• Juvenile delinquency is decreased as youth gain a greater understanding and respect for the rule of law, legal issues, law enforcement and criminal investigation.
• Capacity of police is increased to implement effective community policing initiatives.
• Greater community awareness of legal issues are introduced addressing trafficking, domestic violence, bullying, cyber security and cybercrime.

​SCOPE is funded by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs.

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The  Adjara Community Policing Initiative (ACPI)  fosters closer cooperation in 10 rural communities of the Adjara region, with particular focus on cooperation among religious groups and between the community and local police departments. The core of the program  supports building and institutionalizing positive dialogue, consultation, and joint problem solving between local police and rural communities, including religious communities and minorities. The program seeks to overcome existing communication challenges within communities and between communities and the police. Representatives of the community include school students, administration, parents and teachers, representatives of local self-government, sport groups, and religious and community leaders. 

ACPI utilizes school and community interventions to lead greater engagement of police with the members of selected communities of Adjara, hence, the two components, legal socialization in schools and building police-community relations, are key program areas of the initiative. Providing police with training and support to incorporate and improve their own personal and professional capacity to accomplish these community policing objectives are key. Activities build from classroom based components (building trust and relationship between students and police) and extend out to community based activities.

ACPI is funded by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs.

 

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Initiative for Empowering Local Communities in Georgia’ Project

 

PH International leads a multi-country, multi-faceted effort to reduce the risks of radicalization of vulnerable residents of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Macedonia. PH International and its key partners in each country, the Georgian Center for Strategy  and Development (GCSD) in Georgia, the Center for Economic and Social Development (CESD) in Azerbaijan, and Moonshot CVE in Macedonia are implementing this effort through a comprehensive online and offline campaign for both countering the messaging of international terrorist and violent extremist organizations in Azerbaijan, Georgia and Macedonia while acting to prevent the risks of extremist messaging through activities targeting drivers that contribute to these risks, particularly among young people. Building local capacity to sustain this effort is key to the overall success of the project. As part of the project a special training curriculum will be developed that will be used in Georgia and Azerbaijan to train community members, including influencers on what P/CVE is and how and why it is important to counter the messaging being received from violent extremist organizations. 

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• To enhance entrepreneurship development, capacity-building of youth-led small enterprises through innovative forms of access to finance, knowledge and expertise.
• To increase employability of young people by offering relevant training, improved financial capabilities, new forms of practical on-the-job training opportunities and encouraging youth-friendly corporate practices.
• To create discourse contributing to youth economic empowerment through a nationwide media campaign as well as support to youth-led enterprise networks and connecting them to similar networks internationally.

• Development of open-source Youth Enterprises Training Manual, non-formal educational module with session guides, instructions and handouts. 600 young people from 20 regions of Georgia will take part in the Youth Enterprise two-stage Training Program, offered by MFO Crystal Branch Offices in 20 locations of Georgia. As a result, 30 youth led start-up enterprises will be financed and supported.
• Development of Employers Guide to Internship and Youth Friendly Practices tailored for the selected 20 companies. The guide will provide methods and tools for constructing effective on-the-job training programs, leading to sustainable employment of youth. 400 young people will undertake internship in selected companies.
• Creation of http://crystalcrowd.ge/en/more/video-academy, providing access to online entrepreneurial resources, employment advises access to finances and engagement opportunities with local and international networks. 

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The goal of Georgia CALLS is to prevent/reduce recurrence of juvenile delinquency and strengthen a fundamental shift within the police, courts, and communities toward restorative justice elements in the Republic of Georgia. Although Georgia has made remarkable progress in adopting policies that bring it closer to international practices in juvenile justice, there are also practices in the country that are founded in authoritative approaches with the potential to undermine restorative justice approaches starting up and generally alienate youth, leaving them more vulnerable to negative influences. As the name indicates, the Georgia Community Action and Linkages for Legal Socialization program focuses on building joint effort of government, communities, local NGOs, private sector and the international community for strong prevention programs and in support for the expansion of alternative justice approaches. Georgia CALLS will encourage schools and community groups to plan for and adopt new programs that reduce delinquency, providing access to training and materials that support those activities. Programs will cultivate police as positive influences in the lives of youth and reinforce community policing. Other components will strengthen the expansion of the Government’s pilot Diversion and Mediation program for juveniles throughout the country.

Georgia CALLS is funded by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs.

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The Georgian Legal Socialization Program (GLSP), implemented by PH International and funded by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), began in 2008, in partnership with The Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia and The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia. The program sought to increase public safety, juvenile crime prevention and civil society development through raising the youth awareness in juvenile justice matters, building/ promoting trust among the students, teachers and law enforcement officers, and the introduction and promotion of principles of restorative justice. 

The program included a range of components. Legal Culture Classes brought together police officers and civic education teachers in the classroom in approximately 100 public schools in 6 regions throughout Georgia, to jointly conduct specialized 7th and 9th grade GLSP curriculum. The Social Media in Schools (SMS) component taught youth basic social media skills using PH's SMS curriculum, allowing the students to transform the knowledge acquired during the classes into practical actions for juvenile crime prevention though use of social media. A third school-based component, Peer Clubs of Legal Education, encouraged a peer education approach and project-based activities. Curriculum were translated to Azeri and Armenian languages for use in schools in minority regions.

In addition to these school components, GLSP played a significant role in introducing the concepts of restorative justice to Georgia, leading to a Juvenile Diversion and Mediation Program introduced by the Ministry of Justice of Georgia in 2010. GLSP organized trainings for representatives of governmental institutions and mediators involved in the Diversion and Mediation Program and facilitated the sharing of international experience by professional exchanges to the US and Armenia as well as by bringing foreign experts to Georgia. 
 

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Women’s Leadership Programs (WLPs) empower women from across a given region or country to initiate change and improvements in their communities. Special focus areas are determined by the communities being served and have included such topics as NGO development, mass media, women’s healthcare, prevention of domestic violence, and electoral politics. Through educational workshops and training seminars that focus on practical skills-building and mentoring, the programs develop the leadership qualities and capacity of women. Program components include: a local needs assessment to identify key issues of importance to be directly addressed through workshops and training activities conducted; custom-designed Women’s Leadership Series workshops; Women’s Leadership Institutes focused on intensive leadership training for women; Women’s Mentoring Institutes which provide additional training for the top participants in the Women’s Leadership Institutes so that they can serve as mentors to other women and to train them to conduct the Women’s Leadership Institute for additional women; strengthening the institutional capacities of existing women-centered groups and organizations; creation of a Women’s Resource and Training Center where appropriate; and, Inter-regional and/or International Conferences.> More

The dynamics of domestic violence in eastern Europe are essentially the same as in the United States. What does differ dramatically between these two cases however is the social awareness of the problem and the tools available to prevent and defend against acts of domestic violence. At the turn of the millenium, this problem in the former Soviet Union was aggravated by inherited cultural traditions, social structures and norms of behavior which have historically tolerated domestic violence. In 1998, Project Harmony received a grant from the United States State Department to administer "The Domestic Violence Community Partnership Program." This innovative two-year program brought together coalitions of domestic violence prevention and response experts from the United States, Russia, and Ukraine - later expanding to Georgia -  to share strategies and develop community-based tools for increasing awareness of this problem, and protecting women in culturally relevant and law enforcement-supported ways. Participants learned about collaborative models in the U.S. establishing domestic violence community partnerships that were producing measurable and positive results. Working linkages between police, victim advocate groups, prosecutors, judges, health care professionals, family counselors and schools are producing an effective coalition of community based services to attack the systemic issues of domestic violence.

The program initially focused on Petrozavodsk and Volgograd in Russia, and in Odesa and Lviv in Ukraine. Based on the success of the first two-year initiative, Project Harmony received another grant in 1999 to continue the program for an additional two years and to extend the locations to include the cities of Irkutsk in the Far East of Russia, Uzhgorod in Ukraine, and Tbilisi in Georgia.

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The Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) program is one of the Department of State's longest lasting programs providing an opportunity for international high school students to spend a year in the United States, living with host families and attending American high schools.

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