“Women in Georgia – Tradition and Contemporaneity” is a short documentary film prepared by ‘Netgazeti’ (online newspaper) about women living in Ghordjomi Community (Khulo Municipality, Ajara). Ghordjomi is one of the largest Muslim communities in Ajara and is known for its early marriage traditions, and other strict rules and attitudes towards women. The film describes the harsh daily routine of the women starting from 6 am in the morning with taking care of the cattle, children, household and the restrictions they face in daily life.
The ALCP AJ programme’s Focus Group Survey and Gender Analysis captured these issues and also noted the consequent effect on the participation of women in the decision-making processes at the community and local governmental levels which is chronically low.
The programme employs a systemic approach in which gender mainstreaming is integral to ensuring equitable impact. To date interventions have included:
- A Memorandum of Understanding with Ajara’s self-governments to cooperate in the gender related issues and to support implementation of the Law on Gender Equality of Georgia.
- Facilitating the appointment of Gender Advisors in all five municipalities of Ajara
- Organized training for the Advisors on how to increase women participation in community meetings. Following the training, Gender Advisors worked with Village Representatives and as a result the attendance of women in the community meetings has increased by 10-15 %.
As the follow up to these activities, the programme will further ensure women’s access to decision-making and public goods and information by establishing a municipal service the ‘Women’s Room’ in the municipalities of Ajara region.
Another constraint captured by the Gender Analysis is that female farmers lack information regarding livestock husbandry, again due to the several cultural, ethnic and social constraints. Programme facilitated training on cow’s reproduction cycle for the female SSLPs in eight villages of the five municipalities of Ajara region, where intervention of the improved bull services is on place.
The main subject of the training was a heat detection followed by other issues concerning breeding, veterinary, nutrition, etc. This type of information is important for women, as they are mainly responsible for identifying the right time for cows to breed, however they feel uncomfortable to ask questions to the vets who are mostly men. Therefore, the female experienced vet and AI practitioner, Nana Balanchivadze was invited to carry out the trainings.
The female farmers expressed their interest and emphasized necessity of the female vets’ involvement in the veterinary matters. The participants were mostly interested in the reproduction cycle, symptoms and treatment of the cattle diseases. Overall, 108 women were trained. In addition, 42 men also asked trainer for advice on breeding and veterinary.
For scaling up DRR facilitation of Local Self Governments by the programme the meeting was held with the Governor of Kvemo Kartli - Ramin Ismailov.
From the ISET Economist news (http://www.iset.ge/news/?p=3871)
By Eric Livny
Democracy and Freedom Watch reported October 9, that “Georgia’s controversial new immigration law may be changed”. The law, writes DFW, “has caused a wave of confusion and irritation in the country’s expat community. Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili … told journalists that if any defects become apparent after the enactment of the new law, ‘we’ll surely correct it.''
By Helen Bradbury: Team Leader, Alliances Lesser Caucasus Programme
Information matters, it is our currency, the substance, the commodity which keeps our programmes running. We live in an age of information, are afloat on and sometimes drowning in a sea of it. We may check the oracle of google in answer to any question, live feeds, notifications and a torrent of minutiae in a mélange of events of great importance, continually assail us. Once there were spin doctors, now most of us spin daily be it personally or professionally. We are aware of the need to manage information, to have enough of it and of the right kind and most of us are aware too of the need to understand its quality and to know when and what we have is enough or too little.
The villagers of Tsintskaro village have suffered for years from the twice yearly flow of more than 100,000 sheep, cattle, goats, donkeys, horses and shepherd dogs straight past their gates. The problem has been in impasse for years with no real ownership of the issue by the myriad actors involved. Now, the local government has spearheaded the movement to solve the problem calling together support from a group including the MOA, MOE, the Regional Government and Shepherds Association which has been working for three years to improve coordination and bring the matter of the Animal Movement Route to public attention.
Drought is one of the critical disaster issues being typical for Kvemo Kartli and significantly harming agricultural sector in the region. Severe drought that occurred in this area in July-August, 2014 has negatively affected livestock husbandry which resulted with the reduced milk yield, hay production and deteriorated pastures in Kvemo Kartli.
From the ISET Economist news (http://www.iset.ge/news/?s=survival&lang=en)
By Nino Mosiashvili
The conclusion of the Association Agreement (AA) with the European Union was euphorically acclaimed by Georgian media as well as political and economic decision makers. Part of the AA is the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA). The DCFTA is intended to liberalize trade between Georgia and the EU by lowering tariffs and reducing non-tariff barriers. For agriculture, the most relevant changes relate to food safety (bacterial contaminants, pesticides, inspection, and labeling) as well as animal and plant health (phytosanitation). For the manufacturing sector, the removal of so-called “technical barriers to trade” is similarly important, with the goal being to prevent the usage of technical standards as a means to protect domestic markets from foreign competition. “If regulations are set arbitrarily, they could be used as an excuse for protectionism”, states the World Trade Organization on its homepage.
