YouthBank International News

<div class="page old_photo"> <article> <header style="background-image:url(/uploads/537dc67e4e2a3.jpg);"> <div class="box"> <div class="intro"> <h1>Focus on YouthBank Georgia: the Youth Integration Program</h1> Mariam Kobalia, Youth Integration Program Manager </div> </div> </header> <div class="main"> <div class="container"> <img src="http://beacon.by/uploads/537db790a1986.jpg" style="width: 238px;"> Mariam Kobalia has cooperated with EPF since March 2010. She has 4 years' experience in developing, managing, and monitoring youth integration programs and 6 years in working on addressing social issues relevant to youth. She is a PhD candidate in Sociology at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University (TSU), and holds an M.A in Social Sciences from Center for Social Sciences (CSS) and B.A from TSU with a major in English language and Literature and minor in Social Work. YouthBank was born in Georgia when the Eurasia Foundation officially opened four YouthBanks in 2005 to encourage youth integration and civic activism. Since the establishment of the Eurasia Partnership Foundation, the reach of its youth integration program has expanded significantly to 25 under-served municipalities, covering the mountainous Svaneti and Adjara to Abkhazia and South-East Georgia.The idea is to create groups of 7 to 10 young people in a given community (YouthBanks) and empower them with training and resources to find, fund, and oversee small youth-led initiatives designed to address the issues faced by their respective communities. Thus, grant-making serves as a mechanism with which the participants not only improve their self-esteem, but also learn about leadership, team-work, fair decision-making, problem-solving, communications, financial and narrative report-writing, event management, etc. YouthBank members are essentially youth volunteers from the targeted regions who are recruited and selected based on the following considerations: (a) age (16-21 years-old), (b) leadership potential and interest in working as a team with other youth, and (c) commitment to remain in the community and participate in YouthBank activities. Once the YouthBank members are selected, they undergo an in-depth training in research methods, and project design, management, and monitoring. After the training, the YouthBank members conduct community needs assessments to determine the focus areas of their activities and issue a request for proposals from their peers. Each year, the YouthBanks fund around 110 local youth-led initiatives in their communities, which range from 500 to 800 GEL (equivalent to 285 to 455 USD) in value and could address needs as diverse as cleaning a community park, promoting gender equality or preparing first-time voters for elections.Since 2008, EPF-supported YouthBanks funded and monitored the implementation of 296 youth-led initiatives, through which 423 local youth were able to mobilize 5,000 volunteers in 29 municipalities of Georgia. As a result of EPF’s efforts, youth in communities where YouthBanks are active demonstrate increased civic engagement using the knowledge and skills acquired through their participation in the Program. Thus, only during the past three years (2011-2013), YouthBank members initiated and implemented 45 non-EPF supported youth-led initiatives to address their communities’ needs. For example, Zugdidi’s YouthBank mobilized local community members for a charity action to collect food and clothes for the socially disadvantaged youth residing in Tsalenjikha orphanage, while Khobi YouthBank organized a street event and disseminated 300 flyers to raise community awareness on HIV/AIDS. In addition, more than 70% of the YBs were successful in involving local governments and businesses in their endeavors. Thus, during 2011-2013, Talaveri YB succeeded in engaging local municipality in its actions, having them contribute trees for community green initiative, while Akhmeta local government contributed food to the charity action organized by Akhmeta YouthBank.In 2010, EPF started a regional YouthBank project: Building a Young Constituency for Peace across the South Caucasus and Turkey. EPF concluded a grant agreement with its partner Save the Children to establish and support the running of five new YouthBanks across the administrative boundary line (ABL) in Gali, Upper Barghebi, Ochamchire, Sokhumi, and Gudauta. Furthermore, to establish constructive relationships among their peers across South Caucasus and Turkey, YouthBank members participated in various activities, including two cross-cultural communications trainings in Bichvinta, the final conference in Istanbul, domestic networking workshops, etc. Through face-to-face communication with their Armenian, Azerbaijani, Georgian, and Turkish peers during the final conference, young people from Gali, Upper Barghebi, Ochamchire, Sokhumi, and Gudauta increased their knowledge in the field of community activism and developed the capacity to work with their peers from various ethnic backgrounds. Direct communication among the YouthBanks (the larger project involved 41 YBs from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey) positively impacted on the youth’s attitudes about neighbors and contributed to improved confidence and trust of Abkhaz YB members toward youth from Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey.Quotes from YouthBank members: Mariam Gabriadze, a member of the Tkibuli YouthBank: “I believe that the work we are doing in the YouthBank program is extremely important for our community. I will never forget the thankful and smiling faces of those kids with special needs, while monitoring one of the projects funded by Khoni YouthBank. I am proud to see that with the help of this project their relationship with classmates, with teachers, and learning process itself became more interesting and fun for them. I am confident that they will hold the spirit!”Kartlos Lomsadze, Gori YouthBank member:“Before joining the YouthBank program, I was not active at all. I have never participated in any of the projects, but here, as they say, I found myself! It was like a turning point. Now when I participate in various projects and often ask other participants from various regions, if they know the guys from their regions who are the YouthBank members, they often say – come on, everyone knows them! It’s like, everyone in the community knows those, who are the members of the YouthBank. They are known for being active and motivated; let’s just say that they are known for everything.”Davit Bejashvili, Dedoplistkaro YouthBank member:“When we went to one of the local schools to make the presentation on YouthBank work, I remember how surprised the teachers were looking at us, because they expected adults and when they saw us, 16-year old kids, they responded with skepticism and distrust. I will never forget the feeling, when we were able to show them that we, even though we are young, can do important things.”  </div> </div> </article> </div>

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Issue 3