Validating programmatic interventions through wide-scale consultations with local communities
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UN Women, together with its partners the Taso Foundation and the Georgian Farmers’ Association, launched a series of joint consultation meetings in the regions of Guria, Imereti, Racha-Lechkhumi and Samegrelo.
These outreach consultation meetings were conducted in the framework of the project “Joint Action for Women’s Economic Empowerment in Georgia” aimed at generating support from local-level partners and, more importantly, at ensuring that the end beneficiaries, women, are informed and consulted about project interventions.
From 6 to 10 August 2018, the project team held 10 meetings with over 100 people at different locations, such as the Samegrelo villages of Anaklia, Darcheli and Ergeta and its cities of Poti and Zugdidi; and the Guria villages of Dvabzu and Laituri and its cities of Lanchkhuti and Ozurgeti. Meetings were held with local government and self-government representatives, including gender equality units. Local media, businesses, human rights activists, community-based organizations and other non-governmental organizations were also consulted.
Apart from engaging with the local communities through information sharing, the key focus of the field visits was also to identify sites for the social mobilization component of the project, managed by the Taso Foundation. The consultation meetings were held with those rural women who do not own businesses but have ideas and an openness to become entrepreneurs, as well as with those women who are already engaged in a small-scale business activity. As a result, the grass-roots communities were informed about the project interventions, while at the same time, the project team gained greater understanding of the needs of local women to better tailor programmatic interventions.
“UN Women has implemented several important social initiatives in the Samegrelo region. The current work’s focus on economic empowerment is very timely, and the local government will be fully supportive of the project activities,” stated Gogi Revia, representative of Zugdidi municipality’s social services department.