On March 9, 2012, USAID Caucasus Mission Director, Stephen Heykin, and Dimitri Shashkin, the Minister of Education and Science of Georgia, signed an amendment to a prior Memorandum of Understanding, confirming increased support to the Applied Civic Education and Teacher Training Program (ACETT), funded by USAID and implemented by PH International.

On February 25th, the first National Conference was held for the Civics Teachers’ Forum, sponsored by the Applied Civic Education and Teacher Training Program (ACETT). The conference, held at the Tbilisi Event Hall, brought together 250 civics teachers and stakeholders from across Georgia to discuss best practices, personal experiences and coming innovations in the field of civic education..

This year 20 new schools will join the Georgian Legal Socialization Program, thus increasing the total number of participating schools to 80. The schools were selected in Tbilisi as well as in other cities (Marneuli, Gori, Samtredia, Akhaltsikhe and Akhalkalaki) and covered Georgian population together with the representatives of ethnical minorities, which constitutes to one of the top priorities of the program.

On February 18, members of the Carpediem Civics Club at Tbilisi Public School #42, in collaboration with Civics Club students at a number of public schools in the Georgian capital, celebrated their successes promoting the integration of visually impaired students into the commun

Access Program Student from Akhaltsikhe – Nino Samsonidze was appointed a delegate of South Caucasus Youth Parliament (SCYP) thanks to her leadership qualities and English language skills. In the frames of SCYP Program Nino will spend a week in Brussels in the month of June. Only five students were selected to be the delegates of the South Caucasus Youth Parliament countrywide.

The Access Program in Gori held an enrichment activity devoted to St. Valentine’s day on February 13, 2012. Students got acquainted with the history and origin of this popular festival; watched a PowerPoint Presentation and a video featuring the traditions of celebrating St. Valentine’s day in various countries and discussed the ways in which a similar festival – Day of Love is celebrated in Georgia.

On February 2, 2012, Akhaltsikhe Public School #1 welcomed the USAID Caucasus Mission Director, Stephen Haykin, to an ACETT civics club event that showcased some of the successes of school civics clubs.

Students in the Adjara Civics Club recently participated in a video conference with their American peers to exchange ideas and experiences about civic education.

In November and December, 2011 GLSP conducted trainings on delivery of newly developed manual “Introduction to Legal Culture” for teachers, police officers and school wardens of the selected schools of Rustavi and Tbilisi. The mentioned manual will be delivered to the students from thirty 7th grade classes of 10 schools.

You Are Not Alone was the slogan of a charity event organized by civics club members at Tbilisi Public School #51. The event was hosted within the framework of PH International’s Applied Civic Education and Teacher Training Program (ACETT), funded by USAID.