On 10-13 September the Council of Europe facilitated organisation of a three-day training on participation of youth in civic and political processes in Gudauri, Georgia. Center for Development and Democracy (CDD) – a local non-governmental organisation active since 2008 – developed the training modules, designed and printed educational material, and carried out the training for 32 young citizens from Samtskhe-Javakheti and Kvemo Kartli.

The activity was carried out with the aim of engaging first-time voters from ethnic minorities (Azerbaijani and Armenian) in the governance of the country and fostering their interest in the future elections. The trainings focused on increasing the participants’ skills and knowledge on topics such as: the role and rights of citizens, communication and outreach, community mobilization, governmental structures and bodies and their role in electoral democracy, importance of election monitoring and role of active citizenry, common forms of electoral violations (e.g. family voting, secrecy of voting, etc), as well as key principles of free and fair elections (one person-one vote, equality and secrecy of the vote, etc.).

The training was conducted in the Georgian language; however, the educational materials that were distributed to the participants were available in Georgian as well as in the Armenian and Azerbaijani languages.

The training was conducted in the framework of the CDD Project “Increase Youth and Women Participation in Election Processes in Georgia ‘Decision is Yours’ ” with financial assistance from the Council of Europe “Programme to support Georgia in view of the 2016 (parliamentary), 2017 (local) and 2018 (presidential) elections”.