Outcome GEO_D_4.1

By 2025, conflict affected communities enjoy human rights, enhanced human security and resilience (UNSDCF Outcome 4)

Outcome was not achieved. However, significant progress was made in terms of ensuring active participation and engagement of IDP and conflict affected women as well as the CSOs working on the Women, Peace and Security issues (WPS) in the drafting of the fourth National Action Plan for Implementation of the UN Security Council Resolutions on Women, Peace and Security (NAP 1325) for the years 2022-2024. Further, activities supporting the regular dialogue between the government and civil society have been integrated in the new NAP 1325, allowing for continued cooperation and coordination between the government and CSOs during the NAPs implementation process. To support gender mainstreaming in the security sector, UN Women completed a Participatory Gender Audit (PGA) of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and initiated another PGA with the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA). The PGA of the MoD investigates and ensures that internal practices and related support systems for gender mainstreaming are in place and effective and reinforce one another. It further monitors and assesses the relative progress made in gender mainstreaming in the organization in comparison to the PGA conducted in 2014. The findings and recommendations of the PGAs will be integrated into the institutional action plans and policy documents of MoD and MIA and will be used for planning needs-based capacity development activities for the audited institutions. UN Women in partnership with DCAF will continue to support MoD and MIA in following up on the recommendations of the PGAs. The work has progressed towards advancing women’s meaningful participation in the GID process as a result of the continued advocacy of UN Women, grounded in evidence generated by its study on “Benchmarks, Barriers and Bridging the Gaps: Enhancing Women's Meaningful Participation and Contribution to Peace Processes in Georgia”. Namely, in close consultation with the GID Co-Chairs UN Women together with Department of Political and Peace Affairs (DPPA) has embarked on the drafting of a technical proposal / package of recommendations proposing an alternative and innovative pathway / mechanism to inclusive peace from a gender perspective, such as model of informal women’s advisory board to the GID Co-Chairs, tailored to the GID context ensuring women’s meaningful participation and integration of gender perspective in official peace process. Based on the progress made to date, the original strategy and theory of change for this outcome is largely still applicable. If, as expected, this strategy is successful, then support to developing and implementing standalone policies on women, peace and security on one hand and the mainstreaming of women, peace and security agenda in security sector reform on the other will yield improved results for women and girls in Georgia in general and IDP and conflict affected women in particular. Evidence Materials documenting IDP and conflict affected women’s engagement in NAP 1325 drafting Draft NAP 1325 for 2022-2024 UN Women study on Benchmarks, Barriers and Bridging the Gaps: Enhancing Women's Meaningful Participation and Contribution to Peace Processes in Georgia

By 2025, conflict affected communities enjoy human rights, enhanced human security and resilience (UNSDCF Outcome 4)

UN Women Georgia Country Office is on track to achieve this outcome. Women and girls are increasingly contributing to, and have influence in, building sustainable peace and resilience and benefit equally from the prevention of conflicts. In 2024, the 2022–2024 National Action Plan of Georgia for the Implementation of the UN Security Council Resolutions on Women, Peace, and Security (NAP) achieved an implementation rate of 78 percent, with 39 out of the 50 planned activities completed. UN Women played a significant role, contributing to 24 of these activities (61 percent), surpassing its original commitment of 12 activities (24 percent). Georgia has initiated the drafting of its fifth National Action Plan for the Implementation of the UN Security Council Resolutions on Women, Peace, and Security, covering the period of 2025–2027, reaffirming its commitment to advancing gender equality and fostering sustainable peace. Although the Youth, Peace, and Security (YPS) agenda has not yet been officially endorsed in Georgia, the fourth NAP for 2022–2024 provided space for youth engagement in its three pillars—participation, prevention, and protection. It also prioritized responding to the needs of conflict-affected youth, especially young women, and their right to participate in decision-making processes related to peace and security. In 2024, UN Women's efforts resulted in significant advancements in the WPS agenda, gender equality, and women’s empowerment in Georgia through the adoption of sectoral strategies, policies, and action plans. Notably, UN Women supported the IDPs, Eco-Migrants, and Livelihood Agency in developing a stand-alone IDP Women's Economic Empowerment Programme, which will provide self-employment grants to IDP women, to be administered and co-funded by the Agency starting in 2025. Additionally, with UN Women's technical support, the Georgian Intelligence Service adopted the Sexual Harassment Prevention and Response Mechanism and developed a draft Gender Equality Concept. The LEPL David Aghmashenebeli National Defence Academy of Georgia also adopted an internal Sexual Harassment Prevention Policy. UN Women's gender mainstreaming work in five security sector institutions, as well as other government bodies responsible for NAP implementation, reached 215 public servants (127 women and 97 men), enhancing their gender capacities. Furthermore, UN Women strengthened efforts to advance the meaningful participation of women, particularly IDP and conflict-affected women, including young women, in peace and security decision-making spaces and platforms. Overall, 1,128 individuals (1,046 women and 82 men) who are IDPs and conflict-affected people were reached through capacity-building efforts, community initiatives, advocacy activities, and economic empowerment programs. Based on the progress made to date, the original strategy and theory of change for this outcome is largely still applicable. If, as expected, this strategy is successful, then the capacity development and gender mainstreaming interventions in security sector institutions as well as empowerment work aimed at IDP and conflict-affected women would, within a few years, start having a real impact in terms of comprehensive implementation of Women, Peace, and Security Agenda.

By 2025, conflict affected communities enjoy human rights, enhanced human security and resilience (UNSDCF Outcome 4)

UN Women has made strong progress towards achieving this outcome in 2022. Georgia adopted its fourth stand-alone National Action Plan for Implementation of the UN Security Council Resolutions on Women, Peace and Security (NAP 1325) for the period of 2022–2024 (Ordinance No. 510 of the Government of Georgia, October 2022). The NAP 1325 was developed with UN Women technical support in close partnership with the Inter-Agency Commission on Gender Equality, Violence against Women and Domestic Violence and through a wide and participatory drafting process. The process entailed consultations and active engagement of government agencies, relevant municipalities, women’s CSOs and around 70 grass-roots internally displaced and conflict-affected women and youth, in total engaging 110 individuals (95 per cent of whom were women) in the process to ensure inclusive and participatory development of the impact-driven NAP 1325. The NAP 1325 outlines the objectives and activities that Georgia takes, both on a domestic and international level, to secure the human rights of women and girls in post-conflict settings; prevent armed conflict and violence, including against women and girls, as well as encourage peace efforts to meet with the needs and rights of IDP and conflict-affected women and girls; and ensure the meaningful participation of women and youth in peace and security processes. The NAP 1325 is accompanied by a budget and a monitoring and evaluation framework. In addition, the document has a strong youth focus and mainstreams Youth, Peace and Security agenda priorities to respond to the needs of conflict-affected youth, especially young women, and their right to participate in decision-making processes related to peace and security. Throughout the year, UN Women lobbied the State Ministry for Reconciliation and Civic Equality (SMR) and the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure (MRDI) to include in the fourth NAP 1325 the activities related to the regular exchange on the needs and priorities of the IDP and conflict-affected women living in the villages adjacent to the Administrative Boundary Lines (ABL). As a direct result, the new NAP 1325 foresees regular meetings between the Interim Governmental Commission on Dividing Lines led by the SMR and MRDI for the purpose of responding to the needs of the population, particularly women, affected by conflicts in the villages near the ABLs (NAP 1325 Activity 1.3.3 and Activity 1.3.4). In partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, UN Women has continued offering a dialogue platform to women’s CSOs working on Women, Peace and Security issues and the Georgian participants of the Geneva International Discussions (GID). These information-sharing meetings aim at providing feedback from the most recent rounds of the GID and entry points for mainstreaming the Women, Peace and Security agenda in the process. The meetings are the sole platform for information-sharing about the GID process and its outcomes with civil society; these meetings are part of the fourth NAP 1325 and are led by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Office of the State Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality with the technical support of UN Women. To support the localization of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda, UN Women continued its partnership with the coalition of three women’s CSOs: the IDP Women’s Association “Consent”, the Women’s Information Center and the Women Fund “Sukhumi”. The partners contributed to the localization of the WPS agenda in 17 target municipalities (Mtskheta, Dusheti, Gori, Kareli, Kaspi, Khashuri, Gardabani, Tetritskaro, Kutaisi, Sachkhere, Tskaltubo, Zugdidi, Tsalenjikha, Senaki, Khoni, Mestia, Oni). In total in 2022, through the capacity development and advocacy activities, more than 1,918 IDP and conflict-affected people (1,813 women and 105 men) were reached by the CSO partners. During the reporting period, UN Women has carried out multiple interventions to enhance gender mainstreaming in the security sector reform of Georgia. In partnership with DCAF – Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance, professional development sessions took place for staff working on gender across the security sector institutions (SSIs), namely the Ministry of Defence (MoD), the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), the State Security Service (SSS) and the Office of the National Security Council (NSC), engaging 64 employees altogether. To promote the role and contribution of women in the Georgian Defence Forces (GDF) and the need for their career advancement, UN Women developed and launched the publication “Women in Service to Georgia” (available at https://georgia.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2022/11/women-in-service-to-georgia). About 70 high-level officials attended the launch event from the Ministry of Defence and the GDF (including 30 senior and mid-ranking military officers) and from other security sector institutions. During the launch event, Llani (LJ) Kennealy, Policy Specialist and Strategic Military Advisor at UN Women, and Jane Townsley, international expert for DCAF, discussed the role of women’s networks in the security sector in supporting women’s leadership and career advancement and underlined the importance of women’s networks and mentorship programmes aimed at building a cadre of future women leaders in the defence sector. The above-listed results became possible through UN Women’s work within the framework of the cost-share project “Accelerating Implementation of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda in Georgia”, funded by the UK Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF). Based on the progress made to date, the original strategy and theory of change for this outcome is largely still applicable. If, as expected, this strategy is successful, then support to developing and implementing standalone policies on women, peace and security on one hand and the mainstreaming of women, peace and security agenda in security sector reform on the other will yield improved results for women and girls in Georgia in general and IDP and conflict affected women in particular.

By 2025, conflict affected communities enjoy human rights, enhanced human security and resilience (UNSDCF Outcome 4)

UN Women has made strong progress towards achieving this outcome in 2023, the office is on track to achieve this outcome. Women and girls are increasingly contributing to, and have influence in, building sustainable peace and resilience and benefit equally from the prevention of conflicts. Representatives of five SSIs - the Ministry of Defence (MoD), the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), the State Security Service (SSS), the National Security Council (NSC) and the Georgian Intelligence Service (GIS), took steps to mainstream gender within their institutions. In the reporting year, around 500 SSI representatives engaged in gender mainstreaming and WPS related interventions to increase their knowledge and skills through access to international best practices, advice and gender expertise. Some have already launched initiatives related to gender equality and women’s empowerment in their institutions. To achieve this UN Women, in partnership with Nordic Centre for Gender in Military Operations (NCGM), NATO Liaison Office and its responsible partner DCAF – Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF), undertook number of advocacy initiatives to generate high-level political support for women’s increased engagement in security sector decision-making. Additionally, over 350 representatives of the mentioned five SSIs participated in a public lecture on NATO’s policy on WPS agenda and work on advancing it within and outside the Alliance, as well as the importance of its implementation within the frames of cooperative security with NATO’s partners. This lecture, part of two visits of Ms. Irene Fellin, NATO Secretary General's Special Representative for Women, Peace and Security to Georgia in March and June 2023, raised the WPS agenda in Georgia at the highest level and brought significant momentum for the project. Throughout the reporting year, around 120 IDP and conflict affected women and women’s CSOs engaged in meaningful and direct dialogue with Georgian participants of Geneva International Discussions (GID) and Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM). Women raised key concerns related to human security and access to services and infrastructure during information sharing meetings on GID and IPRM formats. UN Women organized the meetings, together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, the Office of the State Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality (SMR) and State Security Service of Georgia representatives. In the reporting year, two IPRM (on May 18, 2023, and on November 24, 2023) and one GID (December 18, 2023) information sharing meetings were held with the participation of women-led CSOs and grassroots IDP women and women from the Georgia’s conflict-affected villages. Around 90 IDP and conflict-affected women engaged in a direct dialogue with the leadership of UN system representatives in Georgia for the purpose of integrating their needs in UN programming. This occurred at the annual Open Day on Women, Peace, and Security (WPS). The Open Day was also an opportunity to inform the GID Co-Chairs (from UN and OSCE) on the human security threats, which should be reflected in the GID meeting agendas. Open Days on WPS are led by UN Women for ten consecutive years, providing platform that enables displaced and conflict-affected women to have a direct dialogue with UN system and plan and implement measures tailored to their needs and priorities. Young Abkhaz and Georgian women engaged in direct dialogue with GID Co-Chairs during their pre-GID consultation meetings in Tbilisi and Sokhumi, where they provided youth-specific perspectives on peace and security issues as well as information on the existing challenges and problems faced by their communities. UN Women facilitated meetings allowed young women from conflict divides to have direct and meaningful exchange with the official Track 1 peace process representatives. Members of the informal, grassroots network of conflict- affected women are identifying, advocating for, and resolving critical issues facing their communities and similarly conflict-affected women. These issues relate to infrastructure, access to education and healthcare facilities, landownership and irrigation issues, public transport, internet connection, cultural and recreational facilities, and more. To achieve this, UN Women continued its partnership with the coalition of three women’s CSOs - IDP Women Association “Consent”, Women’s Information Center, and Women Fund "Sukhumi". During the reporting period, partners with the support of UN Women implemented activities contributing to the localization of the WPS agenda in 17 target municipalities (Mtskheta, Dusheti, Gori, Kareli, Kaspi, Khashuri, Gardabani, Tetritskaro, Kutaisi, Sachkhere, Tskaltubo, Zugdidi, Tsalenjikha, Senaki, Khoni, Mestia, Oni). The following results were obtained in the reporting period as planned in the previous reporting cycle: New members, including young women, joined the informal, grassroots network of active conflict-affected women. The network is currently comprised of 215 members, out of which 62 committed to work for the network on voluntary basis. Network members identified 92 of most problematic issues across all 17 target municipalities to target for an active phase of advocacy at the local municipal level. To identify these issues, network members conducted an online survey and focus group discussions among active local women; 120 women filled out the survey and 158 conflict-affected women attended focus group discussions. Through advocacy work, the network resolved 55 cases and 34 cases are in the process of being resolved because of their consistent engagement. To achieve this, IDP and conflict affected women met with representatives of local and central government (as well as the international development organizations, UN agencies, the Office of the Public Defender of Georgia) during advocacy work meetings in all 17 project target municipalities. Overall, 98 advocacy meeting were organized throughout the year. The advocacy work will be continued including through the meetings with municipalities, correspondence, or active cooperation on integrating the needs of IDP and conflict-affected women and communities in the local budgets and programs. Partner CSOs, and the women’s network have engaged in dialogue with private sector and various embassies as well to provide solutions to their local needs. Local municipalities (16 out of 17) elaborated and approved Gender Action Plans. Partner CSOs and grassroot women advocated for the gender action plan adoption and the number of involved municipalities. Overall, throughout the year, UN Women and its partners reached out to more than 1100 internally displaced and conflict affected persons, out of which 1035 were women and girls. Based on the progress made to date, the original strategy and theory of change for this outcome is largely still applicable. If, as expected, this strategy is successful, then the capacity development and gender mainstreaming interventions in security sector institutions as well as empowerment work aimed at IDP and conflict-affected women would, within a few years, start having a real impact in terms of comprehensive implementation of Women, Peace, and Security Agenda.