Youth Councils Initiative
Since 2003, CRS has implemented the South Caucasus Youth Councils Initiative in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. This initiative help communities organize individual Youth Councils, which are organized member bodies, made up of citizens elected by the community, who work together to resolve issues.
A member of the CRS sponsored Youth Council. Photo by CRS Staff
How Youth Councils Work
Youth Councils are organized as an extra-curricular activity in secondary schools throughout Georgia, using democratically modeled elections to identify council members who are committed to social activism.
The elected Youth Council members are then offered training in needs identification and prioritization, proposal writing, conflict resolution, communication, and youth participation. Council members work together with their communities to identify a problem and suggest solutions. After submitting a successful proposal for a mini-grant, the Youth Council members and other volunteers implement their ideas, and provide evaluation documentation. Projected activities include summer camps to promote inter-ethnic understanding, community service projects, and small business development.
Building on the success of this initiative, beginning in October 2004, CRS Georgia and several Georgian partner organizations will begin implementation of the USAID-funded Building for the Future: Youth for Change. This five-year program works to empower the youth of Georgia with the skills and knowledge to build inter-ethnic understanding, to practice democratic and free-market values, and to assess and meet some of their communities' needs.
Through this project, CRS aims to establish almost 200 Youth Activist Clubs, prepare over 12,000 secondary school graduates with adequate attitudes, behaviors, skills and knowledge to contribute to socio-economic development, and train 144 teachers in civic participation, conflict transformation, applied economics and advocacy techniques.
