In the words of Tinatin Kupatadze: “Raising teachers’ awareness of violence is extremely important”
UN Women is helping women and girls across Georgia’s regions access information about State-run services and municipal programmes addressing violence against women and domestic violence. Through awareness-raising trainings, nearly 800 women, including representatives of ethnic and religious minorities, women living in high-mountainous communities, and those residing in areas adjacent to the dividing line, strengthened their understanding of available support and referral mechanisms. The trainings were conducted within the framework of the UN joint project “Civic Engagement for Local Development”, implemented by UN Women and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) with the support of the UN Georgia Thematic Pooled Fund for Civic Space. Tinatin Kupatadze, 32, was among the training recipients.
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“I live in the town of Terjola with my family and two children. I work as a lawyer at a local medical clinic and, at the same time, teach primary school students at a public school.
I was 27 years old when I started teaching. By then, I had already earned my law degree, but I quickly discovered how much I loved working with children. Despite the challenges that come with the profession, interacting with students and communicating with their parents has never felt exhausting to me.
When you are a teacher, you often feel that people expect support from you—or simply reliable information when they need it. Over the years, many people have asked me questions about violence. Whenever that happened, I tried to educate myself, researching the topic independently and consulting friends who work as psychologists to better understand how to respond and where to refer people for support.
That is why I was interested in participating in the training organized by the Charity Humanitarian Women’s Fund ‘Sukhumi’. I have been cooperating with the organization for a long time, but this was the first opportunity I had to gain more comprehensive knowledge about violence against women and domestic violence and then share that information with other women. I wanted to be able to explain where women can seek help, what services exist and why reaching out for support matters.
The training gave me exactly that. It helped me understand how to communicate this information more clearly and confidently. Now I know what to say, how to say it, and where to direct women when they need assistance.
I can simply approach women and tell them: ‘This is information I learned, and you should know it too. Keep it in mind, and use it whenever you need it.’
I believe that raising teachers’ awareness of violence is extremely important. That is why I decided to share what I learned with my colleagues at school. When you inform teachers, you also reach students’ parents. Information travels further, and its impact grows.
We had a long and meaningful discussion during a meeting with my colleagues. When the conversation ended, I realized that we were looking at mothers of our students differently than before.
Previously, we often placed the responsibility for children entirely on their mothers. After the training, however, we started asking ourselves a different question: what if these women also need support?
That realization changed our perspective completely. It reminded us that caring for students also means caring about their families and paying attention to the well-being of their mothers.
The experience helped us understand that, as educators, we have a broader role to play. We are not only responsible for supporting children’s learning and development; we can also help create safer and more supportive environments for the women who are raising them. I believe this knowledge will help us reach many more women with important information.”