“From School to Community”, a EuropeAid project co-financed by the European Union and the Republic of Turkey, works with students and teachers from middle schools in the Ankara area (Turkey) to enable and encourage them to make a difference in their communities, thanks to democratic citizenship and human rights education.
The first semester of the project lifecycle is just about to come to an end. What has happened since the kick-off meeting?
The organisations involved in the action (EURICON as the coordinator, METU as the in loco partner, and CESIE as expert in the project topic) have recently finalised a review of the existing literature on democratic citizenship education and human rights education (EDC/HRE). This examines the legislative background, theory and practices of EDC/HRE not only in the Republic of Turkey, but also in Italy, in the United Kingdom, and across the European Union. The findings of the literature review showed that a common trend is that practice usually lags behind new pieces of legislation, and more could be done starting at the level of the civil society. It was indeed a confirmation that a more intensive bottom-up approach could actually bring about more participation from the side of the citizens, including the youngest.
The conclusion of the first semester of activities will be marked by the completion of another fundamental step in the project: the results of the actual needs of a sample of teachers and students in Ankara, who were surveyed and interviewed directly in schools by the Turkish partner, will define the ground for the development of a set of practical training materials for middle-school teachers by CESIE, in collaboration with the other partner organisations/institutions.
The second part of the project activities will encompass the testing of the training materials with teachers and the design of participatory actions by students for the communities they belong to.
Follow the project on cesie.org , or on the project website. Do not hesitate to contact youth@cesie.org.
