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.
"Citizen participation in local governance" - this topic was discussed with the members of Kutaisi Women Initiative Group.
Legal acts, principles of self-government financing according to the European Charter, self-governmental unit and its powers. These and many other issues were explained by lawyer Tamuna Fachulia (Tamar Pachulia).
The participants got acquainted with the work of the website of the Digital Resource Center of the services for Victims of Violence (https://sosfsokhumi.ge/).
One of the participants of the Women Club - Natia Jimsheleishvili talked about her success story, the way she passed - how she achieved success.
The project is implemented with the support of the USAID
Trainings on various actual topics are planned In May. Information about it was provided to the members of Khoni IDP Women Initiative Group. The information meeting was held online.
The project assistant familiarized the group with the topics of the trainings, the time of the training was determined. Members of the group noted that they attended four trainings held in April with great interest. The new cycle will also be interesting and practical and they will be actively involved in the process of training.
The project is implemented with the support
of the UN Women organization
An online information meeting was held with members of IDP Women Zugdidi Initiative Group. The participants talked about the trainings that were held in April. Despite the fact that the members of the group are women of different ages, professions and have different experience, the questions discussed at the trainings turned out to be equally interesting for everyone. They received information about the continuation of the training cycle. As it was mentioned, trainings will be also held in May - with the participation of 50 women - active representatives of target municipalities.
The project is implemented with the support
of the UN Women organization
During an online meeting with members of Senaki IDP Women Initiative Group, the participants evaluated the trainings that were held in April and talked about the significance of the information received:
“I do not have the opportunity to attend such thematic trainings, so this is a good chance for me to be more informed.”
“The cycle of trainings will help us to be more active and practically get involved in advocacy of problems.”
At the end of the meeting, participants were provided with information about new training topics. According to them, after completing the trainings, they will be even more motivated to be actively involved in solving local problems.
The project is implemented with the support
of the UN Women organization
Ordinary meeting was held with IDP Women Initiative Group of Tskaltubo. Attention was paid to the cycle of trainings held in April. According to the participants, the trainings were informative, interesting and practical.
- It is very important for me to participate in such trainings. Each new topic gives new possibilities. I am glad to be part of this project - noted one of the participants.
At the end of the meeting, the participants got acquainted with the topics of May trainings. They noted that after the completion of the training cycle, each of them will have skills that contribute to their formation as active citizens.
The project is implemented with the support
of the UN Women organization
During the online meeting with the members of Kutaisi Women Initiative Group, the participants evaluated the training cycle held in April and talked about the necessity of information.
"These trainings were interesting and important for me, they gave me the opportunity to be aware of important topics for an active citizen."
"The training cycle will help us to become more active and be able to prioritize our needs and advocate them."
At the end of the meeting, participants were provided with information on training topics of the next month.
The project is implemented with the support
of the UN Women organization
The Women Fund "Sukhumi" actively began to work in support of Ukrainian refugees.
There are 61 people in our database, 23 of whom have already left Georgia. 4 of them live with relatives, the rest either rent or stay with friends who provided them with accommodation free of charge. A Facebook was created, where all relevant information is placed.
The Women Fund "Sukhumi" is in touch with the Tbilisi organization "Help for Ukraine", they have information about the assistance that we can provide to refugees, they also share with us information that may be useful to us. We are also in touch with humanitarian organization “Mercy”, which distributes humanitarian aid to different regions of Georgia.
An online survey continues on the Facebook page of the Fund "Sukhumi" to assess the needs of Ukrainians. The needs of majority are similar: food, hygiene products, clothing.
Khoni, Kutaisi, Tskaltubo, Senaki, Zugdidi and Tsalenjikha - these are 6 target municipalities, in which the process of implementing youth projects is underway.
The members of the initiative groups have already held informational meetings, discussed various ideas and selected two of them, that will be implemented as a project.
Submission of project applications for discussion by the competition commission has already started. ...
The project is implemented with the support of the USAID
