Promoting IDPs' and Women's Voices in Post-Conflict Georgia

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‣ Address male IDP needs (Immediate Term)In Georgia, there are numerous NGOs focusing on women’s issues. However, as many experts highlight,many men may be depressed and less active in Georgian society. There is a need for more programmingthat targets men’s issues and needs. NGOs should reassess and change their approach and package theirinitiatives differently to encourage men’s participation, often low in their programming. Gendersensitivity,often understood to address women’s concerns, also needs to address men’s issues. NGOsshould work with the MRA to promote their awareness and acceptance of this issue. They should alsotailor their programs to specifically address the psychosocial factors that may particularly influence men– the fact that often times they are no longer the bread-winners of the family, their lack of professionalopportunities, and the change in the social and familiar roles these situations entail. Livelihoodinitiatives and vocational training, along with men’s groups that provide them with the opportunity toconnect with one another and discuss issues in their own way could serve as some examples ofprogramming ideas.‣ Reform local representative structures (Immediate to Intermediate Term)Our field research revealed that the community leaders, or mamasakhlis, of each collective center areappointed by the government, and in many cases, they serve more as a kind of commissar that controlswhat people think and do, rather than serving as a true representative of the community. The localrepresentative structure in the collective centers should be reformed so that community members canengage in the process of selecting the mamasakhlis.The main obstacle in this sense is that Georgian legislation forbids holding elections in collective centers,settlements, or any other portion of territory that is not incorporated as a municipality. One solutionwould be to reform the law in order to take into account the unique case of collective centers andsettlements. If legal reform to achieve direct elections in collective centers is not politically feasible,NGOs can launch community mobilization initiatives as a tool to designate leaders in each collectivecenter. These leaders could be informally elected during one of the meetings ––including focus groups,trainings and workshops–– held in every settlement.Once every collective center has a leader who represents the interests of the community, this newstructure of local leaders could help strengthen advocacy initiatives within the centers, channeldemands to the government by working with the mamasakhlis, and also serve as a first resort ofcommunication when the national or local governments consult with IDPs from specific centers.103
‣ Improve communication and cooperation among NGOs (Immediate to Intermediate Term)To increase coordination, NGOs working on IDP issues should create a general council or assembly of IDPNGOs. A conference could approve a document stating all common demands or objectives among theNGOs, a ruling body, and a spokesperson. The ruling body could hold monthly meetings, and an annualconference of all NGO representatives could convene to track progress and update the ruling bodyperiodically. These coordination measures must acknowledge the diversity of needs and interests withinIDP populations and incorporate them into the overall decision-making structure.Alternatively, an increased number of informal meetings should be held to improve the coordinationamong the IDP NGOs. Their leaders should agree on a minimal set of common goals that wouldconstitute a shared agenda for all the NGOs to pursue vis-à-vis their beneficiaries, the government andinternational donors.In order to enhance the communications strategies of NGOs working on IDP issues, they shouldimplement a user-friendly online mechanism for them to share best practices, either at the regional ornational level. They could include all in one place: information about events and reports about theiractivities. Also, they could develop social media tools to target younger generation IDPs and educatethem about voting and improving communication with government.‣ Expand successful NGO programs (Intermediate Term)In the effort to further improve communication and cooperation between NGOs, the NGO communityworking on IDP issues should come together to critically assess their most successful programs. Thisassessment would be useful to determine which regions, cities or settlements have less access to thework of these NGOs. The findings of such an effort would be very useful in order to establish whichprograms need to be improved upon and which programs have the potential to be scaled up to areaslacking attention. Working from an NGO council discussed in the previous recommendation, NGOs coulddevelop a strategic plan discussing the programs they want to implement at the national level and theresponsible organizations for each program. This way, NGOs could avoid duplicating efforts and wouldmake sure that every NGO is responsible for a task that is consistent with its comparative advantage.This effort could also serve as a more effective way to allocate donor resources and reduce competitionamong NGOs, as they would receive funding implement different types of programming.‣ Raise awareness of IDP issues among the general population (Intermediate to Long Term)The national discourse on IDPs needs to change. This group should be viewed as citizens with dignity andrights, not as hungry hands, easy votes, or political symbols of a lost territory. A nation-wide publicawareness campaign should be carried out in Georgia to open avenues for IDPs’ participation and fortheir needs and interests to be recognized.104
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Promoting IDPs’ and Women’s Voi
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CONTENTSAcronyms and Abbreviations
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARYInternally displac
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THE WOMEN’S POLITICAL RESOURCE CE
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fair reporting on politically sensi
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people-to-people diplomacy efforts
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and the Guiding Principles, in Febr
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an effort to address these stereoty
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The identities, perceptions, and re
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even IDPs themselves. The HRBA seek
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Karaleti settlement, and Potskho-Et
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displacement differently, with men
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on an equal footing with men in for
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The Ministry for Internally Displac
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Defender’s Office) and leave no r
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prominent national level IDP NGO wo
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in the past but none have yet to be
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Grassroots Peacebuilding EffortsCiv
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esettlement and local integration h
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ability to contribute to the new Ac
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Women convened a working group to a
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were involved, in addition to “wo
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towards addressing this population
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waves. 224 A Conciliation Resources
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governing shelter requirements. 238
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esults of eviction on those who did
Page 54 and 55: FINDINGSSIPA team member Drilon Gas
Page 56 and 57: unique opportunities exist for them
Page 58 and 59: an important opportunity for women
Page 60 and 61: early morning…when I was going to
Page 62 and 63: our office to investigate these iss
Page 64 and 65: on this? It’s impossible.” 322
Page 66 and 67: high levels of unemployment and pov
Page 68 and 69: groups do not differentiate between
Page 70 and 71: funding and influence to implement
Page 72 and 73: een in operation for two years or l
Page 74 and 75: organization, and highlighted that
Page 76 and 77: The Education System’s Influence
Page 78 and 79: system has an important role to pla
Page 80 and 81: Political FactorsMany elements of t
Page 82 and 83: international organizations working
Page 84 and 85: uling party. 433 There were some si
Page 86 and 87: especially highly-influential broad
Page 88 and 89: ationale behind the government’s
Page 90 and 91: international working for a major d
Page 92 and 93: Also, according to a World Bank rep
Page 94 and 95: willing to challenge authorities th
Page 96 and 97: The lack of narrative connecting po
Page 98 and 99: RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE GEORGIAN GO
Page 100 and 101: the government also needs to commit
Page 102 and 103: ‣ Continue to support and expand
Page 106 and 107: The campaign should have a face, su
Page 108 and 109: APPENDIX BList of IntervieweesLocal
Page 110 and 111: Kristy KellyLincoln MitchellLawrenc
Page 112 and 113: Article 10 - Non-discrimination in
Page 114 and 115: Principle 18.1 - Adequate standard
Page 116 and 117: Esaiashvili, Mariam (Official, Mini
Page 118 and 119: Lanskoy, Miriam and Giorgi Areshidz
Page 120: Transparency International Georgia.
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Promoting IDPs' and Women's Voices in Post-Conflict Georgia

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