Date: 04/12/2017

Ketevan Khidasheli from Guria becomes Winner of 2017 Kato Mikeladze Award

The winner of 2017 Kato Mikeladze Award became Ketevan Khidasheli from Guria region.

In 2008 Ketevan established Dzvabu’s Women’s Center in her village Dzvabu and Women for Region’s Development in 2010. Since then, she tries to protect and support domestic violence victims.

This year Women’s Fund in Georgia decided to slightly change the format and consider only those women rights defenders who live and work in the regions of Georgia in order to make their activities more visible for broader society.

15 nominees of Kato Mikeladze Award shortly introduced their work and main challenges in their regions to the audience.

2016 award winner Ekaterine Skhiladze named new owner of the Kato Mikeladze Award. International women’s fund Mama Cash provided cash award for Ketevan Khidasheli and UNDP will ensure her participation in the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) session in New York, USA, in March 2018.

Since establishing Kato Mikeladze Award in 2013, Women's Fund in Georgia awards one women's rights activist each year on November 29th, the International Women Human Rights Defenders Day. The goal of the Kato Mikeladze Award is to build a safe environment in which WHRDs work is acknowledged and recognized, where the public is made aware of the important work that WHRDs do in Georgia and where WHRDs can become role models for a younger generation of women.

WFG believes that this award will help to encourage women's rights defenders in their struggle for justice.

Kato Mikeladze was a feminist, women's rights activist and publicist in 20th century Georgia.

The event is supported by UN Women, UNDP and Mama Cash.

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