As the countries of the South Caucasus transition to democratic systems, women are an especially vulnerable group, facing discrimination in politics and the workplace as well as harassment and violence both inside and outside their homes. Since women are the primary caretakers for the young, elderly, and disabled, the reverberations of such problems are felt throughout the society. While women’s groups are very active in protecting their rights and are a critical force behind fundamental change in the region, they often do not possess the leadership skills or organizational infrastructure to sustain and expand their work.

In response, Partners and Partners-Georgia convened 18 women NGO leaders from Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia for four regional trainings under the South Caucasus Women’s Leadership Training and Network Program. They participated in leadership, communication, and organizational development skills trainings, and learned how to teach others to train so that a “second generation” of trainers could replicate the program many times over. In between each of the regional sessions, the participants practiced and disseminated their skills by organizing local activities in a diverse range of topics for women in their own communities. Further, the formation of the South Caucasus Women’s Leadership Network provided a sustainable mechanism by which the participants can collaborate into the future.

By the conclusion of Partners’ program, the participants trained a total of 3,204 additional women in 30 communities across the South Caucasus, thus disseminating their skills far beyond the capital city areas. Over 200 of these additional women were also trained as trainers. These women came from a wide variety of backgrounds, including local NGOs, government representatives, mass media, students, youth leaders, business people, housewives, internally displaced persons, and others.

The impact of Partners’ program ranged from the formation of new women’s groups, to the creation of new programs and improved organizational effectiveness. Not least of these achievements was a palpable sense of improved confidence, expectations, and plans among women in the region, particularly among those in remote and underserved communities. For example, the Armenian participants’ conducted a series of trainings in remote regions of the country that represented the first NGO “interventions” in these villages. Following these local trainings, beneficiaries utilized their skills to formulate business plans and request micro-credits for agricultural activities. Roubina Ter-Martirosyan reported, “A very unexpected impact of our training…was that the community decided to unite their small-scale farms and make joint efforts for finding their place on the common market. It was decided to organize (with our help) in the area center a small-scale exhibition of their production and to invite managers of the public catering units and shop directors, i.e. their potential buyers.”

Other examples of the impact of Partners’ program include:

• In Sisian, Armenia, a group trained by Armenian participants created a women’s community-based organization to represent their interests on the local level.

• Aytekin Imranova, a participant from Azerbaijan, conducted trainings in her country for a Chechen refugee women’s group to help it formulate a mission, draft a strategic plan and initiate programs. Ms. Imranova also worked with an organization, the Center for Protection of Azeri Women Rights Worldwide, and organized leadership and teambuilding trainings.

• After conducting several trainings for local educators, an Azeri participant was invited by the Soros Foundation to conduct two trainings for teachers and psychologists working in secondary schools throughout the country.

• Two Azeri participants and three women beneficiaries from their local trainings ran for municipal and parliamentary offices. Sevda Mamedova, one of these women, attributed her decision to her participation in Partners’ program, which increased her self-confidence and empowered her to effect real community change.

• Three participants from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia developed a regional project, “A Culture of Peace,” to encourage the development of youth tourism. The participants emphasized that the cross-border contacts that Partners’ program established allowed for such a collaborative project, especially between Armenian and Azeri participants, whose countries are divided by ongoing conflict.

• A Georgian participant utilized her skills to design and implement a training program for local government, mass media and NGOs in Gori (a city in East Georgia) that promoted effective communication across sectors and provided interactive teaching methodologies for local government experts and consultants.

• A participant’s organization in Georgia, the Social Information Center “Alternative,” completed a successful training program for 12 NGOs in the conflict zone of Tshkhinvali that covered a range of conflict management topics. “Alternative” developed a Georgian NGO network that included organizations from Partners’ training, thereby building on the relationships and teamwork already established to work through the issues.

Thus, through this program Partners created a sustainable vehicle to promote collaboration both in-country and across borders, resulting in far-reaching and diverse opportunities for women leaders to actively participate in and impact civic life.

Additional Resources
Statistics from Women's Leadership Network Program