Winners of CENN’s Green Scholarship

Last year was an important year for youth involvement in the fight for better environmental protection, seeing youth worldwide pushing for improved practises, laws and awareness-raising of the need to take care of our planet. In Georgia, CENN is one of the leading organizations focused on youth environmental engagement: for more than 10 years, its Green Camps have enabled more than 5000 young people across Georgia to learn more about environmental and sustainable development, to meet interesting people and to return to their communities with innovative ideas.

Since 2015, CENN has run the Niko Ketskhoveli Award, with financial contribution from the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC) within the framework of the project ‘Sustainable Forest Management for Climate Resilient Rural Development in Georgia,’ and each year the contest unites about 500 schools throughout Georgia around sustainable development goals.

This year, CENN launched a new competition, “CENN Green Scholarships,” for young leaders aged 10-26 that aims to motivate these future leaders with scholarships that will further encourage them to continue to advocate more actively in their communities and change the environment for the better. Each scholarship is worth GEL 1,000 per nomination.

The CENN Green Scholarships for 2020 were awarded in the four nominations below. GEORGIA TODAY spoke to each of this year’s lucky winners.

CENN Green Scholarship for Contribution to Climate Change Awareness and Reducing Environmental Impact at the Local Level, winner: Natia Lagurashvili

Natia is a third-year student at Ilia State University. Along with her studies, within the partnership of CENN and BfdW’s south-north voluntary exchange program, she is working on youth empowerment in Berlin for a year.

Natia was a school student when she participated in the Niko Ketskhoveli School Award, and she has implemented many significant activities in order to help preserve Krtsanisi Park. Krtsanisi Park is located on the Tbilisi-Rustavi highway and is not only an important recreational zone for the communities of Tbilisi and Rustavi, but is also essential to sustain the local climate. Together with her group, she raised awareness of the importance of the park through social media and various informational meetings. At Natia’s initiative, a green festival was held twice in Krtsanisi Park, with up to a thousand people in attendance, after which the Agency of Wildlife took responsibility for its restoration and management.

“I think everyone can contribute to positive changes in the environment locally, but, unfortunately, many people have yet to realize the dramatic results climate change can have on the Earth. If you don’t see a problem, you don’t think about a solution. Therefore, the first step to deal with climate change is to raise awareness in your immediate surroundings. It was the same story in my case. I believe that change starts with ourselves and even small actions can contribute to a more sustainable environment,” said Natia.

CENN Green Scholarship for Contribution to Sustainable Forest Management, Promoting Ecotourism & Biodiversity Protection, winners: Luka Tkemaladze and Giorgi Kavteladze

Due to the high competition two winners were announced for this nomination.

Giorgi is an active participant of the Niko Ketskhoveli School Award. His environmental activities started in 2017, when he established an eco-club with several students from his school and became a successful participant in the competition.

Giorgi, together with the eco-clubs, as a result of independent monitoring, managed to close 11 illegal landfills located in recreational zones, and was able to clean up to 2 tons of waste.

Giorgi, one of the founders and the program coordinator of ‘Friday for Future Georgia,’ opened a square in the yard of Tbilisi Public School No. 176 with a grant from the non-governmental organization ‘Walk,’ after which he became the coordinator of the volunteer initiative team, Green Tbilisi. As part of the project, Giorgi was able to open another square on Dadiani Street.

He has conducted and organized more than 30 training-seminars for his peers and adults on important environmental issues, such as sustainable forest management, the importance of biodiversity conservation, sustainable development goals, and waste management.

"Everyone recognizes the importance of environmental protection today, yet there are very few people who work tirelessly to improve and protect the environment,” he told us. “I think volunteer work is especially appreciated when you put all your efforts unselfishly into the environment, when the issue of the existence of each plant is important to you and you don’t expect anything in return.”

Studying and observing nature and its wildlife has always been an area of interest for Luka. He started painting animals as a child and over time it became his favorite activity. Luka's passion for nature was so great, he began volunteering at the zoo at the age of 12.

Luka is currently a third-year student at Ilia State University majoring in Biology, and is actively involved in university research and expeditions. Based on his experience, Luka was actively involved in the CENN-ADC project ‘Sustainable Forest Management for Climate Resilient Rural Development in Georgia.’ As a school student, Luka was an active, successful participant in the Niko Ketskhoveli School Award and Green Camps, and after graduation he himself became an invited trainer on biodiversity issues.

Luka’s list of conservation activities is quite extensive: participation in a seasonal gazelle reintroduction program, Zoological Park and WWF- joint field monitoring in 2019, working in the Tbilisi Zoo Education Department, as well as a few months working in an endangered species conservation project. He is also a founder of the brand “KATAMURA" which creates statues of wildlife species. Luka also created illustrations for National Geographic Georgia on the Javakheti migratory birds. In 2020, together with friends, he founded his own organization, the main goal of which is to conserve nature and promote non-formal environmental education.

“My many years of experience volunteering with animals and being in the company of many interesting professionals has given me the opportunity to participate in research and numerous impressive expeditions, allowing me to more broadly understand the importance of biodiversity," Luka says.

CENN Green Scholarship for Contribution to High Social Responsibility in Green Entrepreneurship and / or Business, winner: Mariam Narsavidze

Mariam Narsavidze is a 12th grade student at Pari Public School in Mestia Municipality. She has conducted different environmental activities in her community over the past several years and is a leader of the eco club “Green Space”.

In 2017, Mariam started to learn handicrafts at the Mzeko social enterprise, and was employed there afterwards, later specializing in Teka and Gobelin. In order to share her knowledge, Mariam became a volunteer teacher and created a handicraft course for junior schoolmates where she taught them sewing, embroidery and how to make various accessories. Alongside her classes, she began manufacturing multi-use, ecologically clean cloth bags and painting on them for a school social enterprise which was created through the donation of Lado Abkhazava. Mariam exhibits and sells her bags at different events and she uses the collected money to create new bags and implement different environmental activities.

“The Green Scholarship is a great opportunity for me to implement future activities as it enables me to organize the festival ‘Let’s Take Care of the Environment through Social Entrepreneurship’ and to contribute to the development of my community,” she said.

CENN Green Scholarship for Contribution to Sustainable Waste Management, Circular Economics, & Consumer Behavior Change, winner: Tornike Shavishvili

17 year-old Tornike Shavishvili is a 12th grade student at Kobuleti’s No.6 Public School. He has been interested in environmental projects for the past three years and is actively involved in advocating changes for a better environment at the local level.

Tornike first got involved with CENN in 2018, and apart from participating in camps and various contests, he won a grant from the USAID WMTR II program to promote the concept of sustainable municipal waste. Within the project, he managed to clean up approximately 2500 square meters of the Black Sea coastline, and ensured that the collected waste was separated and delivered to waste aggregating companies to be recycled. He also conducted trainings in his local community for up to 200 students from 5 schools in Kobuleti Municipality, and installed a compost box at Bobokvati Public School.

“I think the most important thing is to act individually to save the Earth. That’s why I got involved in environmental projects and have become an active environmentalist contributing to a sustainable and healthy environment,” he told us. “I’m happy that my activities have raised environmental awareness in my municipality and school, thanks to the support of CENN and USAID.”

CENN’s Green Scholarships will doubtless have a positive impact on these young people’s motivation in general. Winning a green scholarship not only allows them to implement their projects and ideas, but also encourages them to continue their activities in the field of environment protection.

CENN continues to create new possibilities for future leaders and, at the same time, expresses gratitude for their hard work. In fact, it is quite likely that the Green Scholarships will become an annual tradition which will contribute to increasing the involvement of Georgian youth in the global fight against environmental issues.

By Katie Ruth Davies