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.
Informational meetings of the Youth clubs were held in schools of the village Gvankiti – Terjola Municipality, the village Nosiri - Senaki municipality and Kutaisi, school No. 33. Following topics were discussed: ethics, aesthetics, sex education, healthy lifestyle - as tools for violence prevention.
Participants of the meetings noted that schools pay little attention to these issues in schools, and the lack of information causes problems, including early marriages. Therefore, it is necessary to discuss such topics with both – children and parents.
During the workshops, the groups studying conflict management, discussed the stages of conflict escalation. The workshops were held in schools No. 1 of the village Lia (Tsalenjikha Municipality), Gurianta (Ozurgeti Municipality) and Melauri (Samtredia Municipality). These issues were interesting for them, and this was confirmed by the recordings made during the feedback:
"These meetings teach me not to have conflicts with others."
“When discussing concrete examples, I saw that it is possible to resolve the conflict.”
"One word – “sorry” - can stop the conflict."
"I want to hold such a meeting by myself."
The workshops on conflict escalation stages for groups were held in Schools No. 11 - Kutaisi, villages Lesa (Lanchkhuti municipality) and Ganmukhuri (Zugdidi municipality). The students played small scenes and thus became more aware of the problem. During the feedback, they noted the importance of this training and expressed their emotions.
Ordinary meetings started on November 1 and were finished on November 24. The meetings were attended by the boys in Poti, Senaki, Terjola, Lanchkhuti, Zugdidi, Tsalenjikha, Ozurgeti, Samtredia, Kutaisi municipalities.
The meetings discussed the role of men in the family and society. The boys said that they have the function of a defender and a person, who supports the family, but they paid little attention to the roles of men in raising children and other family issues. That is why the emphasis was placed on these issues. In the end, it was mentioned that on November 25 the International Campaign “16 Active Days Against Violence towards the Women” starts and the activities for all groups were planned.
Informational meetings of Youth clubs were held in schools of Nigvziani (Lanchkhuti municipality) and Orsantia (Zugdidi municipality). The topic of tolerance aroused great interest among young people.
The young volunteer of the Fund “Sukhumi” from Germany, was actively involved in work in a school of the village Gvankiti (Terjola municipality). She really liked the position of young people, when during a role-playing game they announces a problem - a Muslim woman is getting married in Samegrelo region. The analysis of the participants and their conclusion was interesting: “You must not need to treat others the way you wouldn’t like to be treated”.
Informational meetings of Youth Clubs on the topic “The problem of tolerance among the youth” were held in schools of Poti, the villages Nosiri (Senaki Municipality) and Kutaisi.
Clubs differ from each other, but teenagers are united by a desire to solve a problem. They believe that today there is a lack of tolerance in society and explain the reasons in their own way. According to them, it is necessary to respect the identity of each person, to be tolerant. For this, non-formal education is not enough, and the involvement of schools and teachers is necessary.
On November 1, 4 and 7, the workshops with the groups were held on the issue of studying conflict management. The topic of the workshop was: “Conflict escalation stages”. The meetings were held in Poti author’s gymnasium, Senaki school No. 3 and in school of the village Zeda Simoneti (Terjola municipality). Through discussion of specific works and role-playing games, the pupils, came to the conclusion that sometimes even a minor reason can cause a big conflict.
Participants According to participants, the workshops are very important.
“The word escalation was new to me. I understood the meaning of this word and also really liked the activities.”
“I already know at what stage to stop.”
“I will definitely use the advice I got here in the future.”
Three more workshops were held in October - in the schools of the villages Zeda Simoneti (Terjola municipality), Lia (Tsalenjikha municipality), Melauri (Samtredia municipality). The topic of the workshops were: conflict and its reasons.
Together with the conflict expert of the Fund “Sukhumi”, the students completed specific tasks and role-playing games. They are actively involved in the discussion, they learn to work in team. Workshops are interested for them, as they learn about innovations and receive practical advices.
On October 10, 11,16 the workshops were held on the reasons of conflicts in schools of the villages Lesa (Lanchkhuti municipality), Ganmukhuri (Zugdidi municipality), Gurianta (Ozurgeti municipality).
After doing specific exercises, the students learned what causes the conflict: distorted information, different values, etc. They were actively involved in the process and as they noted during the feedback, this knowledge will be useful to them in everyday relationships.
Teachers, who attended the meetings said mentioned that the topic is relevant and such meetings are necessary as they contribute to improving the school climate.
informational meetings of youth clubs held regarding the prevention of domestic violence (reasons, results, protection mechanisms) were held in school No. 33 - Kutaisi and in school No. 21 - Poti, as well as in the school of the village Nosiri (Senaki municipality),
There were interesting groups, active involvement of participants, role-playing games. Concrete problems were identified. According to one of the participants, in some places the situation of women has not changed at all, and they have the same problems that are shown in the beautiful Georgian film “The Tree of Desire” - when ugly traditions and stereotyped thinking of the community decided the fate of people.