Eastern Europe and Central Asia Community Conservation Resilience Skillshare and Women2030 Media Training

8 Jun 2017 to 12 Jun 2017
Arena Hotel. Tbilisi, Georgia

GFC’s regional meetings in Georgia, held 8-12 June in Tbilisi, proved extremely popular. Almost all GFC’s regional members were able to participate in our Community Conservation Resilience Initiative (CCRI) regional skillshare, and colleagues from Women Engage for a Common Future (WECF) and the Gender and Water Alliance (GWA) joined us for the latter part of our gathering, the #Women2030 ‘training of trainers’ skillshare, focusing on mainstream media, social media and activist photography.

Overall the CCRI aims to contribute to the implementation of the CBD’s 2011-2020 Strategic Plan and Aichi Targets by providing policy advice on effective and appropriate forms of support for community conservation. To do this, CCRI assessments are being undertaken with communities in 22 countries, 4 of which are in the Eastern Europe and Central Asia—Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan. Other participants in our Georgia meetings came from Armenia, the Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Russia, Serbia and Ukraine.

A key goal of the CCRI is to strengthen the collective actions of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities and increase their skills in technical and policy topics related to biodiversity conservation and climate change. We aim to facilitate dialogue, bringing forth issues and aspirations, and recognising the role of women in conservation and beyond. National CCRI workshops and CCRI regional meetings thus encourage the full and effective participation of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities, including of women and youth. Women accounted for 70% of the participants in the Georgia meetings.

Overall the CCRI regional meetings provide an effective regional platform for sharing skills and experience, engaging in dialogue, and developing joint strategies between partners of the CCRI and Women2030 as well as other GFC members, interested groups and communities. The focus on skillsharing provides an opportunity to share views and knowledge about practical tools and methodologies on how to promote and strengthen the resilience of community conservation and empower women in sustainable development policies, including media strategies, fundraising, and methods for advocacy.

For example, the media ‘training of trainers’ includes sessions that focus on media strategies, including how to create and tell your stories, structuring news articles and press releases, activist photography, social media and video training.

The meetings are supported through financial contributions from the German International Climate Initiative (IKI) and the European Commission.

Contact: Ilia Kunchulia (ikunc2014@agruni.edu.ge) and Andrey Laletin (laletin3@gmail.com)