ANIDABANI
Meet Gvantsa Sikharulidze, another winner of the Social Innovation Competition and the author of Anidabani application. The application aims to make learning Georgian easier for ethnic Azerbaijani and Armenian citizens of Georgia. Teaching materials will be provided in their native languages during their studies, and illustrations will further simplify the process.
Gvantsa Sikharulidze tells us how she came up with the innovative concept for Anidabani: “supporting education among young people has always been one of my interests, and I have implemented many projects for students and pupils in terms of financial literacy and entrepreneurial education. When Social Innovation Competition was announced, I had several ideas, and I did not know which one to choose for the competition. Since 2019, I have been a student of the MA program of Financial Mathematics (in English) in Germany. When I came to Germany, I knew only several German words, which led to lots of obstacles and difficulties, overcoming which was never an easy task. It was then that I realized how many barriers and problems Georgia’s ethnic minorities had to face with only limited access to basic services. My university is investing considerable financial resources in helping international students overcome language barriers and supporting their timely integration. When I realized how many obstacles students from Georgia’s ethnic minorities come across, I decided to choose this idea of a mobile app for learning Georgian, which would be suited to their needs. Nowadays, mobile apps are one of the most widespread and comfortable means for learning languages. I believe that the implementation of this social initiative will simplify the learning process for ethnically Armenian and Azerbaijani youth and, in the long run, contribute to reducing alienation among ethnic minorities and ensuring their social and cultural integration.”