Young Georgians and Estonians develop democracy at school

From April 20-26, pupils from Gori 7th Secondary School (Georgia) visited Estonia to meet their partners from Kolga Secondary School in Estonia for a joint project on school democracy. The two schools started collaboration in the aftermath of the Georgian-Russian conflict in 2008 when Kolga student activists organized a fundraising campaign to support their partner school in Georgia. Their initiative also earned the Open Estonia Foundation’s 2009 Concord Award.

During one week, pupils participated in various trainings and exchanged experience in order to make the work of student councils in Estonia and Georgia more effective. “Our council has been rather active but with the help of these trainings we have learned to organize our work even better,” said Tamuna from Gori student council.

In autumn 2009 a survey will be conducted among schools in Harjumaa (Estonia) and Shida Kartli (Georgia) regions to explore the problems of student councils. During similar training sessions in Georgia, the young project partners will also learn to use web 2.0 tools to enhance student participation in decision-making at school.

Despite the distance, pupils from Gori and Kolga are in regular touch via Skype, weblogs and e-mail. “For our Georgian friends, communication with us has served as a direct link to the West,” Paula Salme from Kolga explained. “It is important for them to keep touch to feel that we exist for real,” she added. The young Georgian guests have already learned a couple of words in Estonian and can sing popular Estonian songs by heart.

The cooperation project “The Voice of Youth” is supported by OEF’s East-East: partnership beyond borders program.

More information on the project: http://gorikolga.wordpress.com/in-english/

Additional information on the East-East program: http://www.oef.org.ee/en/programs/3/