Members of the Gender Consultative Group established by Fund “Sukhumi” met with a representative of the Mayor’s office of Bagdadi Municipality responsible for gender equality issues, Sophiko Natriashvili. She was consulted on local gender policy issues as well as no activities to be carried out by Gender Equality Council of the Municipality. Participants of the meeting discussed plans for future cooperation between the Council and Fund “Sukhumi”.

The project is implemented with the support of the Visegrad Fund and the Kingdom of the Netherlands

Fund “Sukhumi” organized a meeting sharing experiences within the framework of the project "Learning from Visegrad 4 Experience to Advocate for Equal, Inclusive and Democratic Local Governance” at the local level". The meeting was held at the Center for Civic Engagement, in Kutaisi.

The meeting was attended by the main actors of Imereti and Samegrelo municipalities working on gender policy, local government officials, and representatives of the civil sector and mass media.

What are the achievements of gender policy at the municipal level, what are the challenges facing local Gender Equality Councils, in which areas support from the local government, Gender Equality Councils, Ministries, would be useful for stakeholders implementing gender policy at local level?

After interesting discussions, participants of the meeting defined recommendations that will serve as the basis for the development of local gender policy and the implementation of important reforms.

The project is implemented with the support  of the Visegrad Fund

In Kutaisi, at the office of Fair Elections, an information exchange meeting was held at the Imereti NGO Forum within the framework of the fund “Sukhumi” project - “Studying the experience of Visegrad countries at local level for advocacy of equal, inclusive and democratic governance”.

Representative of the Fund "Sukhumi" acquainted colleagues with the goals and objectives of the project, with the implemented activities. Particular attention was paid to Czech experience in terms of civic engagement and gender marking. And also research, on the basis of which a strategy of local gender mainstreaming will be prepared. Research will focus on gender budgeting practices and challenges at the local level; institutional mechanisms of gender equality. It will create an interesting picture of the experience in the field of implementation of gender-sensitive policies.

In the opinion of the meeting participants, one feels a step back in terms of using on-site institutional mechanisms of gender equality. The reason was the fact that new people came to the local self-government as a result of the elections and there is a need for gender education, using the potential of qualified NGOs, close cooperation with the Council of Gender Equality of Parliament.

The project is implemented with the support of the Visegrad Fund 

On the 18^th July, Fund “Sukhumi” carried out a meeting on sharing information and experience with local self-governments of Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti. The meeting was organized at the meeting room of the Regional Administration in Zugdidi. Local and international organizations took part in the meeting. The first meeting of the same format was carried out in Kutaisi with participation of local self-governments of Imereti region.

Representatives of Fund “Sukhumi” provided participants with the information about the project supported by the Visegrad Foundation. The project aims at advocacy for equal, inclusive and democratic governance at local level with consideration of experiences of the leading countries of Europe.

Participants were interested in the Czech experience in terms of citizens’ inclusion in equal governance at the local level; which “gender markers” are applied for analysis of a socio-demographic picture of the persons’ included in programs; Georgia’s practice on civic participation and results of cooperation between the local government, civil society groups and international organizations. Representative of PIN and UNDP shared successful practice of the projects on social inclusion.

Attendees talked about an effective mechanism – Municipal Gender Equality Councils established to promote democratic governance. Fund “Sukhumi” representatives shared their experience in institutionalization of this mechanism, and the Fund’s expertize applied by the Municipalities.

Materials of the meeting will be useful for the fulfilment of the project goals and objectives, which coincide with the declared principles of the State policy - definition of the main directions of the gender policy of the State and support for the adoption of new concepts; creation of the legislative base in the sphere of gender equality, ensuring gender development and promoting harmonization with international treaties.

The project is implemented with the support  of the Visegrad Fund