About Us

About Us
Who we are?
Our Mission
By protection of vulnerable groups making women stronger we facilitate creation of equitable, non-discriminative and non-violent environment for every member of the society in Georgia.

Our Vision
The world in which the rights of the citizens are equally protected, where they have equal access to the opportunities existing in the society.

Our Values
Having clear values helps our teamwork and decision-making for the purpose of achieving our common goals.

Fairness and Equality
We believe that changes should start from ourselves and that is why with our team and in our working processes we are guided by fairness and equality principles in the first place.

Empathy and Solidarity
The ability to show empathy is the most crucial component of our work. The world is often cruel and unfair, so we treat our beneficiaries, partners and co-workers with respect.

Commitment to our Cause
Issues we work on and human stories we come across on daily basis never are simple, however we always find strength to keep on fighting, since we realize the importance of what we are doing.

Inclusiveness and Diversity
We believe that different prospects help to keep an open mind, so, based on the example of our team, we do our best to introduce culture where there is room for everybody regardless of their origin or identity.

Fidelity and Transparency
We work openly on any issue and that is what we expect from others. Such an approach ensures building of trust and strengthening of relationships within and outside the team.

Women’s strength is in unity and every woman should be aware of this! If we, women do not leave each other, we will be strong enough to cope with every problem!

Baia Pataraia, Executive Director

Story
The story of Sapari started in 2001 from one brave woman – Nino Makhashvili, psychiatrist and psychotraumatologist. She was one of the first who started to work those challenges faced by victims of violence, that nobody in the country paid proper attention to in those times.
At the beginning, in order to support those victims, she established a rehabilitation center Sapari and next year she created the shelter for victims of domestic violence – first in Georgia. of course the scale of the shelter was not large, but women who got there would receive all the support they needed.

In 2005, a new chapter of Sapari story started – Natalia Zazashvili, one of the pioneers of psychotraumatology of Georgia, took the lead. Despite financial challenges faced by Sapari, she remained loyal to the vision of the organization and moved the shelter to her apartment and covered all the costs from her own pocket. Sapari worked this way for two years and then the services provided by the organization started to expand gradually to support additional ways of making women stronger.

Since 2013 and till now, Baia Pataraia – the leader of feminist movement in Georgia, feminist activist and human rights campaigner – has been the director of Sapari. She continued the legacy of the founders of Sapari and did her best to put the rights of women among the priority issues in the country. Since her coming, the scope of activities of the organization have significantly expanded to cover almost all the issues related to the rights of women.

Presently, we provide legal aid for women all over the country for issues related to physical, psychological, sexual or economic violence.

Moreover, we conduct regular surveys, create social campaigns and facilitate increasing the awareness of the society regarding the rights of women.