Fund “Sukhumi”s representative Ekaterine Gamakharia has participated in Europe & Eurasia Regional Implementers’ Meeting held in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina from May 14^th – 17^th. The meeting was organized and conducted by the representatives of the US Department of State, Vital Voice Global Partnership and GuideHouse. The implementing partners of The US Department of States from different countries have shared their working experiences, achievements and challenges. Participants had opportunity to get information and discuss the issues related to Regional Trends on Gender Based Violence: Challenges and Opportunities in Post-Conflict Settings, Engagement of Marginalized Communities to Promote Economic Empowerment, Best Practices in Proposal Development and Innovative Approaches to Fundraising, introduction of digital security and practical applications etc. The workshop created a space and opportunity for networking, self-reflection, cross-border information exchange and cooperation between the participants. 

On April 18th, Fund “Sukhumi” Representative Office in Tbilisi, hosted the representatives of Israeli civil society organizations, partnering with Sweden International NGO Kvinna till Kvinna. Fund “Sukhumi’”s representative has in detail shared with Israeli colleagues the working directions and experience of organization, all successes and challenges on its path. The guests from Israel have also talked about their work and activities on gender equality, women’s political and economic empowerment, peacebuilding and gender based violence. The organizations found many similarities in the approaches and activities undertaking by Fund “Sukhumi” and expressed wish to meet again and cooperate in the future. 

 The project is implemented with the support of Kvinna till Kvinna,

 women’s Foundation (Sweden)

In frames of monitoring the “Law of Georgia on the Elimination of Domestic Violence/Violence Against Women, Protection and Assistance to the Victims”, in May, the target groups were 6 women victims of violence. An in-depth interview with them was aimed at information collection: how much women trust law protecting structures, is it safe to cooperate with them in terms of security, whether the gender aspects are observed in the survey process, what is the level of cooperation with referral subjects.

It turns out that in case of violence, women victims mostly address law protecting structures. They note their professionalism, but they also talk about the need for female investigators in the process of interrogation.

On April 17, the Fund "Sukhumi" organized a civil forum in Kutaisi. Representatives of the Coalition "Woman and Peace" actively participated in the forum.

The Coalition “Woman and Peace” was created last year by the Fund “Sukhumi”. The Coalition included 10 women's NGOs from 4 regions of Western Georgia (Imereti, Samegrelo, Guria, Adjara): Fund “Sukhumi” (Kutaisi), Teachers’ Union “Education and the Universe (Kutaisi), Fund of Women-Entrepreneurs (Kutaisi), Women Club (Khoni ), Women Association “Imedi” (Zugdidi), Association “Mercury” (Zugdidi), Center of Education and Development “Toliskuri” (Khobi), Women Public Association (Ozurgeti), Center for Education and Equality (Ozurgeti), Center for Education, Development and Employment (Batumi).

The first part of the forum was devoted to the consideration of the gender concept of early warning of conflicts in theoretical and practical aspects.

In the second part, participants worked in 5 groups to analyze the conflict in the areas of ecology, health care, domestic violence and religion - they identified the reasons, defined the influence and responsible actors.

Coalition is going to work actively in the future