On May 8-10, 2011, the Moroccan Center for Civic Education (MCCE) hosted their first Civitas Regional Institute Seminar for partners in the Middle East and North Africa region. Participants from Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia, and the West Bank shared best practices and discussed ways to collaborate to strengthen civic education programs within their countries and throughout the region. In addition, three educational leaders from Missouri and Ohio attended the seminar and shared outcomes from their collaboration with MCCE on civic education initiatives. MCCE organized meetings for the participants with regional Ministry of Education officials in El Jadida, Morocco as well as a student Project Citizen portfolio showcase. Regional partners appreciated the opportunity to learn more about MCCE’s work and to make recommendations for how MCCE could best fulfill its role as a Civitas Regional Institute. Partner recommendations for future collaboration included: 1) existing Civitas partners supporting the development of civic education programs in Egypt, Iraq, and Mauritania, 2) expanding existing civic education programs by partnering with non-school based organizations, and 3) linking civic education to basic education objectives in order to target new funding opportunities.


Agenda: First Civitas Regional Institute Seminar

Fundación Presencia hosted its first Civitas Regional Institute workshop for the Latin American and Caribbean region from April 4–5, 2011 in Bogota, Colombia. The workshop focused on a Project Citizen and Human Rights adaptation developed by Fundación Presencia in close cooperation with the Civitas Latin America network. 

 
As a result of the workshop, a student manual and training of trainers guide for pilot testing in the region has been developed. In attendance at the workshop were coordinators representing twelve Latin American and Caribbean countries as well as special guests from the United States. One of these guests, Linda Ricketts, was sponsored by the U.S. Embassy to share her experiences as an education and training professional through a session entitled “Challenges in Human Rights Education at the Secondary Level.” In addition to reviewing and discussing the new material through intensive working group sessions, the workshop served to renew the network’s collective strength and commitment to expanding civic education efforts in the region.   

    

 

Selected as a thematic Civitas Regional Institute (CRI), Co-operation Ireland has hosted two residential human rights trainings and seminars, for partners from across the Civitas International Programs network. Participants from Colombia, India, Kosovo, Lebanon, Peru, Romania, Senegal, West Bank and Gaza, and the United States joined Northern Irish educators in their introduction to Co-Operation Ireland’s Civic-Link program. Civic-Link, an adaptation of Project Citizen, utilizes a human rights approach on issues of identity and community, to encourage a more cohesive, tolerant, and democratic culture between members of diverse social groups in divided societies.

The trainings focused on the delivery of a human rights Civic-Link project in the classroom and explored the principles, values, and methodologies appropriate to divided societies. On both occasions, international participants shared the challenges and opportunities of human rights approaches to democracy education that they face within their own societies and pledged to develop a Civic-Link international consortium, to continue to expand the program internationally.

World Congress Thematic Timeline

Beginning in 2003, the Center began assigning a theme to each World Congress.

2003 World Congress: Tolerance and Diversity: Mexico City, Mexico.
2004 World Congress: How civic education helps democracy work: Budapest, Hungary.
2005 World Congress: Advancing Peace and Stability through Active Citizenship. Amman, Jordan.
2006 World Congress: Civic Education: A Worldwide Movement. Warsaw, Poland.
2007 World Congress: Civic Conscience and Citizen Engagement. Buenos Aires, Argentina. Agenda.
2008 World Congress: Sustaining Civic Education: Achievements and Challenges. Ifrane, Morocco. Agenda.
2009 World Congress: Civic Education: Reconciling Our Past, Building a Democratic Future. Cape Town, South Africa. Agenda.
2010 World Congress: Embracing Diversity and Building Unity through Civic Education. Jakarta, Indonesia.