Georgia
We are a country in some say East Europe, others say West Asia. Our beautiful country is the home of 3.7 million inhabitants. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union many, mainly highly educated youngsters, migrated to Western Europe and USA. According to the reports of the World bank (2020) ca 21% lives below the poverty line. Still we are a beautiful country with many opportunities. We as Caucasus Youth Nexus, licensed by MasterPeace Foundation, believe together we can engage, connect and empower youngsters to help build a sustainable future for all.
The Aim and Mission
Our project called “Stay” is created in response to nowadays challenges that youth in Georgia are facing. Our Aim is to create opportunities for local youths, especially for the ones who have less access to educational benefits or who are belonging to ethnic and social minorities.
The mission of “Stay” is to promote youth self-employment and economic empowerment in their community, through education, social entrepreneurship, and youth activism.
The challenge
As time goes by, more and more young people leave Georgia to get a better education and to improve their economic and social conditions. Most of them choose to live abroad forever.
According to the data from the National Statistics Service, 80,351 citizens left Georgia in 2021, with a total population of 3 688.600
Bottom line; our country is losing young people who are capable to work and make important changes.
Objectives
Introducing social entrepreneurship as a tool for youth empowerment and economic sustainability
Raising awareness about social entrepreneurship through educational projects
Increasing opportunities for both individuals and specific entrepreneurs through the development of social entrepreneurship
Development of skills and competencies focused on modern challenges
Creating an online educational space and selling products of existing social enterprises through an online store
Educating, empowering, and engaging girls in economic activities in the municipality
The projects of Stay
One Step Ahead is a large and innovative project, which has been implemented in Marneuli and Tetritskaro municipalities by supporting Estonian development cooperation. The aim of the project is to inform the local young generation about social entrepreneurship and possibilities which are open to them. The target group is 15-25 years old Georgian citizens. Within the framework of the project, young people are met and trained by experienced trainers in their municipality centers or schools. The main topics of the sessions are social entrepreneurship and financial and social resources which they find for implementing their ideas. Besides those, the audience is getting a chance to be involved in the following activities: team-building; self-organizing and self-representing; Making goals, and SMART assessment for the idea.
6 videos and Guide Book about social entrepreneurship – Within the framework of One Step Ahead, we created a guide book for beginners in Social Entrepreneurship and recorded 6 videos on the following topics:
1) How to become an entrepreneur?
2)How to work on self-development and leadership?
3)How to find suitable human resources and build up the team?
4)How to write a business plan?
5) Marketing tricks for our business success.
6) How to find potential donors and get funding?
Webinars with successful young entrepreneurs. Once in every two months Stay invites a successful young entrepreneur on the online platform, where she/he shares their own history and experience. It is free to attend and ask questions for everyone. (The last webinar was with 29 years old girl – Baia Abuladze who created her own wine brand and leads the winery in Georgia).
Motivation Posts. As the aim of the Stay is to motivate young people, we use any availabilities to encourage them. Every week on our Facebook and Instagram Pages, we share the successful histories of famous people.
Gifts – From time to time we announce small competitions on our social media platform. There are several questions and the first person who answers all of the correctly receives eco-gifts.
Erasmus+ Programs – Stay is actively involved in not only local but international projects, as well. By with collaborating Erasmus+, we create and participate in programs, where young people have the chance to get to know different cultures, expand knowledge about a specific topic and create international networks.
Partners
Caucasus Youth Nexus;
Estonian Development Corporation;
Masterpeace Foundation;
Council of Europe;
Erasmus+ .