Goals

Problem statement:

Tsalka municipality is diverse due to a migration wave in the 2000s: Christian Armenians, Muslim Azerbaijanis, Christian and Muslim, and Turkish speaking Christian Greeks. We exist peacefully, but do not often interact. Before Georgian immigration, the population used to speak Turkish or Russian. Now, there is not a shared language.

Two villages next to each other serve as an example: village Sakdrioni which is mostly inhabited by Georgians and the village Ayazma is Armenian. The distance between these two villages is one kilometre, but there is little contact.

Over ten years have passed migration, but nothing has been done to change this. The youth of these two communities do not know each other and have no common space. The existing situation creates a danger of alienation.

Proposed Solution:

We plan to introduce the youth of the two villages with each other. At the beginning of April, teenagers aged 13 to 15 will be selected from each village for a two day workshop on tolerance. There will be excursions to churches and cultural sites in the villages and food tasting. A symbolic tree of friendship will be planted at the end.

Sustainability:

As the result of the project implementation, the youth will get introduced with each other, become friends and maintain communication in life and online. The planted trees will always remind them of the friendship.

The project will serve as a precedent in the municipality, as a result of implementing it successfully, other similar activities will be given incentives. The project will initiate the process of integration in Tsalka municipality.

Equal gender opportunity:

Gender balance will be observed as the beneficiaries will be selected on the grounds of gender equality – 10 girls and 10 boys.