The story below was collected during a Most Significant Change evaluation and was selected as the most significant change in the domain of "Community Engagement."
“Sharing Opportunities to Step Up”
Archil Sumbadze, Georgia
2010-2011, Duquesne University
Before I became part of UGRAD, people of my parents’ age always spoke very abstractly about politics. They say that politics is not our affair, it’s not our business; politicians should take care of it and direct the states.
When I applied for UGRAD program, I wrote that I was really wondering what the basis of democracy was. Upon returning I started realizing that citizens are democracy. It doesn’t start from the parliament or court or president. My time spent in the U.S. dramatically changed my perceptions.
I had thought that only political rulers could direct country, but while participating in community service, I realized that successful and coherent societies start with every small community. It’s the environment, electricity - everyday issues. Social mobilization is not something that Georgia or other developing nations should only read in democracy manuals. It’s something that should be part of our everyday life, and the biggest responsibility lies in young generations that I represent.
So I found there that every citizen has his role in building democracy. Civic consciousness starts from below and not from rulers, and when I came back I wanted to provide an example. And I knew that taking initiative, taking action, not on a large scale but at least what I could do, would be sharing the experience that I received in the U.S. and giving my young fellow citizens opportunities to take initiative.
Before my UGRAD experience, the Model UN was more like an academic simulation, which was like hearing more about international politics. When I came back, I wanted to offer my peers something different, and I decided to make the Model UN (MUN) project not only an academic activity, but a socially academic activity. I included peer education and volunteering, which is still not common in Georgia. I reached the regions that are much more vulnerable, where there’s a serious lack of civic activities. I started in four regional universities where we had these model UN conferences, and I realized during this project that this U.S. experience really changed my attitudes. I felt I was a part of a very important process – giving chances of self-realization to future active citizens.
Over 200 people participated in this project, and I am sure that most of them from those regions are those who will now take initiative in their communities. This is everyday life. The biggest change for me was the impact on communities. In most regions, I started from scratch. There was the UN Association of Georgia, which I cooperated with, and they had done many model UNs for last 15 years. But that Model UN was mostly a Tbilisi-based activity (with few exceptions). I knew that working in Tbilisi would not be as effective as the regions and would not have made much change. That’s why we reached out to regional universities and now, I am sure there are some young leaders in regions, which other NGO projects can rely on. And there is one more significant thing – sustainability. With UN Association, we opened MUN Corners in all participating universities, as symbols of continuous opportunities for young citizens – to step up and take action!