Algeti Community Center
“Algeti Community Center” has been taking care of the development of young people of the Algeti community in Marneuli, improving their daily life for several years.
Aishan Gizbasova, a young teacher, began working at the 2nd public school of Algeti in 2018. Upon observing the concerns of the students in the community, she recognized the importance of her role and resolved to establish a dynamic and engaging atmosphere for them.
Aishan became the founder and head of “Algeti Community Center”.
“School children in the village had limited opportunities for personal development and entertainment outside of school. Their daily routine mostly involved going to and from school, with little else to occupy their time. The village lacked resources for leisure and growth” – says Aishan.
In order to correct this situation, the work initially started in one room within the school. Here, the teacher discussed various issues with the students. They also carried out extracurricular activities and gradually started their way on the path of informal education.
As the founder of Algeti Center says, all this was done to increase the motivation of young people.
Since 2019, activity has continued at the new location. Instead of the school in the apartment located in the centre of Algeti and belonging to Aishan’s family. Projects and events have become more large-scale and effective.
Today, the youth of the community are involved in the activities of the centre as volunteers. Environmental measures, Georgian language learning courses, training of entrants (funded by the Algeti Mosque), and awareness raising of locals in various directions – this is part of the activities of the Algeti Community Center.
It was also interesting for the centre to invite those young people who once left the village – got an education, got a job. Today they share their experience with their peers. This turned out to be the best motivation for their fellow villagers.
“It is important to promote formal and informal education among rural youth. 80% of the implemented projects serve this purpose,” Aishan notes.
The activity of “Algeti Community Center” had concrete results. Aishan recalls that they wanted to organize a summer house to hold events in the village park.
Now they have received the support of the “Orbeliani Foundation” and a summer house will be organized in Algeti in the near future.
Along with this, the centre also implemented a greening project, within the framework of which the village park was “greened.” They obtained funding from the municipality’s town hall, bought plants and trees and planted them in the central park of Algeti.
Aishan Gizbasova says that they worked in the direction of the popularization of sports in Algeti. Table tennis in the village is now available to all locals. The sports and healthy life promotion project was implemented with the financial support of the “Social Justice Center”.
“Algeti Community Center” also held an event related to the Nowruz Bairam public holiday. Four villages of the Algeti community were involved in this project – an exhibition of paintings and photographs was organized.
Algeti Community Centre is also involved in USAID project implemented together with the seven community centres. The population was provided different services while the pandemic within the frame of the given project. They were assisted in writing applications, translating and obtaining information.
Ms. Gizbasova states that the centre is planning to expand its activities. Based on the locals’ needs, implementing more large-scale projects is on the agenda.
“The community centre will be transformed into an educational centre in September because we need financial support and various opportunities for long-term courses and educational activities. 10% of the income from the business project will be spent on social activities.”
Kaklik Aslanova, one of the members of “Algeti Community Center”, talks about how the centre influenced her life.
“After joining the centre, my attitude towards any field and topic has changed – I realized that I had to start changing myself, here, I developed many of my skills.”
Author: Guranda Phutkaraya
Azerbaijani translation: Chichak Guseynova
English translation: Tamar Cherkezishvili
The article was created with the support of the Civil Society Institute, within the framework of the project " Civil Society Initiative: Sustainable, Open and Accountable Civil Society, Organizations for the Development of Georgia" funded by the European Union and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. Kvemo Kartli Media is fully responsible for its content and it may not reflect the views of the European Union or the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. The project is implemented by a consortium led by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) together with the following non-governmental organizations – Center for Strategic Research and Development of Georgia (CSRDG), Civil Society Institute (CSI), Counseling and Training Center (CTC), Education Development and Employment Center (EDEC) and European Institute of Policy (IEP).
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