Dear Deputy Minister Barkalaia,

In the context of our partnership there are two items that I would like to follow-up with you on. The first is the Participatory Gender Audit (PGA) and the second is the next steps on the Equal Pay International Coalition (EPIC).

With regards to the PGA – we are facing some delays in the process as we need to hold a participatory seminar with staff of the relevant departments. We understand that there is a reorganization process ongoing in the Ministry however, it is unlikely that the reorganization would affect the overall conclusions of the PGA and in the interest of time, we would recommend going ahead with this participatory seminar. This is part of the data collection process and in essence this is a larger focused group discussion to confirm that the information received from individual interviews is accurate on the general level. This is a key step in the development of the report and the team cannot even develop a first draft report without this seminar. Ideally, the participants would be those that responded during the interviews (although not required). We would really appreciate it if this could be done within the next 2 weeks and would take a day and half. It could be held at the Ministry's premises or hire a conference hall in or outside of Tbilisi (as per your decision).

With regards to the EPIC coalition, we have been informed that the relevant government entities have indicated that they have no objection to the process. We now need to prepare the official submission on this for the EPIC Secretariat. This entails completion of the attached form and written submission with documentary evidence (links or attachments) for each criterion that Georgia meets. For the criteria the Georgia intends to meet within the next 3 years, documentary evidence should be provided indicating how these will be achieved. We are available to support in putting this submission together as required. We would also like to inform you that we are proposing to hold the EPIC Conference in Georgia on December 12^th. At this conference we would like to hold an official public signing ceremony for Georgia to join the EPIC coalition. It is expected that by this time Georgia’s application to the EPIC would already have been accepted. We will be approaching the Chair of the EPIC Coalition, Ms. Sylvie Durrer, who we met in Geneva, to attend the conference and to be present for the signing. This will also give high visibility for Georgia to be part of the coalition. During the Conference, we would also like to present the Gender Pay Gap Analysis for Georgia and share some best practices from the Region or other international actors.

Thanks,

Mehjabeen