Identifying of cases of domestic violence, informing citizens about existing services, identifying the needs of women and responding accordingly - these issues are the main directions of work of the Women Support Centers.

In November, five new cases were identified in Bagdati, Samtredia, Senaki, Vani and Kobuleti municipalities. In case of necessary, a psychologist of the Fund "Sukhumi" works on these cases.

Through information meetings, up to 80 people in all five municipalities received information about services of the assistance to the victim of violence and the Department for the Protection of Children's Rights. Informing the public about these issues contributes to the identification of new problems.

The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot

 für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)

Minister of State for Reconciliation and Civil Equality - Thea Akhvlediani, the "Consultative Council of Experts Working on Reconciliation and Engagement Policy Issues" and the "Women, Peace and Security - Advisory Platform on Strengthening Women's Effective Participation in the Peacebuilding Process" (of which the Women's Fund “Sukhumi” is a member) held a work-meeting with them.

Civil society representatives spoke about the challenges faced by the population near the dividing line, emphasized the need to make more efforts of peace building, to strengthen and develop the existing programs for restoring trust and reconciliation between the conflict divided communities. The members of the platforms at the State Minister's Office expressed their readiness to continue close cooperation with the Minister.

Psychologist Manana Gotsiridze has been working in the Women Fund “Sukhumi” for many years, in different municipalities of Western Georgia. With people of all ages.

She conducts group and individual meetings, psychotherapy sessions, helps the couples to overcome conflicts...

One of the psychological problems that many people suffer from is stress.

How to deal with stress? What can help us during stress?

Of course, the psychologist works with everyone individually, but these tips are useful for everyone:

Drink a cup of green tea.

Try to slowly count to 10 and then back, in order to calm down.

Eat chocolate.

Try aromatherapy.

Sometimes writing down your emotions on paper can make them less scary.

Give yourself a hand massage.

One of the ways to avoid stress is to comb your hair for 10-15 minutes.

Delicious food is an effective anti-stress measure.

The end of autumn is especially beautiful in the village, covered with yellow, red and burgundy flowers.

The forum-theater of the Women Fund "Sukhumi" visited the high-mountainous village Khani - Bagdati municipality.

Primary school students and pupils of the kindergarten met us in the school yard, expecting something interesting. With joint initiative of the Gender Equality Council of Bagdati Municipality and the Fund “Sukhumi”, a show of the puppet theater and the shadow theater was performed for them.

The scenarios of the performances touched upon gender topics and issues of tolerance, which were introduced to children through familiar characters.

An amazing mood, emotions, eyes lit up with joy, applause ... All this will long remain in the memory of the children, the youth group of the theater and the organizers.

At the end of the meeting, the members of the Gender Equality Council presented the children with sweets, the school administration finished this beautiful day with colorful fireworks.

The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot

 für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)

We present our next video about work with young people in the rubric - "Gender and Society".

Women Fund "Sukhumi" continues the campaign of breaking down gender stereotypes in order to provide equality, tolerance, and a non-violent environment in our society through the rubric "Gender and Society".

The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot

 für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)

- Why it was necessary to develop UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security? What does this mean and what issues are regulated?

- The National Action Plan, which is a government tool for necessary, consolidated and coordinated actions to implement the global agenda.

- Why is it important to localize the National Action Plan at the local level? Inclusion of local government officials and other leading local actors in these processes to integrate Resolution 1325 into community development plans.

- How should local problems be reflected in the municipal budget? What resources and capabilities are needed for this?

These issues were discussed at the workshop, which was attended by representatives of local governments and women leaders from Kutaisi, Tskaltubo, Khoni, Senaki and Zugdidi municipalities.

The first network working meeting was held in Kutaisi within the framework of the project "Women and Youth Localizing the Women, Peace and Security Agenda".

Three organizations participating in the coalition project - the Association of IDP Women "Consent", the Women Fund "Sukhumi" and the Women Information Center - from different regions gathered women activists – conflict - affected women and IDP women living in settlements and presented them the fourth action plan for the implementation of the UN Resolutions "Women, Peace, Security".

During the meeting, the need to involve women in the peace process was emphasized and the possibilities of solving the existing challenges in this direction were discussed.

Women were informed about the importance and goals of networks and coalitions. They discussed what an effective and sustainable women's network should look like. The participants of the meeting decided to continue cooperation both face-to-face and online.

The project is implemented with the support

 of the UN Women organization

Teachers participate in many trainings, but this was an unusual training where together with actual issues (femicide, violence, holding campaign), they talked about the necessary skills for a trainer.

The training was attended by teachers from all schools in Senaki municipality. The idea of ​​holding such event appeared at the last meeting of Senaki Interdepartmental Council - the idea was actively supported by the Educational Resource Center (Chairperson - Darejan Zarandia). The training was held in the hall of the resource center and was of great interest to the participants.

The main result of the training will be that these teachers will actively join the International Campaign "16 Active Days Against Gender-based Violence" - they will hold meetings and various events.

The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot

 für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)

Together with OSCE – The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the WAVE Network in collaboration with four WAVE members: Sexual Assault Crisis Center (Yerevan, Armenia), Women Fund Sukhumi (Kutaisi and Tbilisi, Georgia), Foundation United Women Banja Luka (Banja Luka, Bosnia & Herzegovina), and Centre “Women’s Perspectives” (Lviv, Ukraine). Based on the specific knowledge and experiences of women’s CSOs throughout war settings, the toolkit not only presents the harm and challenges posed by conflicts but also documents promising first-hand practices with concrete examples and recommendations.  Preventing and Responding to Gender-based Violence during the War and in Post-War Settings Concept note Experiences and Recommendations of Women’s NGOS The authors of the toolkit presented their strategies related to different conflict stages:

A meeting organized by the advocacy and monitoring group of the Women Fund "Sukhumi" and Kobuleti Gender Equality Council on the topic "Local cooperation for a social environment focused on the child and family" was held at the educational resource center of Kobuleti.

The participants got acquainted with the monitoring results conducted by the Fund “Sukhumi” regarding the activities of the Department for the Children's Rights Protection and Support. The conversation concerned the main activities of Kobuleti Department for the Children's Rights Protection and Support and the prospect for cooperation with local partners. There was a dialogue about the issues related to services and existing challenges.

Participants believe that multi-sectoral cooperation is important for holding local activities that are socially oriented towards children and families.

The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot

 für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)