“Free Citizen” Civic Initiatives Support Center and Public Movement Multinational Georgia in partnership with People in Need (Czech Republic) and SALTO Youth Eastern Europe and Caucasus Resource (Poland) are continuing the implementation of the project “Young Activist” Young Civic Activists Capacity Building in Social Campaigning.
On 23 September 2017, Public Movement Multinational Georgia organized a workshop for the local youth in the framework of the Project in the city of Akhaltsikhe, Samtskhe-Javakheti region of Georgia with a widespread Armenian ethnic minority. This was the last, fifth of the workshops, which was planned to organize in Georgia in the framework of the Project “Young Activist”. The workshops, as regular, were dedicated to raising awareness among participants on the European Union, Council of Europe, Eastern Partnership, and Visegrad 4 format, as well as providing general information about campaigning, including social media, public speaking and debating, and other relevant topics.
The number of participants in the Workshop was 22.
During the workshop, it was also discussed the following issues that have been identified by the participants as more relevant for the Youth of their region:-
- Absence of street signs and marking;
- High level of unemployment and deficit of means for self-realization, and consequently a high level of labor migration;
- Limited access to information;
- Education-related issues (bad infrastructure in schools, absence of good quality textbooks and highly professional educators, unimproved self-governance system in the higher education system, absence of libraries and impossibility of getting distance (online) education, etc.);
- Limited opportunities for internships and self-realization for start-up professionals;
- Unimproved transport connections (both in the municipal center and villages);
- A limited number of active youth organizations in the region;
- Absence of infrastructure for disabled people (ramps, etc.);
- Absence of leisure opportunities for young people;
- Limitations entailed by rooted traditions, especially for women residing in the villages;
- Unproved drinking and irrigation water facilities.
Using the knowledge and skills, gained during the workshop, the participants, through the simulation games tried to find solutions for some of the mentioned problems by splitting into small working groups.
