Imereti. The training-seminar on "Human Rights" was delivered for the members of the Kutaisi Youth Center on December 10 in celebration of the International Human Rights Day. The Trustee of the Public Defender of Georgia in Western Georgia, Madonna Basiladze, led the training-course. Training participants discussed topics such as human rights in various countries worldwide, human rights evolution/generations, legal protection of human rights, securing the protection of human rights, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, etc. For the full text. Source: the organization's page in the social network.

Imereti.At the initiative of the civic club of Public School #1 of village Persati and with the support of Kutaisi Education, Development and Employment Center, a study tour was arranged to the Chief Prosecutor's Office of Georgia in Tbilisi. Successful members of the Persati and Kutaisi civic clubs and teachers met with the Chief Prosecutor of Georgia ArchilKbilashvili.Meeting participants talked about the structure and functions of the Prosecutor's Office, democratic values, presumption of innocence. The club members informed the Chief Prosecutor about the significance and role of the Civic Education and Teacher Training Program. For the full text. Source: civics.ge

ShidaKartli. The civic clubs of the Surami Public Schools I and III held the joint cleaning event – "Let's Clean the Streets from Election Posters".After receiving the written permission from the KhashuriGamgebeli to hold the cleaning event, teh club members have cooperated among each other and jointly planned to clean the Surami streets from the election posters. The schoolchildren have gathered in the Surami center at 2 pm and carried out the initiative on their own.The cleaning event lasted for 3 hours - a huge section of D. Aghmashenebeli Street and the territory adjacent to the Surami Central Park was cleaned. In view of successful partnership as part of this event, the club members have become friends and hope that similar joint activities will continue and become systematic.

Samtskhe-Javakheti. To introduce the "Box of civil initiatives and events”, the staff members of the Akhaltsikhe Youth Center have met on November 30 with the civic education teachers and civic club members of village Uravela Public School of the Akhaltsikhe Municipality. They were provided with the "Box of civil initiatives and events”, in which over 2 weeks the schoolchildren will throw the ideas of annual action plans. In 2 weeks the box will be opened up, the annual action plan of the youth center and the civic clubs will be planned, and the memorandum between the civic club members and the Akhaltsikhe Youth Center will be executed.

Imereti. The youth association "Droni" (the times) invites youngsters from Georgia to participate in the master class related to the museum sector. As part of the master class, a 10-day workshop will be held in Kutaisi on the arts. The organizers will cover the transportation, food, and accommodation expenses, and it is mandatory to speak Russian. Deadline for submitting the applications is December 5th. For the full text. Source: the organization's page in the social network.

Samtskhe-Javakheti. On November28, the Akhaltsikhe Youth Center has presented the works of participants of contest announced in the social media several months ago and summarized the results. The blogs and topics were presented in the session hall of the Akhaltsikhe Municipality Sakrebulo. Following the discussion of topics, the competent jury has revealed the winners, who were awarded with valuable gifts. The Akhaltsikhe Youth Center has awarded the authors of topics on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd places with the memory sticks, while the Chair of the Akhaltsikhe Municipality Sakrebulo has awarded the first place winner with the book "Encyclopedia of Science". In addition, all participants were awarded with certificates, while the paintings of schoolchildren will be exhibited in the Akhaltsikhe Youth Center.

Samtskhe-Javakheti. The organization Akhaltsikhe Youth Center has announced a small grants competition for the civic clubs. Deadline for submitting the applications is 8 January 2013. Topics of the small grants competition are: inclusion of the business sector in solution of problems of concern to the youth; cooperation of the youth with media; solution of the school's or community's problems in partnership with the local authorities; empowering of the schoolchildren's self-governments and/or school-based civic clubs; protection of human rights; promoting rule of law, etc. School representatives can receive consultations in the Youth Center on the drafting of the small grants applications.

Adjara. On November 29, the UN Population Fund has organized the youth national forum in the Batumi Civic Engagement Center. It aimed to have the youngsters discuss their rights and existing challenges, as well as to develop number of recommendations to solve the identified problems. According to the organizers of the forum, these recommendations will be sent to and discussed at the international youth congress. The parallel youth national forums were held in other cities of Georgia as well, and the participants were periodically contacting each other through the so-called Skype calls.

Guria. On November 20, members of the youth center functioning with the "Young Teachers' Union" have celebrated the day against child abuse with an event.The event participants have gathered in the presentation hall of the Young Teachers' Union, where they have combined the banners prepared at their schools into a one huge banner. In addition, they attended the brief seminar on the need to protect children from abuse and the importance of this day.An organized march took place from the Young Teachers' Union to the streets of Ozurgeti. The march was ended in the garden of plane-trees, where the animated videos produced by the "Leaders' School" about the rights of children were demonstrated.After gathering in the park, the volunteers have returned to the presentation hall of the Young Teachers Union, where the screening and discussion of the feature film "Last Lesson" was held for them.Up to 15 schools of the Ozurgeti Municipality have participated in the event.The youth center functions with the Young Teachers' Union within the framework of the "Advancing National Integration in Georgia" program, funded by the US Agency for International Development and implemented by the United Nations Association of Georgia.

Samtskhe-Javakheti. As part of the "Civic Education and Teacher Training Program", the training in social media was delivered on November 24 in the public school of borough Bakuriani, attended by the active schoolchildren of the Bakuriani public school.At the training the schoolchildren got familiar with the principles of social media and received information, which will help them in selecting the profession and expressing their views and opinions. The children will share the acquired knowledge with their school peers.During the training the schoolchildren created blogs on topics such as: a young Ombudsman (human rights defender); young volunteer; citizen journalist; advocate of healthy life; defender of nature.The development of knowledge and skills in social media among the pupils, teachers and other interested persons is one of the key components of the program – "Development of Social Media at Regional Level", implemented by the Akhaltsikhe Youth Center.

Guria. On November 16, the members of the youth center functioning with the "Young Teachers' Union" have delivered information seminars dedicated to the International Day for Tolerance.Main objective of the seminar was to inform more youngsters about the notion and importance of tolerance. Remarkably, the volunteers of the youth center have organized and delivered the information meetings themselves.To better comprehend the topic, several interactive exercises were carried out during the seminar, and the most tolerant participants were revealed through the special test, who were awarded with symbolic gifts dedicated to the Day for Tolerance.Information seminars were delivered simultaneously in various public schools of the Ozurgeti Municipality and the presentation hall of the Young Teachers' Union. The seminars were led by the young volunteers of the youth center.The youth center functions with the Young Teachers' Union within the framework of the "Advancing National Integration in Georgia" program, funded by the US Agency for International Development and implemented by the United Nations Association of Georgia.

KvemoKartli. On November 20, the first activity of the small grant project "Healthy Life" was implemented in the Martkopi Public School #2, as part of the Civic Education and Teacher Training Program. The civic club members of the Martkopi Public Schools #1 and #2 were trained in the "Healthy lifestyle", attended by 34 schoolchildren from the school-based civic clubs. At the training the participants were briefed about the harm from abusing alcohol, tobacco and drugs.In addition, the training was attended also by the representatives of SIQA - Georgian Association of Education Initiatives - the partner organization of the Civic Education and Teacher Training Program in KvemoKartli, who have informed the civic club members about the pending activities and planned events in the KvemoKartli Region within the program framework. For the full text. Source:civics.ge

Imereti. On November21, at the initiative of the civic club "New Wave" of the Kutaisi Public School #32 and in partnership with the school self-government, the contest titled "We study the Bible" was organized.20 schoolchildren, who have formed 4-member groups, have participated in the 3-round competition. 5 questions were asked in each round and in case of correct answers the teams were advancing to the next round. Questions in each tour got gradually harder. The winner team was awarded with the Bible, while the schoolchildren participating in the competition were awarded with certificates and icons.The quiz "We study the Bible" was organized as part of the Civic Education and Teacher Training Program. For the full text. Source:kedec.ge

Guria. On November22, the civic club members of the village Chibati public school of the Lanchkhuti Municipality have visited the LanchkhutiSakrebulo and met with the Chairman Mr. ZviadApkhazava. At the meeting the Chairman told the new members of the club about the Sakrebulo activities and the importance of ongoing democratic processes in Georgia. The activity-game initiated by the Sakrebulo was the most interesting and important part of the meeting. 19 club members and the host have participated in the activity. The game was structured as follows: the participants were given small sheets with the names of public unions on them, e.g. the society for protection of animals’ rights, environmental organizations, etc. Out of 30 such small sheets the club members had to select in their opinion the most significant one. The children have chosen free media, independent court, fair elections and rule of law. At the end the host himself made the presentations on each area and explained thoroughly to the club members the importance of described institutions. The visit was organized as part of the Civic Education and Teacher Training Program, which is implemented by PH International with funding from the United States Agency for International Development. The Guria Youth Resource Center is the Program’s partner in Guria.

Samegrelo. With invitation from the Association "Peaceful and Business Caucasus”, 13 members of the Kutaisi Youth Center have participated on November 25 in the national cuisine festival held in village Khurcha. The traditional national cuisine of the Georgians, Abkhazians, Ossetians, Azerbaijanis, Armenians, Greeks, Turks, Russians, Ukrainians and Jews was presented at the festival. The festival aimed at studying/demonstrating the diversity and usefulness of the national cuisine, as well as sharing the knowledge and experience of rational nutrition. Members of the Youth Center have pulled together at the festival the recipes, which will be published in the future as a collection. For the full text. Source:kedec.ge

Guria. As part of the Civic Education and Teacher Training Program, on November 20 the schoolchildren of the Ozurgeti, Lanchkhuti and Chokhatauri based civic clubs have invited as a guest the psychologist Tamar Abashmadze. Children with special needs and their integration into the society was the key topic of the meeting. Children were interested in the ways of communication with persons with special needs for them not to feel different, how is the society psychologically and mentally ready today to accept the persons with disabilities, and if not, what is the reason and way of solution. Often the persons with disabilities feel uncomfortable themselves and have a complex of appearing in the society. What is the cause of this? The meeting was attended also by the civic club members of the village Likhauri public school of the Ozurgeti Municipality, for who the participation in this meeting was twice as useful. Within the framework of the small grants component, this year their project was funded, which is focused on the integration of children with special needs into the society. The guest has promised them to be involved in the project implementation process. The event was organized as part of the Civic Education and Teacher Training Program, which is implemented by PH International with funding from the United States Agency for International Development. The Guria Youth Resource Center is the Program’s partner in Guria.  

Tbilisi. The EU Delegation in Georgia has extended the deadline for submitting the works for the 3-minute films festival.Those interested in participating in the contest can submit works until 5 pm on November 30.The 3-minute films festival is a new initiative of the EU Delegation in Georgia, through which the EU offers the Georgian youngsters of 14-25 years of age to shoot through the mobile phones 3-minute films and thus reflect the results of the EU-Georgia cooperation by themselves.Interested persons can get familiar with the contest rules at the following web page www.eu3min.ge. For the full text. Source:eeas.europa.eu/delegations/georgia

ShidaKartli.The training in social media was held as part of the Civic Education and Teacher Training Program on November 17-18 in Gori, in the Civic Engagement Center. 10 schoolchildren of the civic clubs have participated in the training.During the training, the participants were informed about the difference between the social and traditional media, the journalistic principles, as well as the principles of functioning of the social media channels. This training was made possible with the support of the Civic Education and Teacher Training Program.

Imereti. As part of the Civic Education and Teacher Training Program, the training was delivered on November 21 in the "Facilitation and Peer Education”. The training was attended by the leader schoolchildren involved in the program of the target school, who have gained certain knowledge and experience from participating in various program components. At the training the attendees got familiar with the facilitation techniques and acquired necessary knowledge and skills for the peer educators. With the experience gained from the training, the participants will be able to facilitate the civic forums carried out by the Kutaisi Education, Development and Employment Center within the framework of the Civic Education and Teacher Training Program.The Civic Education and Teacher Training Program is implemented by PH-International, with the financial support of USAID. For the full text. Source:kedec.ge

ShidaKartli. In relation to the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims on November 18, the sanctioned street march was organized at the initiative of the civic education club of the Khashuri public school #1.The club members have prepared posters, went out to the street and called on the drivers and the public to observe the driving rules: "Fasten the seatbelt!”, "Don’t Drive Drunk!”, "Take Care of Each Others’ Lives!”, "Respect Each Other”, etc.The civic club has agreed the organization of the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims with the Khashuri patrol police, and during the march the schoolchildren were escorted by the patrol police car to secure their safety.The event was organized as part of the Civic Education and Teacher Training Program.

ShidaKartli. The civic club of ShidaKartli has celebrated on November 19 the International Day on Prevention of Child Abuse. A conference was held in relation to this day in the society "Biliki" (path). The contest - "No To Violence" was announced in the ShidaKartli public schools participating in the Civic Education and Teacher Training Program. 7 best topics were selected from the submitted topics, which were presented at the conference. At the conference the schoolchildren were informed about: Why was the International Day on Prevention of Child Abuse was founded; What is violence/abuse; Violence/abuse at home and school. Following the presentation, the invited guests - psychologist, the lawyer of the Georgian Young Lawyers' Association and the representatives of the Georgian Center for Psychosocial and Medical Rehabilitation of Torture Victims and the National Anti-Violence Network - have talked about the causes, forms, results of violence and the ways for its elimination. Second part of the meeting was allocated to questions and answers. The guests answered the questions of interest to the children, and afterwards one-minute videos on the topic of child abuse prepared by the journalistic studio of society "Biliki" were shown, followed by the discussion.

Samtskhe-Javakheti. At the initiative of the Civic Engagement Centers and in connection with the International Day for Tolerance, the Akhaltsikhe Civic Engagement Center has hosted on November16 the exhibition of children's paintings "Tolerance - This Is Love". The works of children from 12 to 14 years of age were exhibited. The jury has revealed three best paintings, authors of which received symbolic gifts from the organization "Tolerant". The works will be exhibited in the Civic Engagement Center for another week. The exhibition aims to develop tolerant values so that schoolchildren acknowledge the universal value of diversity.