Paris-Tokyo-Gori is an NGO in Gori, Georgia that provides judo classes and competitions to vulnerable children in Gori. The project is unique in that the NGO's leaders have formed a solid relationship with various business people to fund much of its work. It is a great example of non-government, private sector collaboration. The director of the project – Gia Tenadze, is a prize winner of the Seoul Olympic Games, world champion amongst students, Champion of Europe, prize winner of many international tournaments.

Q: The name of your project: Paris-Tokyo-Gori – Why this name?

A: In 1970-80 Georgian Judo School and particularly Gori was one of the strongest in the world and its only competitors were the schools of Paris and Tokyo. This is the time when Chochishvili, Khubuluri, Khabareli, Kurtanidze, and others were champions. Unfortunately, this tradition is lost today, so our aim is to restore and maintain these traditions and teach children healthy lifestyle. Mercy Corps provided funding for us to buy Tatami. Two business companies also participated in the project implementation, that also provided financial support for the school. We will continue working with them, since cooperation of the business and social sectors is very important.

Q: How many children are in your club?

One of the priorities in the selection process is their vulnerability and we hope that our activities with keep lots of children out of the streets.

A: Today there are 120 children that are untied in 3 groups. 70% live in the city and the rest come from the villages. Some children came from other sports schools. One of the priorities in the selection process is their vulnerability and we hope that our activities with keep lots of children out of the streets. We have those minimal conditions – hot water, heating, new tatami that provide proper preparation of the children. For the future we are planning to set up our own heating system that will keep the heating and hot water in case of the electricity problems. We also want to provide services that are characteristic for this type of sports hall – sauna, workout rooms, massage. Children will participate in different tournaments and joint training that is a very important component for their development as sportsmen.

Q: A little while ago there was a joint Georgian-French training in your hall…

A: After finishing an international tournament in Tbilisi, the French team stayed in Georgia for several days and we arranged joint training in our hall. Their coach, Mark Alexander, is my old competitor and friend. We have met four times in the tournaments and he beat me twice on the Olympics and Tbilisi tournament and I have beaten him twice as well – in Paris on European Championship and in Belgrade on World Championship. After this training we talked about future plans and hope that it will be possible to hold similar and even broader activities, in case of proper funding of course. One statistic data: last year budget of the French national team was 12 million FF and Georgian was only 50 thousand lari. We are also negotiating to have joint training with Tskhinvali judo team, that is very important to us.

Reprinted with permission from Mercy Corps Georgia.

To read another Global Envision interview about strengthening communities see Sustainable Empowerment.