PHDS

Trainings

A master class training course for representatives of mass media on reporting on and highlighting issues of illegal migration

27 November – 1 December, 2009

A master class for 18 journalists and on Issue of Irregular Migration was held in Hotel Bazaleti Lake, Georgia. For conduction of the courses were invited 4 experts from Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia. Organized for participants from leading national and regional mass media the training was aimed to educate the participants on such issues as journalism and advocacy; how to shoot films on migration issues; communication with migrants and their psycho-social status of labor migrants. International expert – Mrs. Lidia Grafova – a leading Russian journalist, editor of “Russian Migration” magazine ( www.migrant.ru ), was invited to conduct the training. Upon completion of her theoretical sessions she gave an assignment to the participants to find a migrant in their community returned from Russia and to conduct an interview with him. The aim of the interview was to reveal why he had left to Russia, what was his goal, did he interact with state authorities, how he characterized his relations with the employer, information on his family, education, future plans, etc. The analysis of the interviews and the lessons learned was conducted together with the participants. The second day of the seminar was devoted to the specifics of films on migrants, conducted by Mr. Gegham Vardanyan expert-journalist from Armenia and the third day aimed to educate on communication/psycho-social condition of migrants (in country of origin and destination), was conducted by psychologists expert Mr. Azad Isazade from Azerbaijan and Mr. Levan Shatberashvili from Georgia.

Training for youth on prevention of illegal migration and trafficking in HB

The current EU-funded BSM program implemented by PHDS has a considerable informational component, for the implementation of which PHDS decided to target youth from Georgia, as well as other neighboring countries.

In August 2010 PHDS held brand new interactive trainings for 26 youth from 3 countries of South Caucasus. The new simulation training technique introduced original elements of interactive knowledge delivery such as “encounter game puzzles”. The participants of the training were given so called “encounter puzzles” to think over various issues in the area of illegal migration and human trafficking and solved the puzzles themselves. Moreover, the participants of the training had outdoor sessions, during which they were assigned to find and release victims of human trafficking, prosecute smugglers trying to organize illegal border crossing. The feedback of the participants was very enthusiastic and this encouraged PHDS to continue working with the youth in their own countries, as well as fundraise for other similar training initiatives.

Interactive and most dynamic nature of the training encouraged the participants to design their own informational campaign proposals, as well as plan their implementation strategy in the own countries. PHDS organized a meeting to discuss the best proposals and is going to provide technical support to those selected proposals.

Trainings for children from regions, suffered from Russian-Georgian war, on leadership, conflict resolution, effective communication and human trafficking in Chakvi

In November 2009 PHDS conducted a series trainings for youth from Karaleti in Chakvi. The trainings, funded by UNICEF, were conducted in two phases: the first phase was devoted to personal development trainings, such as leadership, effective communication, conflict resolution; and the other phase of the course was devoted to sessions on human trafficking, its danger and consequences. Children from regions, suffered from war are specific beneficiaries for PHDS because of their extreme vulnerability. The trainings did not only aim to provide the participants specific knowledge on human trafficking crime, but also empower them to struggle with the memories and psychological consequences of Russian-Georgian war. These sessions were very useful for team building and, definitely, will result in improved communication skills for the youth.

The trainers had also evening psychotherapy group sessions with youth to reveal the problems of their concern and help them out.