UN Women in cooperation with the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office and UN system representatives convened the Open Day on Women, Peace and Security in Georgia.
The meeting was chaired and opened by the representative of UN Women in Georgia - Kaori Ishikawa.
This meeting serviced as a venue for exchange between the UN system representatives and CSOs, grassroots IDP and conflict-affected women and youth around the issues and priorities related to the women, peace and security agenda.
Among the 9 community leaders, three community leaders mobilized by the Women's Fund "Sukhumi" also spoke about the urgent challenges faced by the IDPs and the conflict-affected population, where Ekaterine Gamakharia, the head of the Women's Fund "Sukhumi" Tbilisi representative office, and three community leaders mobilized by the Women's Fund "Sukhumi" also participated.
On September 14, 2022, an info-sharing meeting between the participants of the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) and civil society representatives in Gori was held.
At the meeting the audience was addressed by the State Minister on Reconciliation and Civic Equality - Thea Akhvlediani, UN Women Representative to Georgia - Kaori Ishikawa; Head of the EU Monitoring Mission - Marek Szczygieł, Deputy Director of the Information and Analytical Department of the State Security Service - Irakli Antadze and the representative of the Office of the Minister of State for Reconciliation and Civic Equality - Zviad Zviadadze.
Ekaterine Gamakharia, representative of Women's Fund "Sukhumi"’s Tbilisi office, in her speech, focused on the restriction of movement for the Georgian population living on both sides of the Enguri river near to the conflict dividing line with Abkhazia, as a result of the suspension of issuance of movement documents by the de-facto Abkhaz government from January 2022. She highlighted the challenges that women encounter due to the restriction, namely crossing the dividing line by roundabout ways, at their own peril; surrendering to Russian soldiers, which cost them fine payment in exchange of release; This not only negatively impacts on their emotional state and increases stress but also puts on them a heavy financial burden. She also spoke about the complicated procedures and restriction of transporting products and cargo at the checkpoints, which hinders both the economic activity of the population and cooperation with the Abkhaz side in general.
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.
The Delegation of the European Union to Georgia hosted a high-level conference on "Women's participation in politics".
The meeting was held in hybrid mode and was attended by women in politics, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Human Rights, Chairman of the Parliamentary Gender Equality Council, activists of civil society organizations, experts, representatives of international organizations, and 12 embassies accredited in Georgia.
Ekaterine Gamakharia, a representative of the Women's Fund "Sukhumi", though online format, emphasized that political empowerment and participation of such marginalized groups as conflict-affected women, IDPs, and people living in remote regions are not paid sufficient attention, and the need to promote the political participation of this category of women is essential.
The WAVE Network, which brings together more than 150 NGOs working on issues of violence against women, organized a meeting to support and solidarity with Ukrainian women and children. The purpose of the meeting was to receive information from our Ukrainian colleagues on the urgent needs of women and children as a result of the war in Ukraine and to exchange information on existing support initiatives from partners. Network members discussed future strategies for providing more effective assistance and support.
Eka Gamakharia, a representative of the Women's Fund "Sukhumi", shared with her colleagues the specific initiatives that are being implemented by the organization to support the population of Ukraine and the Ukrainian refugees in Georgia - providing financial resources and humanitarian aid to the population in occupied Melitopol. Assistance in purchasing necessary items and products for Ukrainian refugees in Kutaisi, paying temporary rent, and employment. Also, offer a consultation with a psychologist.
Women and children of Ukraine! Their heroism and sustainability!
The role of women in politics, in making important decisions.
What services is necessary to be improved in the state for a woman to become more realized.
And much more about women’s devotion and, of course, solidarity to Ukraine!
Ekaterine Gamakharia, head of the Tbilisi Representative Office of the Women Fund “Sukhumi” - in the TV program of the Public Broadcast "Code of the Day" on Mother's Day, which has been celebrated in Georgia since 1991.
On December 3, 2021, by the initiative of the Office of the State Minister for Reconciliation and civil equality with the support of the United Nations Women (UN Women), a regular briefing was held for participants of the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism and representatives of the civil society organizations. The meeting was attended by members of civil society, representatives of non-governmental women's organizations as well as conflict-affected women, including women living in IDP villages near the conflict dividing line, and also EUMM and representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited in Georgia.
Kate Fearon, Deputy Head of the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia, Zviad Zviadadze, Head of the Department of State for the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia and Former South Ossetia, and Deputy Director of the Information-Analytical Department of the State Security Service addressed the participants, who focused on the results of recent meetings under the Ergneti Mechanism.
On 16 November 2021, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia hosted a roundtable discussion “Geneva International Discussions and Women, Peace, and Security” supported by the UN Women and the United Kingdom. The purpose of the meeting was to facilitate dialogue with civil society on the peaceful resolution of the conflict and the involvement of women in peace processes. The purpose of the meeting was to facilitate dialogue with civil society on the peaceful resolution of the conflict and the involvement of women in peace processes.
Eka Gamakharia, the representative of the Women's Fund "Sukhumi" in Tbilisi noted at the meeting the importance of creating and launching consulting platforms with women's organizations and underlined the need for more active cooperation with women's organizations on "Women, Peace, Security" issues by all state ministries. She also stressed the need for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ensure the involvement of women's organizations in the planning and development of a "Peaceful Conflict Resolution Strategy", including a conflict-affected society (Abkhazia, South Ossetia) and a gender dimension that would make it more viable and effective.
Copyright: Office of the State Minister of Georgia for Reconciliation and Civil Equality.
On November 5, 2021, in cooperation with the UN Resident Coordinator and representatives of various UN agencies the UN Women in Georgia held an Open Day on Women, Peace, and Security. Open Day promotes dialogue between representatives of the UN system and civil society, women, and young people displaced and affected by the conflict.
The representative of the Women's Fund "Sukhumi" Tbilisi office was allowed to address the meeting and Marika Megrelidze (Pakhulani-Tskhoushi) and Nona Bukia (Khurcha), leaders of the initiative groups operating in the villages of the dividing line in Zugdidi and Tsalenjikha municipalities, and Marie Narmania (Zugdidi), a young activist.
Representatives of the Fund "Sukhumi" spoke about the challenges in the lives of women and young people in the villages near the border, including economic empowerment and limited employment opportunities; Infrastructure problems of schools and outpatient clinics and lack of appropriate technical equipment; Acute problems of water supply in the villages, IDPs in the dilapidated buildings of the IDP accommodation centers, the lack of proper spaces for the development of youth in the villages, etc.
On November 3, 2021, the representative of the Tbilisi office of the Women Fund "Sukhumi" - Ekaterine Gamakharia participated in a Gender Theme Group (GTG) - Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Task Force Meeting. The Gender Theme Group unites international organizations and embassies accredited in Georgia, as well as civil society organizations. Its purpose is to promote the "Women, Peace and Security" agenda in Georgia and respond effectively to challenges identified by individual group members, develop and plan appropriate actions and interventions.
At the meeting, the representative of the Fund "Sukhumi" together with her colleagues spoke about Resolution 1325, the results of monitoring the implementation of the three-year National Action Plan, and the main findings, where she stressed the challenges and the need to respond to them, such as - the development and implementation of a gender-sensitive early warning system;