Violence is a common name of the disaster of our modern time, is has various faces and affects on lives of people also at various levels. Some of us face it in our everyday life and this troublesome experience has a fatal role in forming our future be it as an accessory, a victim or a spectator.

Despite of our age, gender, social status, sex and beliefs we may face its diverse nature any time and there is no safe place and conditions for to say "this does not concern me".

The reality, the statistics, trends, news and life around us gives so many reasons to be pessimistic, but we are still alive and we know almost all faces of this disaster: discrimination, intolerance, xenophobia, aggressive nationalism, homophobia, racism and as we know the faces we know the remedy for this is our common will to combat the violence in our everyday life. We can start with cooperation and making contacts with someone standing next to us, we can be two people together from the beginning, but we could become millions united against violence locally and globally within our own family, at schools, in sport, on the streets, on media, in our own town. We can find various ways of being connected through organizations, virtual and verbal communications, solidarity, sharing and networking. We have chosen the last one and we established the Youth Network Against Intolerance and Discrimination.

The Youth Network Against Intolerance and Discrimination which is documented in this report was established within the project "Networking against Discrimination, Intolerance and Exclusion through Youth Work" funded by the EYF.

The network brought together 90 young people from 9 regions of Georgia representing various groups. The common background for all of us is the commitment to combat intolerance and discrimination in our society.

The aims of the NETWORK are:

• To strengthen the capacity of young people to effectively advocate for and implement violence prevention programs.
• To promote the dialogue and provide a platform for intercultural, inter-religious, interethnic learning, understanding and cooperation.
• To motivate wide range of young people at all levels to engage in awareness-raising activities on tolerance and in changing attitude/behaviours that perpetuate violence.
• To implement network results into practice based on the best experiences/examples of tolerance peaceful coexistence in Georgian and worldwide context.
• To develop new and creative solutions in tolerance promotion.

The Youth Network Against Intolerance and Discrimination was launched on 27 June 2005 in Tbilisi, Georgia. The network opening ceremony was held at the hotel "Courtyard Marriott" together with invited guests from the ministries, governmental structures, international organizations, local human rights NGOs and foreign consulates/embassies in Tbilisi.

The ceremony was hosted by 90 young people from Adjara, Imereti, Samegrelo, Guria, Shida Kartli, Samtskhe-Javakheti, Kvemo Kartli, Racha-Lechkhumi and Kakheti regions. Participants were selected among 172 applicants willing to become the members of the Network. Participants were selected from different backgrounds, upon their strong motivations and commitments expressed in their application forms. We were impressed by the commitment of young people to become the part of youth movement against discrimination and intolerance at their local communities.

Guests warmly congratulated the establishment of the Network. Than the space was given to the NETWORK members who addressed the increasing phenomenon of intolerance in Georgian society towards various minorities groups and expressed their commitments to be devoted to the idea of equality of all human beings.

The ceremony was ended by the presenting to the public the text of the Memorandum as a symbol of understanding and cooperation of the Network. The text was read by the project coordinator and was signed by the Network members.

The NETWORK operates in 9 regions of Georgia. We formed working groups on diffrent issues:

• Working group on minority issues
• Working group on disabled children and youth
• Working group on women's rights

The project coordinator is responsible for the NETWORK according to the network Action Plan prepared and agreed by the network members.

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