"Despite the fact that often there are conflicts around me, I never thought that my character, personal qualities may have an impact on the course and development of conflict. I’ve heard a lot of interesting and reconsidered much".
"It's interesting to listen to the theoretical material on conflict, but it’s much more interesting when you use all in practice. I think that role games and exercises are the best way to apprehend information.”
Such were the views of workshops members.
From 12 to 22 October, girls-leaders of fund" Sukhumi held five workshops in Senaki, Kutaisi and Khoni on the topic "Leadership and conflict". Workshop participants were IDP girls. In their opinion, the knowledge that they had obtained was important for them and they would necesarily use this knowldge in their lives.
The project is implemented with the support of Kvinna till Kvinna, women’s Swedish Foundation.
On October 8-11 members of the School of Young Women Leaders carried out seven workshops on the topic "Leadership and Conflict” in Kutaisi, Khoni and Poti.
Participants of the meeting actively discussed the aforementioned topic. They thought on their leader qualities, opportunities, on how they should control their emotions and feelings in conflict situation.
In their opinion leader should be able to be retrained, control her emotions and feelings. Leader can not be impulsive and unstable during the decision-making.
The project is implemented with the support of Kvinna till Kvinna, women’s Swedish Foundation.
Members of the School of Young Women Leaders of Fund "Sukhumi” carried out workshops in their cities to raise awareness of IDP girls on the issues of women’s leadership and conflict. 5 workshops on the topic "Leadership and conflict” have already been carried out in Tskhaltubo, Senaki and Poti. Young women expressed great interest to the aforementioned topic.
-Conflicts – an everyday phenomenon in our lives. We want to learn more about them to be able to solve conflicts in a peaceful way, - mentioned participants.
Active discussion was carried out on the question - based on personal elements what might be the influence of leadership on the conflict development? In participants’ opinion person should be able to control his/her qualities, since in this has a decisive meaning in conflict situation.
The project is implemented with the support of the organization EED Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst.
During spring 2010, Fund Sukhumi’s Swedish intern Anja Westberg has conducted several workshops on gender equality and feminism in cities around western Georgia. On June 16th, the last workshop was held in the women support centre in Khoni. 8 young women had gathered to take part in discussions and interactive exercises about gender issues.
-I liked everything about this workshop, said one of the girls during the evaluation.The participants were all used to discuss gender equality issues, but were eager to learn more about feminism.During the workshop, the group showed good teamwork skills and proved that it is possible to discuss serious matters and have fun at the same time. The participants also shared personal experiences related to gender stereotypes. Everyone agreed that gender roles limit your opportunities as a woman and that this needs to be changed.
Anja Westberg has now finished her internship at Fund Sukhumi. She is impressed by the work of the organization.
-It has been a great experience. I have learned so much from the women I have met during workshops, trainings and meetings. I hope to come back in the future!
Four workshops on the topic of elections were held in Zugdidi. Participants of the meetings were provided with information about functions of the Local self-government, changes made in Election code and necessity of increase of women’s representation in politics. 61 women took part in the workshops, among them 3 majority candidates.
After acquainting participants with theoretical material, practical exercises used at the workshops caused great interest. There were defined competences of the central and local governments, held discussions about positive and negative sides of changes made in Election legislation.
Participants of the workshops had possibility to learn about election programmes of women-candidates running for the local self-government elections. The conversation touched upon necessity to support women and positive results regarding increase of women’s representation in the Local self-government as well as in Georgian politics as a whole.
The project is implemented with the support of the organization NED – National Endowment for Democracy, USA.
On May 14th, a group of young women gathered in Poti to take part in the workshop on gender equality and feminism. From the start, these women expressed a strong interest in learning more about the meaning of feminism. - I like to talk about gender equality, but this was the first time I discussed goals and strategies, said one participant during the evaluation.
Leading the workshop was Anja Westberg, the Swedish intern at Fund Sukhumi. She provided some information about the history of feminism and acquainted the participants with a number of famous feminist pioneers. During the workshop, participants enthusiastically engaged in various discussions, and they also shared some personal experiences about dealing with gender stereotypes. By using interactive exercises, the aim of the workshop was to encourage everyone to think independently and express their own opinions about gender issues.
The project is implemented with the support of the organization EED Evangelischer
The Swedish intern Anja Westberg is continuing her workshops on gender equality and feminism. On the sunny afternoon of May 4th, the turn had come to girls and young women from Kutaisi who gathered at the Fund Sukhumi office. From the start, participants demonstrated a great interest in discussing women’s rights. They were already familiar with the key concepts of gender equality, but all agreed that the workshop helped them to gain a better understanding of feminism.The workshop explored the core idea of feminism and what it means to be a feminist. Participants also took active part in an "attitude exercise” where they had to express their personal opinion about gender-related issues. The purpose of the workshop was to encourage everyone to speak their minds and to engage in future discussions about gender equality.
The project is implemented with the support of the organization EED Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst.
Four workshops on the topic of elections were held in Batumi. One of the meetings was held with women IDPs and ecomigrants living in the former building of Narcological Clinics of Khevlachauri. In total 60 participants attended those workshops: students, teachers, journalists, housewives.
The work with groups showed that they were not well informed about election legislation and competences of the local self-government. They expressed wish for better learning of their rights and perceiving of their responsibility during voting. They are ready to share the information obtained at the workshops with others contributing in this way to increase of the level of public awareness about election issues.
During practical exercises used at the workshops participants were given possibility to define competences of central and local authorities and carry out discussions on the changes made in election legislation.
The project is implemented with the support of the organization NED – National Endowment for Democracy, USA.
On April 27th, the second workshop on gender equality and feminism was held in the women’s support centre in Senaki.During the workshop, participants enthusiastically engaged in interactive exercises and discussions. The girls were familiar with the idea of gender equality, but expressed a strong interest in learning more about feminism. The Swedish workshop leader, Anja Westberg, shared some knowledge about the meaning and goals of feminism. She also acquainted the participants with some historical and famous feminist figures. The participants were encouraged to think independently and speak their minds about gender issues. At the end, all girls agreed that the workshop was fun and helpful, giving them an opportunity to learn more and express their own opinions.
The next workshop will be held in Poti on May 4th.
The project is implemented with the support of the organization EED Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst.
Workshops on the topic of elections carried out in Ozurgeti were particularly interesting for women-voters. Four workshops were attended by 59 participants.
Most of them are actively involved in election campaign. That’s why it was important for them to acquaint with changes made in election legislation and realize authorities of the local self-government. There was mentioned that citizens often address local self government for solution of the issues which are outside of their competence.
That’s why it is important to inform civil society about authorities of that organ.
For young voters voting for the first time the information on voting procedures and their rights was especially interesting.
First of all, listeners link future elections with solution of social and other problems existing in the city. To achieve this they consider it necessary to increase women’s representation in the local self-government.
The project is implemented with the support of the organization NED – National Endowment for Democracy, USA.
Among participants of four workshops on the topic of elections, carried out in Tskhaltubo, there were teachers, young people in the age of 18, who will firstly participate in elections.
The workshops topic: Changes in election legislation and local self government elections.
During mini lection they touched upon increase of women’s participation in elections, statistics of different countries about women’s representation in politics, local self government and basic election terminology.
Participants’ evaluation: The carried out workshops were very interesting for the participants. The work style was especially effective for them. During practical exercises they could use the obtained theoretical knowledge.
The achieved results: Participants learnt about obligations of the local self-government, realized necessity of participation in elections and importance of women’s solidarity for revealing of women-candidates. Their motivation for participation in elections has been increased.
The project is implemented with the support of the organization NED – National Endowment for Democracy, USA.
The main objective of the workshops on the topic of elections, held in Khobi district was raising awareness of women-voters about election legislation and authorities of local self-government. In total there were carried out 6 meetings in different municipalities with participation of 60 women-voters. Among them were those who will participate in elections for the first time.
Special attention at the meetings was paid to such issues as election administration, financing of elections, rights of voters etc.
It should be mentioned that practical exercises and discussions helped participants strengthen the obtained knowledge.
Participants positively evaluated the workshops and mentioned that raising awareness of women-voters is important and necessary for taking active participation in elections and expressed solidarity to women-candidates.
The project is implemented with the support of the organization NED – National Endowment for Democracy, USA.
-Such meetings are necessary since we were provided with much new information about elections. This method helps to increase political culture of society”, - such was common opinion of the participants of the workshops carried out in Kutaisi (in total there were carried out 4 workshops). They think that participation of every voter in elections is very important, especially when it comes about local self-government elections and increasing of women’s representation in it.
About 64 women participated in the meetings. One of the groups consisted of young IDPs.
Theoretical part of the workshops included such issues as competences of the local self-government, changes in election legislation, pre-election campaign, financing etc.
Practical exercises aimed at making participants realize competences of local self-government and budget distribution according to certain priorities.
Analysis of the carried out meetings showed that participants are ready to participate in election process. It is very important that they obtained necessary information about their rights. One of the participants mentioned: "I did not know if I had right to attend sitting in Sakrebulo and be involved in consideration of the city budget. Now I want to be actively involved in these processes”.
The project is implemented with the support of the organization NED – National Endowment for Democracy, USA.
During spring 2010, Fund Sukhumi is conducting three workshops on the topic of gender equality and feminism. Leading the workshops is Anja Westberg from Sweden, who is doing an internship at Fund Sukhumi from March to June. The first workshop was held in the women’s support center in Tskhaltubo on April 14th. The participants were girls from the age of 16.
During the workshop, participants were acquainted with the key concepts of gender, gender equality and feminism, and they were encouraged to think independently about these issues. Using interactive exercises, the workshop explored the meaning, goals and strategies of feminism. In one exercise, participants shared personal experiences about gender discrimination. They were also encouraged to express their own opinions about various gender-related matters, which resulted in interesting and lively discussions. The workshop aimed at making participants realize the importance of gender awareness, and inspiring them to actively engage in discussions about gender equality in the future.
During the evaluation, participants expressed positive comments on the topics discussed during the workshop. Many girls wanted to learn more about feminism, and some girls said that the workshop had inspired them to re-think their attitudes towards gender issues.
The project is implemented with the support of the organization EED Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst.
Within the framework of the project "Dissemination of results of the Georgian-Abkhaz dialogue on Security Guarantees - Dialogue on security guarantees in the context of the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict” in Fund "Sukhumi” there was held a workshop for the staff members of the organization.
Moderator of the meeting, Mr. Alu Gamakharia acquainted participants with the information about separate analysis of both Georgian and Abkhaz civil society experts on the need for security guarantees, the reasons why the sides have been unable to agree on them as well as barriers and opportunities for future agreements.
Participants actively discussed positive and negative sides of these agreements.
During the second part of the workshop participants worked in three groups (government, civil society and experts) on the topic: "Building of the dialogue between representatives of the civil society in Georgia and the government”.
After the presentations they discussed most topical issues. In their opinion of the workshop participants, society should be more actively involved in discussions, to formulate healthy public opinion on the aforementioned issue.
