Georgia | Applied Civic Education and Teacher Training (ACETT) program for Georgia | 12 Apr 2011

“Shake Hands with Health” is the slogan under which student members of civics clubs of the Samegrelo region are presenting peer trainings and distributing leaflets to promote healthy lifestyles. USAID’s Applied Civic Education and Teacher Training Program (ACETT), together with their local NGO partner “Atinati,” supported an April 2 event at Zugdidi Public School #1 to present winners of a small grants competition and to highlight the involvement between student civics clubs and their local municipalities. When designing their proposals for the small grants program, students obtained their local government’s cooperation in the proposed projects, such as providing transportation to events that aim to support orphan children; allocation of funds for purchase of books for orphan children; providing plants for environmental projects; and the involvement of local government representatives, as guest speakers, in children’s rights trainings. The civics club members made presentations about their peer-to-peer training and presented their “healthy lifestyles” leaflets, which will be distributed to all 50 ACETT partner schools in the Samegrelo region. The leaflets include illustrations, information, and straight talk on alcohol, tobacco, and AIDS, under such slogans as “Every human being is born free; do not become a slave to alcohol”; and “Smoking kills; take care of your life”; and “AIDS is a diagnosis, not a life sentence.”