...

On April 14 at the office fund "Sukhumi" was held a Round-table meeting on "Institutional cooperation and the role of local government in solution of the problem of domestic violence". The meeting was attended by representatives of local government, teachers, psychologists, journalists, representatives of the Ombudsman's office, lawyers, an expert’s group of fund "Sukhumi", and beneficiaries.

Local government is usually out of the general context of social cooperation of public institutions in the fight against domestic violence. There is no awareness of the importance the role of local government in solution of the problems. The social programs of local governments do not reflect measures for the prevention of domestic violence, contribution to efficient operation of the law against violence.

"The law does not impose strict liabilities on local government, but the State - a stable institution - must always take care of this problem. If a small budget can justify the fact that it is impossible to provide assistance to victims of violence or to take effective measures for the prevention of violence, then what prevents the local government to have information, to know what the situation is around us, and to cooperate with NGOs working on these issues? - was mentioned at the Roundtable meeting.

"Economic instability is directly proportional to the degree of violence". "The government should try to create an institution of social workers staffed with qualified personnel".

The Roundtable meeting was productive. In addition to information sharing, there were provided many interesting advice and suggestions which are very helpful in terms of institutional cooperation.

The project is implemented with the support of the organization EED Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst.