Upper Svaneti Local Action Group (LAG) Upper Svaneti unites 17 territorial units of Mestia Municipality. Its establishment was preceded by a long and complicated, but fruitful process of setting priorities of the population. As a result of meetings, there were identified problems of the community, while through joint efforts, a Local Development Strategy (LDS) of Mestia Municipality was developed.  It was also an earlier experience that helped Elene in communicating with the community. She headed a Youth Affairs Service in Mestia - “I had business communication with most of them for years. LAG unites people who are extremely in love with Svaneti”. The goal of the organization is to develop a rural economy, provide sustainable management of natural resources, increase participation of vulnerable groups, women, and youth in rural life... At this stage, LAG has announced a grant competition that is going to fund projects designed in accordance with priority issues outlined in the strategy.  At the initiative of a Youth Wing of LAG, several charity events were also held for elderly, disabled, and socially vulnerable people during the pandemic. In the first case, there were distributed food baskets to 320 families. The second campaign - “Present a New Year, deliver gifts” was carried out for the New Year and about 35 beneficiaries had their wishes come true.  Elene helps young people in the region to acquire knowledge, necessary skills, tries to mobilize them so as to let them become initiators of beneficial changes themselves in the future – “Because the municipal budget is scarce, I helped local youth to established an organization “Youth for the Mountain” to mobilize more financial resources and create new opportunities for others. I especially remember a rehabilitation project related to the operation of a youth club “Betkili”. 5 years have passed since then and “Betkili” is still a gathering place for young people (seasonally). Those visiting the club can spend their free time in an interesting way”.  Within the framework of the EXCESS project, Elene teaches also the English language to 13-17-year-olds adolescents: “It is very interesting to have relationships with people of transition age, you watch them grow and develop, and when you are happy that “they” are your students and it fills your heart with pride. Prior to meeting them, I train and prepare myself separately, continuous study and development is must for all”. Elene is also a young startupper - she purchased a plot of land in Kashkhiani independently to develop her business, mortgaged the land, and arranged an eco-friendly space there called ”Mestia Wooden Huts”.  Recently, Elene confronted a rather difficult challenge: a sudden high-voltage power burned one of the two cottages completely. The next day after the fire, her friends, students, and young people in Mestia launched a “Youth in Support of Elene” campaign immediately so as to encourage her. These people gave Elene an incentive to start renovating the hotel with new energy. “We all struggle. We may often fall, but we must not stop, a solution can always be found. We have to pass our way ourselves. We can all participate in the development of the country, we are even obliged to do so”.

“Complete Cuisine” - this is how a book of Barbare Jorjadze, a famous Georgian cook, is called, which was first published by the author in 1874. Georgian and European recipes, written in simple language, were so popular then and are they now that the book has been reprinted quite a number of times. In the book,  Kneina Barbare collected all recipes, which she used herself to prepared dishes or sweets. In the latest edition, there are gathered up to 800 recipes, as well as a lot of advice. She has practically changed the culinary experience, taste, and menu of many families. And not only that... Barbare Jorjadze, a famous cook, was also a well-known publicist, poet, playwright, and women rights defender - she wrote regarding the necessity of education, equality, and self-expression of women, as well as about their presence in public space. History has granted her the name of one of the first Georgian feminist women, while her letter “Few words for the attention of young men” is considered a manifesto of Georgian feminism.

100 years ago, the world’s first Muslim woman Deputy was elected in Georgia. Georgian press of 1918 proudly wrote that among voters of the Eroba of Tbilisi Mazra there would be Fari-Khanum Sofieva, a Muslim woman, representing the Karajala district. After the proclamation of the Democratic Republic of Georgia, elections of Erobas were conducted in the main Mazras of the country. Among them was Tbilisi Mazra, where Sofieva won in Karajala district and became the fifth voter from this Mazra. According to various sources,  Fari-Khanum Sofieva, in addition to her political activities, was also involved in charitable activities and even had a lot of economic initiatives.

Georgia was one of the first countries in Europe to grant women with both passive and active suffrage in the beginning of the 20th century under the Constitutional record (1918–1921). At the elections of the 1919 Constituent Assembly, there were registered about twenty women as candidates in electoral lists submitted by political parties, while 5 women deputies became members of the Constituent Assembly, a legislative body of the first Democratic Republic. They were as follows: Elisabed Nakashidze-Bolkvadze, Ana Sologashvili, Eleonora Terparsegova, Kristine Sharashidze, Minadora Orjonikidze-Toroshelidze. Photo: on.ge

Public Movement “Multinational Georgia” is one of the first non-governmental organizations that unites representatives of 19 ethnic minority communities and 56 non-governmental organizations. The organization actively works in the education, elections, and advocacy fields. Watch the video and learn more about the activities of the organization... More (GEO)

Fatima Margoshvili came up with an idea to establish a library and a literary club during an inter-community training organized by the Europe Foundation. The training touched upon activism, the role, and the participation of young people in the development of society and community. After gaining knowledge and experience, she analyzed severe problems existing within the community and decided to set up a reading room. “There did not exist a public library, equipped with modern literature, in the Pankisi Gorge, neither was there a bookstore, while young people were interested in fiction or scientific literature very much”. Fatima volunteered, assumed the responsibility, wrote the project, consulted with representatives of the Europe Foundation, enquired young people about the type of literature they would be interested in, and purchased about 200 books with the support of the Foundation. Implementation of the project coincided with the pandemic period, however, this did not become a reason for hindrance. “The reading room operates in the village of Duisi in the Pankisi Gorge. This is the only place in the valley where young people can find literature they are interested in and, therefore, they visit us very often. Due to the pandemic, meeting in the library is limited, although, adhering to the rules, we still manage to gather and land books for some time”. There are also held discussions on both literacy and literature together with invited speakers at the club. Participants exchange their thoughts and share emotions about what they have read. Local youth initiated a “Put Your Book” campaign to enrich the library with books. As a result, the reading room was filled with gift books too. The National Parliamentary Library of Georgia also participated in the campaign and donated about 150 books to the Pankisi reading room. Fatima considers that volunteering and youth activism is very important for community development – “The more young people participate in volunteering activities, the sooner our environment is going to change for the better. Big things start small”...

Salome Gardava created new opportunities by overcoming obstacles. It all started with the diagnosis of her youngest son. Ilia was diagnosed with fourth-degree neurosensory hearing loss. For Salome, as a mother, this was a serious challenge - there were no essential services for children with special needs (namely those having hearing difficulties/hearing impaired) in the region, nor was the level of awareness high. It looked like mothers were accustomed to their situation and had no hope of change. “In 2018, Ilia, my son, underwent cochlear implantation, after which the post-operation rehabilitation course is very important for the development of a child. I found out that there was no such service in the region and we had to take a course at the Tbilisi organization. It was a big problem for parents. Children were left without services, so we decided to make positive changes through establishing an organization in the region”. Association “ILI” was established in 2019 in Samegrelo. Its purpose is to protect the rights of children with special needs as well as facilitate personal development and integration into society. The organization counts about 40 beneficiaries. “ILI” actively cooperates with the local self-government and a successful example of this is a decision on funding external auditory processors of cochlear implants taken by the self-government on the basis of a research document related to the needs of children with hearing loss. “From 2020, there has been allocated GEL45000 in the budget of every year, which finances 3 beneficiaries a year. This is our great achievement in the region”. As Salome notes, initially parents were reluctant to participate in projects, in the decision-making process as well as in collaboration with the local self-government. “I remember when 2 years ago I asked them to bring children to film a video clip, it was only one parent who brought a child. While for the last shooting 4 children came. I see the attitude of parents changes and I would like to make them more active”. A room for a rehabilitation center was provided to Association “ILI” for temporary use, which was renovated with donations, however, they lack necessary equipment, furniture at this stage and do not have a speech and language therapist either. “One of our goals is to make a rehabilitation course after cochlear implantation available in the Samegrelo region as well, and we will spare no efforts to do so”.

After the declaration of independence of Georgia, on September 11, 1918, the National Red Cross was founded, on the basis of which the Society of Sisters of Mercy was established. Lots of young people joined the organization, most of the students. 100 years ago, during the occupation of Georgia, they took the wounded from the front line, treated them, how many there were or what happened to them - it is unknown ... More (GEO)

There are 1289 active civil society organizations in Georgia. Their work covers actually all aspect of life. The purpose of this letter is to retell you how and what civil society organizations were doing in the past year of 2020. It is definitely impossible to fit all their activities in just a few pages. We will try to highlight the most interesting topics from them.  Read more (geo)…

The Coalition for Independent Living implements projects that help people with disabilities to build a full life. Get acquainted with its activities in our video.  More (GEO)

After a tiring 48-hour shift, Covid volunteers to personally interview and assist patients in the apartments. Junior doctor - resuscitator Nana Skhiladze, tells us how important now, during the Covid Pandemic, the voluntary initiatives of doctors. More (GEO)

In the village of Skra, volunteers use bicycles to visit elders, collect laundry and take it to a social laundry, while later return it washed. The project “We love you elders” is implemented by the civil society organization “Betlemi” since 2017 and aims at the integration of elders into society as well as the improvement of their conditions. The social laundry was created within the framework of this project and changed the lives of elders while caring for them and attention made their lives easier. A granny, who inspired the project, is still involved in all activities, which is a visible example to everyone that any person can make the lives of others better if s/he has a desire and ability to do so. “Betlemi” existed since 2000 as an initiative group and its member local residents were best aware of the problems of the village of Skra in Gori Municipality. Later on, the initiative group founded a non-governmental organization. A conducted survey revealed that the epidemic had a particularly severe impact as on socially vulnerable lonely elders, as well as on other social groups and families in the Skra community. Those having just a pension as an income are unable to cope with food, medicines, utilities related and other unforeseen expenses, in addition to this they suffer from disabilities caused by age, trauma due to loss of loved ones, or increased cases of domestic violence. The organization “Betlemi” intends to assist even more socially vulnerable, displaced, lonely elders in the community of Skra. Due to deteriorated weather conditions in winter, they plan to temporarily replace bicycles with a minibus that has a washing machine installed in it and visit each elderly person to serve them at their own homes. #ShareTheResponsibility and help those who need you the most, because #ThisCountryIsYours