Within the EU-supported project Empowering Civil Society to Promote Inclusive and Post-COVID Recovery, youth program participants from Kvemo Kartli formed an initiative group called Zrunva. This group emerged from the project’s Civil Participation Program (CPP), which empowers young people in Kvemo Kartli and Samtskhe-Javakheti regions.
Rusudan Melikidze, Gulia Nabieva, Giorgi Kapanadze, and Mariam Abuladze were participants in the first CPP stream (July 2022 – February 2023). The program included a civic education camp, project development, and implementation. During the camp Zrunva developed the project “Promotion of Positive Parenting in Kvemo Kartli.” Their goal was to raise awareness about positive parenting practices among parents of children under 10 in the region.
Zrunva held informational meetings for both Georgian and Azerbaijani-speaking communities in the cities of Rustavi, Gardabani and Marneuli and the villages of Vaziani and Khuldari. To reach a wider audience, they created a bilingual Facebook page with informative posts and short educational videos.
“During project development,” explained Rusudan Melikidze, a team member, “we realized the importance of this topic, confirmed by parents, teachers, and our Facebook followers. Parents were open, sharing personal experiences in even large seminars, extending discussions beyond planned times.”
This positive feedback motivated Zrunva to continue their program. Rusudan emphasizes, “The program’s most valuable aspect was the ongoing communication with CENN. We learned the importance of knowledge sharing, especially for under-addressed issues. This experience fueled our enthusiasm to continue.”
Psychologist and behavioral therapist Minaya Guseinova recently joined Zrunva. Their current project focuses on improving the psycho-social well-being (e.g., emotional regulation) of children aged 3-10 in Kvemo Kartli. This project aims to raise parental awareness of positive parenting practices and equip them with relevant skills. The project further aims to expand access to specialists like speech therapists, early development specialists, behavioral therapists, and others for Azerbaijani children with special needs.
“Therapies are currently funded by the municipalities, and the care agency also offers rehabilitation and early development programs. However, many parents lack awareness of these programs or struggle to identify their children’s specific needs.
The situation for ethnic minorities is especially challenging. There’s a scarcity of specialists fluent in Azerbaijani, forcing many children to travel significant distances for appropriate care. Furthermore, many parents don’t know how to navigate the system – collecting necessary documents or contacting doctors, municipalities, care agencies, or service providers – due to language barriers,” – says Rusudan.
While still under development, program will encompass all municipalities in Kvemo Kartli.
Zrunva currently operates as an initiative group but is actively working to formalize their organisation.
The project Empowering Civil Society to Promote Inclusive and Post-COVID Recovery is a four-year-long intervention, which is financed by the EU and was launched in January 2022. The project is implemented by CENN with partner organisation Centre for Training and Consultancy (CTC), Kvemo Kartli Media (KKM) and First European (FE).
