Non Formal Education Youth Centre SUNNY HOUSE – Georgia

Non-formal Education Youth Center Sunny House was founded in 2003 as a youth initiative to support the empowerment of the young members of societies through means of non- formal education. The origins of the organization date back to 1999, when the first soft-skills trainings were conducted by the youth initiative group. By expanding their knowledge, developing skills and forming values, young people can utilize their own human capital potential and participate in the process of creating a more cohesive society.
The aim of the Sunny House is to work with young people regardless nationality, sex, religion,or socio-political belonging. In accordance with basic principles of humanism, ethics and professionalism, the main aim of the centre is to provide help to develop mental and physical capabilities of the youth, as well as to encourage young people to become active members of the democratic society.

The objectives of the center are:
1) develop and promote non-formal education approach in Georgia;
2) develop and provide assistance for professionals working in the field of youth work and establish ethical principles among people working in the field of non-formal education; 3) provide qualified assistance in socio-psychological adaptation of the youth in globally changing environment; 4) promote healthy lifestyle among young people. To achieve its goals the centre organizes trainings, conferences, workshops, charity activities, ecological actions, thematic evenings, exhibitions and other cultural, intellectual or sport activities.
The organization has five paid staff currently and over 20 volunteers.

What are the activities and experience of the organisation in the areas relevant for this project? What are the skills and/or expertise of key persons involved in this project?

Georgia is a non-EU member, however, the non-formal education youth center has a lot to offer to the project.
First, Sunny House was the first to offer online training for teachers who were struggling to adapt to online teaching and learning amid a new global virus. Digital skills among school teachers in Georgia is pretty low and while the shift to online teaching happened almost overnight, the teachers were not prepared for such a rapid change. Sunny House initiated a series of free online trainings to assist various teachers accommodating their diverse pace and skill levels to develop teachers’ digital skills. This is just one example of the organization’s ability to promptly respond to the needs arising not only in the non- formal but formal education as well. In addition, at the moment Sunny House conducts online training with two international non-governmental organizations (PH International and World Vision) involving school teachers, law enforcement mentors, and youth workers helping them to increase their e-competences in combination with soft skills to successfully run the teaching process.

Second, Sunny House has cooperated with numerous organizations from diverse fields be it business, international non-governmental organizations, local government bodies, or other grassroot organizations over the seventeen years of its foundation. This cooperation involves close professional ties with the training centers of these diverse networks. The scope of the organization’s network is not only diverse but also vast. The recipients of the numerous events and activities conducted by the organization count up to thousands of Georgians. The organization is well established and highly reputable among other youth development organizations. Due to this positionality and the density of the network, Sunny House has the ability to effectively disseminate outcomes and outputs of the project.

Third, people involved in the project have relevant competencies necessary for the successful implementation of the project.

Key Personnel

Tatia Gogishvili, a soft-skill trainer, has administered and coordinated international projects for years in Sunny House with European and American partners. Kety Zhvania-Tyson, another person involved in the project was the first in the country who initiated free online training for educators to assist and encourage them in this stressful transition to new online teaching and learning realities. She was the first to bring non-formal education methods and approaches to Georgia in the 1990s and started to raise awareness of its strategic importance to the country’s education system. In addition, Kety acted as an influencer to develop the professionalization of the youth worker in Georgia, which ended up in creation and adoption of a youth policy document in 2014 by the Georgian government. The third person, Nino Dzotsen, educator and trainer is currently living in the US and coordinating the development for Output 2.