Active Citizenship

The training course “Religious Youth Promoting Dialogue: A Way to Respecting Equality and Diversity” was organised within the “All Different - All Equal” a European campaign on Diversity, Human Rights and Participation.

Addressing the issues of diversity, human rights and participation, we agree on the importance of dialogue, cooperation and intercultural understanding as one of the ways towards solving problems and building bridges. We acknowledge the role of religion and religious young people in advancing dialogue, strengthening cooperation and respecting multiculturalism. In this regard, the problem of peaceful coexistence of minority and majority religious communities based on the principles of diversity and equality can be largely observed. This was the main theme of the training course.

The programme of the course is based on the methodologies used within the campaign. The course velaution by participants as well as their expectations will be largely used by the Union "Century 21" in its activities aimed at promoting inter-Religious dialogue.

Education for Democratic Citizenship (EDC) has become one of the most prior areas for our activities. Having realised the need for comprehensive understanding and efficient implementation of the EDC principles, particularly in terms of combating social exclusion, mistrust and insecurity among different groups of population, we activated our work in the field of education for democratic citizenship.

In cooperation with other youth organisations we initiated the EDC promotional/teaching campaign in Georgia. In terms of efficiency and close cooperation we worked out the action plan for 2005.

• Phase I: Creation of the working group on EDC promotional/teaching campaign consisting of the youth organisations/youth groups (January 2005)
• Phase II: 3 months training course for trainers (ToT), (June-August, 2005)
• Phase III: Produce publications on EDC and European Year 2005, (September, 2005)
• Phase IV: Evaluation Meeting of Youth NGOs from Georgia, (January 2006)

Cooperation with the Council of Europe and the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia was envisaged at the 3rd phase of the action plan. The Directorate of School, Out-of-School and Higher Education (Council of Europe) supported the publication in Georgian language of a leaflet on Education for Democratic Citizenship and a brochure/manual for youth activities. In the preparation process actively took part the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia which is very positive step towards practical implementation of the EDC activities.

EDC Logo and Slogan in different languages

The training course "Political Leadership Skills for the Next Generation of Politicians" was held in October 2004 with support from the AMF. The training course gathered 25 participants representing 9 political parties of Georgia. The project was planned within the initiative of the organisation aimed at strengthening youth branches of active political parties in Georgia. The need for such initiative is based on the commitment of Georgia to build democratic society; A mature democracy requires accountable political class and informed citizens involved in the life of their communities. Despite that Georgia has been always marked with impressive number of political parties, it cannot be considered as pluralistic party system. The common need for almost all political parties is the same - the assessment in their creation of modern management system, establishment of strong party ideologies and strategy plans.

The educational approach of the training course was a non-formal education learning based on using the resources of the group and the participants. The training course was lead by the experienced and friendly team of trainers.

The participants come from the following political parties: National Movement & United Democrats, Industry Will Save Georgia & New Rights of Georgia, Socialist Party of Georgia, Christian-Democratic Union of Georgia, Republican Party and Labor Party of Georgia. The diversity of participants was the basis from sharing experience and knowledge. Taking into account the fact, that young politicians or motivated people have a few opportunities to participate in training courses helping them to develop their leadership skills and knowledge; we did not expect active interaction. But, the great majority of participants were talented, motivated and enthusiastic young people. This gives us the hope to achieve better results in future with continuous work and support from foundations.

The training course proved the need for a large scale training courses focused on political leadership skills development. We think that the idea of regular meeting and non-formal educational activities should be supported largely.

The training course gave to the organizers the possibility to establish relations with young politicians from different parties identify their needs, interests and plan follow-up activities.

Due to the fact that there are only a few initiatives specifically focused on political leadership skills development, we did not expect to make great changes with this activity. We are very happy to make even one step forward and the most important is our commitment to be actively involved in working with young leaders. A positive attitude of course participants and the experience of project leadership team in cooperation with acting politicians in Georgia create favorable conditions for the continuation of the initiative.

On 9 November, 2005 were organized activities dedicated to the celebration of the International Day Against Fascism and Anti-Semitism by the members of the Youth Network against Intolerance and Discrimination and by our partner organisations. The campaign was implemented in secondary schools. THERE IS NO PLACE FOR FASCISM AND ANTISEMITISM AMONG US!!! - Was the main message coming from 9-16 years old pupils representing different regions, different social and cultural backgrounds.

The reason why we decided to focus on children and school pupils is that we consider very important to educate young generation about fascism and the consequences caused by it. The issues of fascism in our recent past and the phenomena of neo-fascism in our modern society were introduced to the auditorium.

The problem of homeless children and children at state-run orphanages in Georgia stays vulnerable. Particularly it concerns to the children currently straggle to service on the streets. The children and youth programme organizes various activities focused such groups.

In September 2004, was implemented project "Stolen Childhood - We should have it back" supported by the International Youth Foundation.

The group of volunteers at the organizations organized classes in various subjects for the children who have no access to education.

Regular assistance and support to the children stays one of the main objectives of the programme.

The project "For the Legal Education of Georgian and Ossetian Young People" was implemented with support from the Open Society-Georgia Foundation in 2001. The project was aimed at confidence-building among Georgian and Ossetian youngsters.

In the project took part 40 young people from Tskhinvali region. They were selected by the partner organisation based in Tskhinvali. The project was based on non-formal educational activities, such as: seminars on human rights education conducted by the field experts, study tours to the governmental structures and cultural events. The children were met by the Minister of Justice Mikheil Saakashvili.

The project was planned as the part of the long-term initiative of the Union Century 21 aimed at supporting the peaceful conflict resolution in conflict regions of Georgia. By the end of the project were planned joint activities at local level.