Public Achievement (PA)
Public Achievement (PA), www.paunite.org
Public Achievement (PA) is the name of a program which in a very practical and natural way makes young people active and helps them to become social entrepreneurs and responsible citizens. In PA people of all ages learn the skills of public life, and discover how, with democracy, ordinary people have the power to do extraordinary things. With the decision to take action and work with others, it is possible to have real, important and lasting impact.
Village Schools Can, 2010
This project served to introduce the PA program to middle schools in the Malopolska Province. The program uses interactive methods to deepen students’ educational experiences, prepare them for active participation in public life and help them become socially responsible.
PA in Georgia, 2009
The goal of this project was to foster local entrepreneurship amongst IDPs from Abkhazia and South Ossetia who find themselves living in other parts of Georgia as a result of the previous and recent conflicts. They are still in shock, having left everything they owned behind and are having to start their lives completely anew in very difficult conditions (limited access to water, lack of sewerage systems, overwhelming unemployment and an uncertain future). It is essential that they learn how to independently begin to tackle their own problems instead of waiting passively for outside help. We worked towards this goal in cooperation with our Georgian partner, IDPWA “Consent” in the following activities:
Fostering Youth and Community Activism in Azerbaijan, Georgia and Ukraine, 2010
This project, begun in 2009, focused on three countries which are in varying stages of transition and crisis. Ukraine continues to struggle with its economic crisis. Georgia is still suffering the effects of the 2008 armed conflict with Russia and political instability at home. The plight of the IDPs remains overwhelming in such a small country. The situation in Azerbaijan remains much the same with no major changes in the severe regime’s policy towards its own citizens (the repression of journalists and activists) and restrictions on NGOs, nor towards the limbo in Nagorna Karabagh. The final phase of the project was devoted to monitoring Public Achievement (PA) activities both in-person (in Ukraine) and on-line. It also included PA training for experienced mentors from Georgia and Azerbaijan.
Read more: Fostering Youth and Community Activism in Azerbaijan, Georgia and Ukraine, 2010
PA in Visegrad Countries, 2008-2009
The goal of the project was to assist in the development of democratic practices at the grassroots level in the Visegrad countries. We strongly feel that Public Achievement (PA) is one of the most effective ways of enabling young people to be active citizens and to take responsibility for solving problems that are of importance to them. As a result of this project PA was implemented in 18 schools or communities in Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Hungary. The project began in April 2008 and lasts until March 2009.
