Young Leaders' School (202)
Young Leaders’ School is working with young people to strengthen them and to form leadership skills. The work is carried out in 9 municipalities of Western Georgia - Kutaisi, Tskaltubo, Khoni, Terjla, Senaki, Poti, Khurcha / Koki (Zugdidi municipality), Lanchkhuti, Ozurgeti. These are information meetings about gender and domestic violence, workshops on conflictology for young people, meetings with boys, formation of a group of young trainers, trainings and various meetings with participation of young people.
On-line meetings were held with active members of the conflict management groups of the schools of Pakhulani (Tsalenjikha Municipality), Dvabzu (Ozurgeti Municipality), Supsa (Lanchkhuti Municipality) and Poti.
Participants liked the video posted on the Facebook page of the Fund “Sukhumi”. They learned about the reasons of conflict and expressed their thoughts. A video lesson will be held again next month, although everyone hopes they will meet soon.
Members of conflict management groups from the schools of Supsa (Lanchkhuti municipality), Teklati (Senaki municipality) and Anaklia (Zugdidi municipality) dedicated their work to the topic of pandemia. The teenagers supported the recommendations of the World Health Organization, the main of which is: Stay home!
Work with boys in March is carried out in a new format. Project Assistant Beka Potskhveria notes:
- We actively started on-line lectures. A video review was prepared and posted on the Facebook page of the Fund “Sukhumi”, in which they drew attention to the path that women have passed to this day, as well as what they are doing to achieve gender balance. The video had many responses. Comments were expressed not only by boys, but also by women.
In addition to online meetings and video conversations in March, the boys themselves were especially active. A student of the school of the village Siktarva (Terjola municipality) Gigi Jikidze prepared a video clip. A student from Senaki draw a picture on the topic of equality, several boys wrote sketches regarding the negative effects of violence.
Based on the situation in the country, the Fund "Sukhumi" continues active work on-line. Online is work is held with the boys. The trainer of the Fund contacted students who have already started a six-month course - from schools of the municipalities of Terjola, Zugdidi, Tsalenjikha, Kutaisi, Senaki, Poti and Lanchkhuti. There were group and individual on-line meetings. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to communicate via the Internet, so the trainer spoke with some of the guys via the phone.
The topic of March is gender roles. During the conversation, there were discussed the issues like: stereotypes spread in society, as well as the role of the boys themselves.
On-line meetings of Youth Clubs took place In the public schools of Menji (Senaki Municipality), Gvankiti (Terjola Municipality) and Nayui96evi (Samtredia Municipality).
They discussed the situation in the world regarding Covid-19 and the problems that cause domestic violence.
Young people gave life examples, and an interesting discussion took place. There was a great desire of the participants to carry out live meetings in the field soon.
The first activity of the conflict expert of the Fund “Sukhumi”, in a new difficult situation caused by the pandemic regarding the coronovirus, was the placement of a video lesson on the organization’s Facebook page on March 16. The video had a lot of recalls right after posting.
Students and their parents, as well as teachers, school directors and simply Facebook readers shared and commented.
In personal calls and correspondences pupils and teachers noted that they liked the video lesson. According to them, the Fund “Sukhumi” has found an effective way out of a difficult situation, and, despite isolation, has given teenagers the opportunity to receive non-formal education and informing.
Online meetings were held with Youth clubs in Senaki, Kutaisi and Ganmukhuri (Zugdidi municipality). This is an interesting format, as it is new and proceeds from the current situation... During the meetings, the project moderator, together with the students, discussed the topic of domestic violence, as well as the current situation regarding the new coronovirus.
The most important thing is that there is no panic among young people. They are waiting for the renewal of their studies, and on our initiative, members of Youth clubs join the youth campaign in the social network called: “We are not afraid, we will win!”
“Such meetings are necessary to reduce the conflict situations”, “We need to conduct more educational meetings so that children can learn more”, “Active work is necessary with children, so that they can manage conflict”, “We are learning to respect each other’s opinions”, “School needs this topic"," Today I learned what a “mediator” is, “I would have rated this meeting with ten scores on a ten-point system,” “I want the work to continue”.
These assessments of teachers and students well reflect the importance of workshops, their meaning, interest, impact and change. Workshops on conflicts and peace were held in school of village Teklati (Senaki Municipality), at school No.13 in Kutaisi and in LTD “Gymnasium” in Poti.
Since February, the work with the boys has started again. A new cycle of meetings has begun. The first meetings were held in the municipalities of Kutaisi (February 3), Senaki (February 5), Poti (February 7). Following actual issues were discussed: “The harm of violence” and “Understanding the essence of masculinity”. The main goal of the meetings is to inform the children and motivate them to disseminate information.
Different methods were used during the meetings: mini-collection, role-playing games, discussion, group exercises. All this was interesting for the boys. They actively joined in the work, openly expressed their opinions. According to them, the society still does consider violence as a problem and therefore more work should be carried out in this direction.
During five months, a cycle of workshops on the topic of teaching conflict management was held in nine schools of Imereti, Samegrelo and Guria. In January, a conflict expert of the Fund “Sukhumi” summarized the work done.
The geographical data of the work are as follows:
Three cities: Senaki, school No. 3 - author’s gymnasium of Tamar Pachulia and Kutaisi, school No. 11.
Six villages: Gurianta (Ozurgeti municipality), Melauri (Samtredia municipality), Gamukhuri (Zugdidi municipality), Lia (Tsalenjikha municipality), Zeda Simoneti (Terjola municipality), Lesa (Lanchkhuti municipality).
The final meetings, together with the teenagers included in the project, were attended by school directors, teachers and students of other classes. According to them, the topic of conflicts is relevant, and it is necessary to work with youth in this direction. According to young people, they use the knowledge and skills acquired at workshops and share their experiences with others.
Feedback of students and teachers:
“These were timely, necessary, and useful workshops.”
“Thanks to the Fund “Sukhumi” for choosing our school.”
“It is good that they noticed the activity of our students, and they were given certificates”.
January began with final meetings in Youth Clubs. A five-month training course was summarized in nine municipalities: in schools of the village Ozurgeti (Ozurgeti municipality) and the village Nosiri (Senaki municipality), in private school of Samtredia, in school No. 33 of Kutaisi and No. 21 of Poti, in schools of the villages Orsantia (Zugdidi municipality), Pakhulani (Tsalenjikha municipality), Nigvziani (Lanchkhuti municipality) and Gvankiti (Terjola municipality).
Work on various topics was held in these schools during five months, and at the end the pupils themselves conducted final informational meetings.
Interesting presentations, free choice of topics, discussions revealed changes in the minds of adolescents. They talked about a lack of love and mutual respectalso about a fact that most people are aimed only at their own well-being. All this causes conflicts and violence. It was noted that during information meetings of Youth clubs, pupils are better aware of problems, they are looking for ways with the help of which violence prevention is possible. The maximum inclusion, innovative approaches to holding meetings were highlighted.
Active groups will continue to operate independently. Directors and teachers are ready to support youth initiatives.