This project seeks to educate committed young people and to support them in creating structures for other young people, and thus to make a concrete contribution to improving their living conditions. The first geographical focus is on the Caucasus.

Some 35 million young people currently live in the Russian Federation. They have been disproportionately affected by rapid social change since the fall of the Soviet Union, and as a result, suffer from a widespread loss of orientation and future opportunities. The situation is especially critical in the northern Caucasus region, where young people are affected by particularly high unemployment rates (up to 80%), a loss of clear values and norms, and a high everyday incidence of violence.

Project objectives

• Improving living conditions and future opportunities in the Caucasus.
• Capacity-building and empowerment of selected youth leaders in the Caucasus.

Project schedule and activities

SAD has been carrying out this youth research and promotion project with its long-term partner, the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences (MSSES), since 2005.
The practice-oriented part of this project focuses on further training and the exchange of ideas as well as on youth promotion.

Two centres that advise and support youth workers and leaders from the Caucasus have been set up in Moscow and Vladikavkaz. Regular seminars focus on organisation, fund-raising, decision-making, volunteer work, book-keeping and especially on project work.
In parallel, youth seminars are organised in Switzerland to improve networking among youth leaders and organisations, and to give participants an idea of recreational structures in Switzerland.

A project fund was opened to support youth projects in the Caucasus and to promote self-initiative by young people. In putting their project ideas into practice, youth leaders apply their theoretical knowledge and create structures by young people for young people.

Target Group(s)

Russian youth (15 - 29 years) 

Region/Country

Partners

Arthur Waser Foundation
MSSES