The local activities from the European project Young Entrepreneurs for community growth have came to an end. An end that promises a great future as the program was a success and several follow-ups are planned.

The local training program aimed to develop entrepreneurial competences, using innovative non-formal educational methods for over 150 young people, aged 15-19, from Kakheti region of Georgia.

The program started with the selection process of young participants. The trainers from our organisations have held presentations about the training opportunity in ALL the schools located in Kakheti region. In total, over 40 presentations were held in 19 schools, spreading the news to over 1000 students. Moreover, presentations were held as well to the school directors and other stakeholders at local level.

The call for participants was also spread on the social platforms of AISI. In total, 800 young people have applied for the program. Out of the applicants, 400 young people have been invited to attend one on one interviews. Overall, after a tremendous work done by our team, 183 young people were selected to attend the local training program.

Young people have been divided into several groups and they have started the training. For the pupils it was the first time they have attended activities based on non-formal education. The topics of the ten workshops offered to the participants are related to developing entrepreneurial competences. In the course of two months, each group of participants has attended 10 workshops. The workshops methods have been developed by experts and trainers from the six partners countries involved in the project. You can read more about the training course where the methods were developed here.

During the programme, participants from each group have been divided into subgroups which worked on business ideas.

Young people have been more than enthusiast and open to the training programme. For each of the groups, the training has ended with a presentation of their business idea & business plan in front of an audience of over 70 people formed from participants of the other groups, parents and representatives of AISI. Speaking in front of such a big audience at this age, supporting and presenting their ideas is a huge achievement for our participants.

The presentations of the business ideas were held at the Techno Park Telavi – which are our local partners on this project. Thanks to them we were able to benefit of a modern room with all the facilities where young people presented their work. Techno Park Telavi has offered the full support to our organisation in this project and we take this opportunity to thank them once again.

Young participants were very enthusiast and involved in the activities we offered to them, and more than half of them expressed interest in joining our organisation as volunteers. Most of them expressed the desire to attend more educational programs within our organisation.

‘’This project gave me the opportunity to think about my future in a different way. Before I was thinking that something was hard to achieve, but now I realize that if I plan all my activities in the right way nothing can stop me to reach my destination. I also learned how to manage my 24 hours much more productively’’. – said, Tamar, 17 years old from Telavi which attended the local training program.

Kara, 16 years old from Karajala, participant at the local training program declared at the end: “Now I think that we -school students- can also start our own business and don’t depend on parents financially. “

The journey is not over for the young people who took part in the activities at local level. The most motivated 10 participants will be selected to attend a Youth Exchange that will take place at the end of October in Telavi. The Youth Exchange will reunite 60 young people (10 per country) from Georgia, Armenia, Georgia, Italy, Moldova, Spain and Italy.

The activities for the young people are not limited at the actions provided by the European project Young Entrepreneurs for community growth.

Participants caught the sense of non-formal education and they have requested additional workshops from our trainers on certain topics of interest for them. During the summer, they will attend workshops on themes such as: presentation skills, non-verbal communication, time management. Our organisation office will host these trainings which will be provided for free by our trainers.

Moreover, participants created friendships and a group of 40 youngsters went together on a sightseeing trip in Georgia organised by AISI. The trip was filled with joy and it was a reward for the hard work of the young people.

The great success of the local program is an encouragement for our organisation. More initiatives have been generated and new projects will be put in practice as a follow-up.

In the same time, similar actions have been implemented at the local level for young people living Armenia, Ukraine, Moldova, Spain and Italy. In the overall programme, over 660 young people were involved in total in the six partner countries of the project.

The local training programme offered to young people represents one of the main activities of the European funded project Young Entrepreneurs for Community Growth.

Young Entrepreneurs for Community Growth is coordinated by AISI Youth Alliance from Georgia in collaboration with organisations from other five countries: Poruch from Ukraine, Creatorii from Moldova, Cilento Youth Union from Italy, ADEFIS Juventud International from Spain and Armenian Progressive Youth from Armenia.

Young Entrepreneurs for Community Growth is a Capacity Building in the Field of Youth project, Eastern Partnership Youth Window projects co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Commission.