Democracy Starts With You!

Governmental organisations in the South Caucasus, as well as the European Commission and Christian Democratic Parties in the Netherlands and Germany developed a program to introduce the concept of democracy and political participation for the next generation. The goal is to develop a simulation exercise for 5,000 school pupils from 60 secondary schools within the three countries. This exercise will lead to the election of 20 pupils per country who will be representing their nations in the South Caucasus Youth Parliament. During the parliament meetings 15 students will be elected to go to Brussels and articulate their needs and present their resolutions to parliament members of the European Union and civil organisations.

The project consist of three stages:

1. Simulation game at 60 secondary schools in each country: Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. More than 5.000 pupils will experience the democracy starts with you simulation
2. Meeting of South Caucasus Youth Parliament with 180 pupils (60 per country)
3. Visit to Brussels with 15 pupils to meet the European Counsel and Parliament (5 per country)

Kessels & Smit Something has been invited by the Georgian office of the German Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) and the Dutch Eduardo Frei Foundation (EFF) to facilitate the design process to create the simulation exersise. Also Kessels & Smit Something trains the teachers in Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia to work with the simulation exercise. Alongside Kessels & Smit Something created a teachers handbook with a series of teachings techniques to support the teachers in their own school. This book has been translated in Georgian, Armenian and Azeri.  In February 2009 the first draft of the simulation exercise for secondary schools was developed in Tbilisi. Tjip and Pieterjan hosted a design session with a team of national experts and coordinators from the different countries. The goal: to formulate crucial democracy experiences and create learning activities. In March 2010 the design of the simulation was further developed with local experts and coordinators from Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

More information:

• Check the official website from Democracy Starts With You!
• Check the movie about the design of the simulation exercise