Mentors supporting Youth Laboratories for Democracy and Human Rights across Georgia strengthened their approaches to sustaining youth motivation, participation and locally led action during the second Mentors’ Roundtable, held in Tbilisi on 30 July 2026.

The Youth Labs initiative, launched by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe in 2025, supports young people across Georgia in developing local initiatives on democracy, human rights and community well-being. Through the mentorship network, experienced practitioners provide guidance and practical support to Youth Labs.

Building on their practical experience of accompanying Youth Labs, mentors reflected on the barriers and enabling factors affecting mentoring and youth engagement. The Roundtable introduced Social and Behavioural Change approaches to help mentors better understand what drives or hinders young people’s motivation, collective action and sustained participation. Participants explored the Social Identity Model for Collective Action and motivational interviewing, considering how these tools could be adapted to the realities and needs of Youth Labs.

“Discussing the challenges encountered in the mentoring process and possible ways to address them, as well as learning about approaches and tools for individual and group-level social and behavioural change, will help me improve my mentoring practice in the future,” shared one of the mentors.

The Roundtable also advanced the development of the Mentorship Toolkit, a practical resource capturing the collective experience, good practices and lessons through the Youth Labs initiative, contributing to more sustainable youth-led democratic and human rights action.

This initiative is organised in the framework of the project „Advancing Participatory and Human Rights-based Local Democracy in Georgia” implemented by the Centre of Expertise for Multilevel Governance at the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities as part of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Georgia 2024-2027, with the support of the Austrian Development Agency as a part of the International Partnerships Austria.