NGO Women's Hope

Written by Administrator

Sunday, 31 May 2009 17:53

NGO “Women’s Hope,” was established in 2001 as an initiative group, consisting of six girls, and in 2002 it was officially registered. Currently 240 girls of Georgian and Armenian nationalities are members of our organization. In the beginning, volunteers who focused on teenage girls’ issues staffed the NGO; with the financial help of “Kvinna Till Kvinna,” the NGO has implemented the project entitled “Active Girl – Successful Woman”. And at present, again with the financial help of “Kvinna Till Kvinna,” the NGO has been running a project entitled “Active Girls – Family, Career and Community”.

Ten girls, our target groups, form our organization participated in the international youth exchange program: “Girls’ power! Life, family and future of European girls”, which took place in Poland during April 29-May 7, 2006. The girls from Poland, Ukraine, Georgia and Sweden participated in it. The objectives of the above mentioned program were: to get to to know about culture and traditions in other countries, about origin of man and women in other countries, about women’s situation and women’s rights in other countries, about role of women in families, to give a possibility to create something together, to give possibility to work in international teams, to break down stereotypes and prejudice about people from other countries, to multiply information about women situation in different countries, to establish a net of girls from different European countries, to capture a knowledge on YOUTH Programme and it’s possibilities.
Our organization has also partnered and participated in the GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) Camp in Bakuriani. GLOW Camp is the only camp or program dedicated to girls’ leadership in Georgia. Young Georgian women worked with Peace Corps Volunteers to manage and facilitate the camp. Over two weeks, eighty girls ages twelve to fifteen participated in sessions focusing on leadership skills, gender attitudes, concepts of self, goal setting, professional development and political participation. All activities were conducted in Georgian. The participants were recruited from all regions of Georgia where Peace Corps Volunteers serve. The goal of this camp was to encourage Georgian girls to serve as citizens for change in the future of their country.
The donors were US Embassy, BP and JSC Mina.
We also have partnered and participated in the Girls’ Sport Camp in Kobuleti. This camp focused on sports education and training as well as developing healthy eating habits. Young Georgian women worked with American Volunteers to manage and facilitate the camp. During the course of one week, twenty-four girls, entering sixth through eighth grades, participated in sessions that developed their athletic abilities while also providing a sound foundation for leadership, communication and teamwork skills. All activities were conducted in Georgia. For this year’s camp, the participants were recruited from the villages surrounding Kobuleti, where Peace Corps Volunteers serve. The goal of this camp was to provide a safe place for girls to exercise and develop their self-esteem through positive reinforcement.
The donor was the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.
Women’s Hope aims to create an active and equal society in our country which will be free from violence and to improve gender equality in the community, and want to empower young girls in order to increase their role in the decision-making processes, also to support the integration processes of Georgian and Armenian society.
The objectives of the current project are:

1. To make girls active and involved into the life of the community

2. To educate them and increase the level of their civic education

3. To change the community old fashioned opinion and stereotypes on role of women in their families, community and career.

4. To provide preventive activities in order to prevent girls from becoming the victims of domestic violence, trafficking and drug abuse.

For these objectives Women’s Hope is implementing the following activities: discussion meetings with the girls participation, all the meetings are dedicated to the theme of girls and equality, gender issues, sexual education, trafficking, woman and politics, role of women in the peace-building process and other themes; Civic Education on the following themes: Me and My Rights (Women’s Rights), Woman and Family, Woman in Politics; language Courses: Georgian, Russian and English, Car driving courses, meeting at the Literary-Art Salon where the girls conduct literary and art evenings, where they talk about the literature, art and folklore of the different countries, they debate about the well-known masterpieces of art, literature, and music, and also they represent their own works, such as poems, paintings and others and will make exhibitions