Teachers, parents, members of the Gender Equality Council took part in the information meetings held in the schools of Tkibuli and Senaki municipalities.
The topic of conversation was the importance of society's participation in elimination of the problem of violence against women. In this process, a certain role is assigned to the website of the Women Fund “Sukhumi” - "Digital Resource Center of Services for Violence Victims" https://sosfsokhumi.ge/Here you can find a lot of information that will help to determine ways of violence prevention or ways to respond to it. Participants noted how important the activity of each member of society is for problem solution.
The project is implemented with the support the Equality Fund (Canada)
A little boy came with his mother. Children are often brought here, so there are a lot of toys in the room of the psychologist Manana Gotsiridze. The bunny also sat calmly on the shelf. Ukrainian boy suddenly shouted: bunny! Then he asked the psychologist: “can I hold him”? “Oh sure”. He hugged and caressed ... Manana Gotsiridze understood why and told him, if you want, I will give it to you. Mother fell into an awkward situation and began to “justify” – “he had such bunny at home, and he loved him very much”...
The boy left happy.
Everyone is satisfied after the meeting with the psychologist of the Women Fund "Sukhumi". Someone has fewer problems and the rehabilitation process is completed faster, someone needs more visits.
Meetings with Ukrainian refugees are one of the important areas in the work of Manana Gotsiridze. In January, she met 6 families - 17 people. An initial consultation was carried out, an anamnesis was collected and everyone was invited to continue free psychotherapy. They were also given the necessary products, household chemicals, warm clothes.
The problem of violence against women and the importance of public participation in its elimination - meetings on this topic were held in Vani and Kobuleti. The meeting in the public school of the village Mtisdziri (Vani municipality) was attended by teachers and upper graders and in the kindergarten No 2 of Kobuleti, the coordinator of the children's rights department of the City Hall and the chairman of the Gender Equality Council, together with the staff.
The project is implemented with the support the Equality Fund (Canada)
Teachers, members of the Gender Equality Council, City Hall staff and representatives of the social agency participated in information meetings at the City Hall of Khobi municipality. An information meeting was also held at the public School No 3 - Samtredia and was attended by teachers and school administration.
During the meetings, it was noted that, envisaging the importance of the problem, it is important for everyone to take part in the campaign of 16 Active Days against Gender-based Violence.
The participants got acquainted with the digital resource center for violence victims https://sosfsokhumi.ge/, which aroused great interest. It was noted that it is important to disseminate information about this page so that both victims and abusers can receive information about mechanisms of protection and response. All this will contribute to the prevention of violence.
The project is implemented with the support the Equality Fund (Canada)
Two more information meetings were held in December with the support of the Equality Fund (Canada).
The first meeting was held in the conference hall of Chokhatauri City Council (participants: kindergarten teachers and directors), the second meeting was held in the school of the village Etseri - Terjola municipality (participants: high school students and teachers).
During the meeting they talked about the 16-day campaign against gender-based violence and the importance of community involvement in the process of eliminating violence. Everyone noted that active participation is needed in order to reveal the facts in time and then react to them.
The participants got interested in the web page of the Women Fund "Sukhumi" - https://sosfsokhumi.ge/, which contains comprehensive information about the mechanisms of response and victims’ support.
The project is implemented with the support the Equality Fund (Canada)
The Human Rights Protection and Investigation Quality Monitoring Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia (MIA) held a meeting with the Task Force on Ending Violence against Women and Girls (Task Force on EVAWG). Representatives of the international, non-governmental organizations working on EVAWG and the Public Defender's Office of Georgia also participated in the workshop. They discussed the outcome of the activities carried out in combating domestic violence and/or violence against women in recent years, the existing challenges and ways forward. The meeting was held with the initiative of the MIA, in cooperation with UN Women, within the framework of the UN Joint Programme "For Gender Equality" supported by Sweden.
In her speech, Linda Chikhladze focused on the need for additional child care services for the economic empowerment of women, and on the importance of early implementation of programs to correct the behavior of perpetrators for the effective prevention of violence against women.
Information meetings on the issues of violence were held at the social agency of Senaki municipality and online with a group from Zugdidi municipality. Representatives of various vulnerable groups actively participated.
On the background of frequent cases of femicide in the country, the web page of the Women Fund "Sukhumi" - "Digital Resource Center of Services for Violence Victims" aroused great interest of the audience. The participants believe that information about this page should be delivered to the general public - this will have a positive impact in terms of violence prevention.
The project is implemented with the support the Equality Fund (Canada)
On November 25, a march of the women's movement against sexual violence was held. Together with other solidarity groups, the Tbilisi representative office of the Women's Fund "Sukhumi" joined the march. The organizers and participants of the rally say that sexual acts with a woman without her consent are rape and violence. According to their own statement, this is recognized by international conventions and courts, but Georgian legislation does not recognize it.
Within the 16 days campaign against gender violence on November 25, the Anti-Violence Network of Georgia presented the program fathers violence behavior and correction, aiming to correct the behavior of fathers and support to become as a supportive father. At the meeting, our representative - Linda Chikhladze, based on the findings of the monitoring report of the Women's Fund "Sukhumi" - “Importance of Behavior Change Programs of the Perpetrator at an Early Stage and Existing Best Practices", offered recommendations to the attendees about the importance of implementing the mentioned program at an early stage.
