On October 30-31 and November 1, 2019, representatives of the Public Defender, Madona Basiladze, Koka Mebonia and Irina Gurchiani, held meetings in the Mestia municipality.

They evaluated the activities of the self-governing bodies in the direction of women’s economic empowerment and involvement in decision-making on gender equality issues together with representatives of Mestia City Assembly’s Gender Equality Council. They discussed whether the planned policy addresses the needs of women of various vulnerable groups. Special attention was paid to the issues of domestic violence, early marriage and women's reproductive health rights.

The Public Defender’s representatives provided information on gender-based violence, domestic violence and early marriage to public school students, teachers and parents of the villages of Latali and Etseri. They emphasized the importance of projects aimed at women's economic empowerment and involvement in decision-making, importance of studying women's needs, access to services for victims of violence and need for support measures.

At the meeting held in the Mestia Education Resource Center, participants of the meeting discussed the situation in Georgian public schools according to the Public Defender’s special report on access to water and sanitation. According to the Head of the Resource Center, bathrooms are functioning only in the schools of Mestia, while the bathrooms of the villages are not functioning due to the problem of water supply. Therefore, the schools cannot be regarded as compliant with the country's standards until the problem of water supply is not resolved in the villages.

The Public Defender’s representatives discussed the problems identified by the municipality and the social and infrastructural programmes aimed at addressing the problems with the Mayor of Mestia and the Chairman of the City Assembly. Mayor Kakha Zhorzholiani and City Assembly Chairman Maizer Japaridze discussed priority issues and the measures targeting the issues according to the 2020 budget.