In the words of Eka Gogatishvili: “If women spoke from the highest-level platforms, we would live in a more peaceful world”

“On 7 August 2008, I learned from a neighbour that the Georgian army had entered Perevi, and then shooting followed. My older child was only 2 years old at the time. I took my child and found refuge in Koreti, my home village, while my husband stayed behind: he had a broken leg and could not come with us. I will never forget those tense days of the war. I was so terrified that even the sound of chicks chirping seemed like rifle fire to me.

Our community always had good relations with Ossetians, and there were also many close family ties. I cannot recall even minor confrontations before [the war]. I think [our long-standing ties] also contributed to the situation calming down fairly quickly, although I did not return home until the end of August.

In reality, life is never peaceful near the dividing line. I do not feel safe, because the presence of soldiers stationed nearby serves as a constant reminder of the overwhelming reality. I might get distracted by my daily routine, but as evening approaches, anxieties heighten. I am especially concerned about the women in my village: Has anyone gone into the forest today to gather chestnuts or mushrooms? Has everyone returned home safely? Has anyone been abducted? There is no barbed wire here, so we do not know exactly where the dividing line is drawn. Nor can we determine how far we can go into the forest. We are unprotected.

I always spoke openly about this issue, especially since 2015, when I became involved as a volunteer in UN Women projects and began to look at the lives of the women in villages along the dividing line from a different perspective. This was the period when my children had grown a little older and I had more free time. Other than being a mom, I wanted to have something of my own and to develop my skills. My husband has always been supportive as well. I remember my first steps [into community engagement] as if it were yesterday: my neighbour took me to a meeting with representatives of the TASO Foundation. That was where I learned about social mobilization and women’s self-help groups that volunteered for their communities, and I soon joined one.

At that time, first we opened an IT centre in Perevi and then a sewing workshop, which continues to operate and grow to this day. Our work, as well as my participation in training sessions and meetings, helped me discover entirely new skills and opportunities. Later, I also began cooperating with the Women’s Information Center and became interested in women, peace and security issues. There are now five women in our self-help group. We still strive to improve everyday life here.

There are around 150 households in Perevi, although more and more people are leaving the village, often because of the difficult conditions. For example, when we were assessing the needs of the local population, we discovered that if we needed to print out a single page, or simply to make a copy of an ID card, we had to travel to Sachkhere. Although public transport is available, it runs at such long intervals that if you leave at 8am for a two-minute errand, you may not return until midday, and you have to spend additional time and money on the journey. When we learned about UN Women’s community initiatives, we immediately came up with the idea of getting a printer. We installed the device in the village store, a location familiar to everyone, and now any resident can use it free of charge. The printer has been particularly helpful to schoolchildren, who use it most often to print materials for their studies.

Another initiative is free English courses and counselling sessions. Ten women attend online classes and consultations. Both components empower us - the new knowledge as well as the emotional support. Every time we get together, our combined energy creates so much power that we immediately start to feel how much more we can achieve. So, the more of us there are, the better.

I often think about the role of women in peacebuilding, and I always come to the same conclusion: as mothers, we do not think only about our own children; we care about every parent’s child and their future. That is why I believe that if women spoke from the highest-level platforms, we would live in a more peaceful world.

I hope that the Network of Women and Youth Peace Ambassadors will become an important platform that opens the way for women like us to reach these high-level platforms and brings more volunteers together.”

Support for community initiatives in conflict-affected villages and communities along the dividing line formed a part of the UN Women project “Accelerating Implementation of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda in Georgia”. The project was implemented in 2020–2025 with generous funding from the UK Government, and the initiatives continued in 2025–2026 under the project “Women Act for Peace and Security”, which also envisaged the establishment of the Network of Women and Youth Peace Ambassadors. UN Women implemented both projects in partnership with the IDP Women Association “Consent”, the Women’s Information Center and the Charity Humanitarian Women Fund “Sukhumi”.