I am a school teacher and I have attended a range of different trainings and workshops (as national so international ones) and every single training has been beneficial to my professional development. For example, I have been a TEA program participants and participants of several other exchange programs . I have studied at Wimbledon School of English in the UK and became a certified Teacher Trainer. I am involved in various activities outside the classroom among which are the American Corner projects and NGO projects, where I design, organise and implement different projects for youth development. I am a member of  English Teachers' Association of Georgia (ETAG) where I also conduct workshops for teachers.

 I believe that I have the experience, the potential, the desire and ability to fit the proposed program. I can contribute my energy, positiveness, hard work, enthusiasm, and creativity to the group organising, implementing and participating in the Forum.

Republic of Georgia, where I am from, is a very multinational country. The region- Samtskhe-Javakheti- where I live is situated far from the central part of the country and the capital city of Tbilisi. In this region, approximately half of the population belongs to a deifferent ethnic group, and the influence of deifferent cultures is obvious across the entire region. People, both Georgian and non-Georgian, are very conservative and keep the old traditions and customs. From the perspective of maintaining culture, this has been good, but from old stereotypes about the role of women in their families and the community, it can be suppressive. For example, women were not allowed to eat at the same table with men or look into the eyes of men. Many old traditions and customs are here today and some are still in our community. Some of these are related to giving a good education to our daughters. Some still think that girls should get married after graduating from school, soon give birth to the children, keep the house clean, and cook. Consequently, many of the families do not care about their daughters' education, think it is a waste of money and effort. There are many young girls who think differently, but cannot say this aloud, especially those ones who live in the smaller villages.
Today, I have the opportunity to meet many motivated young ladies, in the villages, through the scales of the Mobile American Corner project.  Also as a head of the local NGO, I and my colleagues meet students, provide them them free educational materials and English lessons with an aspect of civic education included for them. I vividly see the desire and aspirations of the young girls to learn more and to become more educated in order to have better lives and a better future.

I have a great wish to take part in the Forum as I feel that becoming the participant of such a serious and challenging program will give me more experience and expertise to do my best in this challenging field.

This program will give me chances to broaden my views, expand my knowledge, meet new people,  develop new ideas to bring to my community, exchange my cultural background, and understand both the similarities and differences in the lifestyles of people from different cultures. Additionally, I want to develop my abilities in the way of delivering English language classes with a civic education component. Lastly, I am interested in learning how to better the lives of young ladies in my country through education.