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Cultural - Humanitarian Fund "Sukhumi"                       On October 1, 2012 to September 30, 2013 - Cultural-Humanitarian Fund "Sukhumi" is implementing the project "Women’s Civic participation" supported by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED, Washington).     The project covers four regions of western Georgia (Imereti, Samegrelo, Adjara, Guria).

Project objectives:

z    To encourage women’s participation in civic society and conflict resolution.

z    To improve women’s civic capacity in advance of the 2014 local elections.

According to the project the intensive work of the League of Women Voters is anticipated in the cities of western Georgia - Kutaisi, Tskaltubo, Khoni, Senaki, Zugdidi, Poti, Ozurgeti and Batumi.

 In the second half of the project rural clubs will join the League from Khurcha Koki, Menji, Bia (Samegrelo).

A new phase of educational activities provides workshops, where women learn techniques of advocacy and debate, development of strategies for advocacy and lobbying, as well as improvement of their leadership skills.

Equipped with the relevant skills, women will participate in the meetings of the local City Council and will hold meetings with the political parties in order to draw attention to women's issues.

They will also prepare a package of proposals to protect the interests of the local population, which will be submitted to the local government, political parties and other institutions for further advocacy and lobbying.

Within the project, representatives of the Fund "Sukhumi" and the Association of Women of Abkhazia (Sukhumi) will meet in Yerevan to share experiences and discuss possibilities for the future cooperation.

All the activities, planned under the project, will aim to improve opportunities for women in order to fully participate in public and political processes.

The meetings with the political parties will help to support women in the party structures, the relationship between political parties and the League of Women Voters, and the support of potential women candidates in the local elections of 2014.

We believe that the project will promote civic empowerment of women, development of civil society, the positive impact on future local elections from a gender perspective, the introduction of peace, stability and democratic principles in the country.