Gayane Chakharyan

Age: 27
Lives in: Sukhumi, Abkhazia

Active in:  in the International Humanitarian NGO “Action
against Hunger”. We work at a community level with the
vulnerable population affected by the Georgian-Abkhaz
conflict to improve the living standards of the population.

I fight for: for real democracy; I would like people to
understand that they have actual power to define their
fates by themselves. I often ask myself what the cause
of poverty is and understand that poverty is firstof all
a lack of knowledge in ones own rights, possibilities,
privileges. In democratic societies when people elect
he representatives of authority they should understand that the authority has first of all to serve them and their interests. I consider this from of democracy the real one.

Activism recommendations: I believe democracy is not just a political
regime but it is mostly a certain level of self-consciousness of each
person and the society as a whole. In this regard, I am totally convinced that “conscious” society is made up of the people who are able to analyze the situation and be actively involved in a decision making process. Today we, humanity, face a lot of problems which are difficult to resolve since the world is too complicated and is rapidly changing”. But exactly today in the 21st century we should not be passive as we are those who are able to change the shape of the Globe.