the results of the needs research conducted in the municipality and the work carried out within the framework of the project. The exchange of successful examples of Khoni and Tskaltubo on the topic of the petition and the civil budget was interesting.
The participants expressed great interest, which was shown by active involvement and recommendations.
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 project is implemented with the support the European Union - #EU4Georgia
Members of the Bagdati working group, representatives of local self-government and civil society organizations, as well as experts from the municipalities of Tskaltubo and Khoni participated in the debates, which was held online.
Local partner organizations spoke about the results of their small projects, presented a needs research, carried out in Bagdati municipality.
During the debates, special attention was paid to the discussion of the experience of Tskaltubo Municipality in terms of civil budgeting. The topic of the e-petition was also important for the participants. The web page has this function, but it has not been used until now. Khoni practice showed how this issue can become relevant for the population.
This is the room of the day rehabilitation center. Courses on polymer clay are held here.
This time the work is interrupted by the psychologist's conversation. The psychologist of the Fund "Sukhumi" - Manana Gotsiridze conducts individual conversations with women. They have a lot of questions and always get competent answers.
And today the topic of conversation with the group is stress and advice from a psychologist:
In this hard period, each of us has felt stress. There is no escape from stress. In such a situation, it is necessary to be able to control emotions, otherwise emotions will begin to control us. There are two golden rules to avoid stress:
Rule No 1. Calm down, give an opportunity to the brain, to take control over the body and organs of speech.
Rule # 2. Focus and direct energy on the things that are necessary to be done.
Terjola debate justified the forum's main mission: members of the civil society forum learn from each other and share best practices with other municipalities.
First there was a meeting of the working group, where the debates were planned and determined.
And on July 22, online debates were held - interesting, active, meaningful, with concrete examples and results ...
The meeting was attended by representatives of Terjola local self-government, civil society organizations and various spheres, as well as guests from Tskhaltubo and Khoni municipalities.
It was a kind of report on the work done. And the work was quite fruitful: 4 monitoring of public administration reform, small projects, update of the web page, needs assessment, civil budget implementation process...
Mobilizers of the Women Support Centers of the Fund "Sukhumi" hold monthly informational meetings with representatives of various communities and discuss mechanisms for responding to violence.
In July, the meetings were held interactively in Chokhatauri, Tkibuli and Samtredia municipalities. The participants highlighted the problems in this regard. A lawyer and psychologist of the Fund "Sukhumi" were involved in the work.
In parallel with the facts of violence, social problems were also raised and women activists decided to advocate them.
Another online round table was held in Tkibuli. Referral entities: members of the City Council Gender Equality Council, representatives of local self-government and police, kindergartens, schools, educational resource center, medical staff attended the meeting. They got acquainted with the presentation of the research of the Fund “Sukhumi” aimed at monitoring of the services available to victims and discussed the developed recommendations. During the meeting, they also spoke about the statistics of arresting orders in Tkibuli municipality, identification of violence and the services for victims’ assistance.
