Training for members of the Network of Women and Youth Peace Ambassadors
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“When I come to these trainings, I realize that women of different generations, experiences and challenges share the same goal: a European Georgia. We may be making a modest yet still significant contribution to achieving this goal with our activism.” This is how 19-year-old Tiko Lagvilava reflects on the gatherings of members of the Network of Women and Youth Peace Ambassadors.
Tiko is from Zugdidi but currently lives in Tbilisi, where she studies politics and diplomacy at New Vision University. Her choice of profession clearly served as one of the incentives for her to join the Network of Women and Youth Peace Ambassadors.
The Network, which unites representatives from 17 municipalities, was established at the end of 2023 and is an important part of localizing the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda in Georgia, as well as empowering women community leaders. Activities of the Network envisage equipping women with appropriate knowledge and skills, conducting detailed studies of their needs, and finding solutions to problems through active involvement and effective advocacy.
To this end, UN Women’s partner NGOs - the IDP Women Association “Consent”, the Women’s Information Center and the Women Fund “Sukhumi”- conducted 12 training sessions for women and youth members of the Network in July and August. The sessions addressed important issues such as human rights, women’s rights and gender equality, gender disinformation and the detection of fake news, propaganda and social media, artificial intelligence, and the safe use of the Internet, among other topics. More than 100 participants from six regions of Georgia attended these meetings. Tiko Lagvilava was among them.
After completing the training on gender disinformation, Tiko noted: “Today’s meeting was especially interesting for me because I am a woman, I study politics, and I know that if I pursue my career in this field, I may become a target of disinformation as well. Therefore, I gained very important knowledge [today]. I learned how to prepare myself mentally, what methods to employ to fight [disinformation] and, most importantly, how to share this information with other women.”
UN Women will continue to support the Network’s activities and the exchange of new and necessary knowledge with its members in the future.
The training for the members of the Network of Women and Youth Peace Ambassadors is part of the UN Women project “Accelerating Implementation of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda in Georgia”, generously funded by UK Government.