Kasumlo Youth Center

For several years, a community centre has been functioning in Kasumlo village, which belongs to the Marneuli municipality. This centre serves as a gathering place for young people who work together on various issues.  The history of “Kasumlo Youth Center” began in 2017.

A tenth-grade girl decides to study the Georgian language well. She will be able to do this “with the help of the school director”, as she tells us now. She starts to attend training – learns to write projects. And then she writes and implements the project herself. We are talking about Arzu Bairamova. Today Arzu says that she “turned a childhood dream into reality”.

She tells us that finding space for the newly created centre was the first challenge. At first, they entered the building of the former outpatient clinic of the village. Currently, the office is located in the garage of Arzu Bayarmova’s family.

Today, locals can attend free English and Georgian language courses at the center. Arzu notes that courses are attended even by elderly people .

Along with the activation of “Kasumlo Youth Center”, the number of its members increased. Instead of 17, they now have 265 volunteers. Arzu Bairamova shares her thoughts on the successful implementation of various projects and highlights a few of them.

Several “Green Youth” incentives  were organized as a part of the “Shabatoba” project, where pupils, young people, and locals came together to clean the village and plant new trees.

The United Nations Association of Georgia, in cooperation with the Kasumlo Youth Center, held mobile public university lectures on various current topics.

Free Georgian, English and journalism courses were held in the center within the framework of the project implemented together with the State Committee for Work with the Diaspora of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Classes were held three times a week for young people and the elderly population.

Arzu Bairamova says that together they have implemented 4 projects on women’s rights with the participation of girls and their parents.

A meeting with a medical doctor was organized, as well as a visit to higher and professional schools in Tbilisi.

Arzu Bayramova says that she actively cooperates with the “Institute of New Thought” and “Caucasian House”. Inviting speakers to talk about various current topics is part of their activities. Also, they tell us about the creation of a book reading club. Students from Tbilisi present books to students and peers. They read together and then prepare presentations.

Arzu Bairamova, the head of the centre, also notes that they stood by the population even during the pandemic. “During the pandemic, we implemented more projects than before,” says Arzu Bairamova.

The centre plans to implement a new project in the future. The main goal is to help and develop students, young people, and community representatives in different directions.

“Contribute to peogress by developing ourselves  – This is the message of our centre for youth. The objective of our centre is the progress of young people and support of the elderly population of the village in various issues” – says the director of “Kasulmo Youth Centre”

We also listen to the evaluation on the effectiveness of the activity of “Kasumlo Youth Center” made by its members.

“The work of the centre helped us in many ways. Our life has changed for the better. Our interest in non-formal education increased. This will surely come in handy in our future life” – Gunel Gyulmamedova.

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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