Municipalities at the centre of development of the National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security
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The development of the fourth National Action Plan for the Implementation of UN Security Council Resolutions on Women, Peace and Security, with a duration of three years, is ongoing with the support of UN Women.
As part of this process, a meeting was held on 30 July 2021 with representatives of the following 15 municipalities: Zugdidi, Kutaisi, Tskaltubo, Sachkhere, Oni, Mestia, Stepantsminda, Khashuri, Gori, Kaspi, Kareli, Marneuli, Gardabani, Tetritskaro and Dusheti. The aim of the meeting was to identify priorities and activities for the National Action Plan.
Access to health care and other essential services, infrastructure, transport, education, and social issues were some of the challenges voiced during the meeting that are faced on a daily basis by internally displaced persons (IDPs) and the conflict-affected population, especially women and girls. In the course of the discussion, the meeting participants answered questions and discussed the current situation in the municipalities, as well as future plans.
Gogi Revia, Head of the Social Affairs and Gender Equality Department of the Zugdidi Mayor’s Office, presented good practices on the localization of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda. In particular, Zugdidi Municipality has developed a local action plan on WPS for the period 2019-2020, which includes health, education, social and other targeted social assistance programmes, as well as projects for IDPs and conflict-affected women and girls. Zugdidi Municipality can be considered one of the exemplary municipalities with a strong track record regarding the implementation of the National Action Plan on WPS at the local level.
“The engagement of target municipalities in the consultation process is very important. This meeting provided a good opportunity to identify the challenges, discuss future priorities and outline the areas that should be included in the new action plan,” stated Natia Ghvinashvili, Deputy Executive Director of the National Association of Local Authorities of Georgia.
This meeting concluded the consultation phase of the National Action Plan drafting process. From September, the process will move to an inter-agency working group format, during which the details of specific directions, activities, indicators and budget allocation will be determined.
The meeting was held within the framework of the UN Women project “Accelerating Implementation of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda in Georgia”, generously supported by the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund of the British Government.