The Congress carried out a training of trainers on local democracy and human rights with the aim to create a pool of youth educators to promote the active participation of young people and under-represented groups in civic life, and address issues of local democracy and human rights at local level.
A group of 25 trainers, among which promising young leaders from different regions of Georgia successfully completed the training.
Discussions focused on instruments for the protection and promotion of human rights at the local level, as well as on key concepts such as human rights education, conflict transformation, non-violent communication, and the fight against hate speech.
The participants were equipped with comprehensive understanding of the interrelation between human rights and local democracy, up to date knowledge of existing standards, and good practice examples from Georgia and other European countries. They were introduced with the necessary methodological tools to autonomously develop training curricula on human rights and local democracy based on the needs of young people and tailored to the relevant context of their communities.
The future activities of the new trainers will contribute to further encourage local authorities to empower under-represented youth in Georgia, raising their awareness on their rights and freedoms and motivating them to be more engaged in local decision-making.
This event was organised in the framework of the project “Strengthening Participatory Democracy and Human Rights at Local Level in Georgia”, implemented by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities and the Directorate General of Democracy and Human Dignity, Division of Elections and Participatory Democracy, within the Council of Europe Action Plan for Georgia 2020-2023 with the financial contribution of the Austrian Development Cooperation. The project aims to strengthen institutional frameworks for citizen participation, support local authorities and their national association in their efforts to protect and promote human rights and ensure that civil society organisations have real impact on local decision making.
