Within democracies, the people exercise political control.

Citizens become involved in

their government through meeting with political officials to express their concerns and desires,
petitioning and demonstrating peacefully. They vote for candidates who make realistic promises
to improve their lives and actually fulfill those promises when they get elected. Media groups are
free to write as they please about government activities including corruption and the mishandling
of public resources. In addition, the court system and police enforce the rule of law.

To make government officials responsive to citizens' needs, the people of the country
must get involved in their governing process. Without the active involvement of citizens in
political life, the power of government officials can go unchecked and citizens can suffer from
unrepresentative political decisions. But citizen involvement in government doesn't happen over
night. It takes time for people to realize that they not only have a role to play in their government
but within a democracy, they are encouraged to get involved in their political process.

Without knowing how the government works, it is difficult to get involved in the political
process. We need skills and the confidence to voice our concerns to hold public officials
accountable. We must learn our rights and responsibilities and acquire the necessary skills to
make informed choices.

With that in mind, this paper will try to explore why civic education is understood from a
multifaceted dimension.

To understand the role civic education plays in democracy, we must first understand what
democracy is. In its ideal form, democracy is a form of government, which ensures that:

 All people are treated equally

 People with different political views are accepted and allowed to participate in
government
 Elected and appointed officials are responsive to citizens' needs (Citizens are people
within a state who have full rights either by birth or by gaining these rights)
 People are aware of what their government is doing and how it is making decisions
 Elections are held regularly, freely and fairly
 Losers in elections accept the election results

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  Citizens are allowed to own property and businesses
 Elected and appointed officials and other groups of people do not abuse their power
 Certain rights and freedoms are guaranteed for all people in the country
 Every human being's right to life and dignity is respected
 More than one political party is allowed to participate in government
 Everyone must obey the law and be held accountable if they violate it

Therefore, According to Margaret (1998); “Civic Education is an important component of

education that cultivates citizens to participate in the public life of a democracy, to use their
rights and to discharge their responsibilities with the necessary knowledge and skills.”
Barber (2003) also defines civic education as; “Any formative attempt to teach the
knowledge, skills, or dispositions required for citizenship.”
Others, such as Jennifer Rietbergen-McCracken (N.D) say that:
Civic education (also known as citizen education or democracy education) can be broadly defined
as the provision of information and learning experiences to equip and empower citizens to
participate in democratic processes. The education can take very different forms, including
classroom-based learning, informal training, experiential learning, and mass media campaigns.
Civic education can be targeted at children or adults, in developed or developing countries, and at
the local, national or international level. As such, civic education is an approach that employs a
range of different methods, and is often used in combination with other participatory governance
tools.
Civic education has some many facets or aspects or is a many sided subject because it can
be interpreted in so many ways depending on the orientation of the educators, time, place and
dictates of the political regime in the country.
Let’s take Zambia for example; Zambia is an emerging democracy and as such its civic
education will currently focus on many aspects. These may include the following; Governance,
constitution, Human Rights, Environment, Peace, conflict and conflict management, culture,
Development, Gender, Legal education, civil society, Global issues, Civil – military issues,
Regional and international protocols, and Democratisation.
On the other hand countries Nepal will focus on issues that are quite different from
Zambia’s. Nepal is Kingdom but a democracy at the same time and its main focus is citizenship.
The overall goal of civic education is to promote civic engagement and support
democratic and participatory governance. The idea behind civic education is to promote the

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demand for good governance (i.e. an informed and engaged public), as a necessary complement
to efforts to improve the practice of good governance. Civic education has been used to address a
wide variety of political and governance issues (e.g. corruption, civic apathy or post-conflict
reconciliation) as well as important social issues (e.g. domestic violence, drug abuse, and
HIV/AIDS).

Civic education is concerned with three different elements: civic knowledge, civic skills and
civic disposition. Civic knowledge refers to citizens’ understanding of the workings of the
political system and of their own political and civic rights and responsibilities (e.g. the rights to
freedom of expression and to vote and run for public office, and the responsibilities to respect the
rule of law and the rights and interests of others). Civic skills refer to citizens’ ability to analyze,
evaluate, take and defend positions on public issues, and to use their knowledge to participate in
civic and political processes (e.g. to monitor government performance, or mobilize other citizens
around particular issues). Civic dispositions are defined as the citizen traits necessary for a
democracy (e.g. tolerance, public spiritedness, civility, critical mindedness and willingness to
listen, negotiate, and compromise).

Case studies (Obtained from a publication titled “civic education” by J ennifer Rietbergen-
McCracken)

Peace-building and citizenship education in Angola

In 2003, Development Workshop, an international NGO, launched a civic education programme

in Angola with its local civil society partners, to encourage dialogue and tolerance among war-
affected communities. The programme followed on from extensive peace-building efforts by the
same civil society groups and focused on preparing the population for the 2008 elections. The
programme consisted of the following elements: electoral training, education, adult literacy,
conflict resolution and organized participative planning at the local community level.
Community theatre, cartoons and a community newspaper were also used to bring across the
messages, such as the right to vote and the need to live and work together peacefully. The
programme was built around teams of provincial activists, trained in civic education, conflict
management, community mobilization and principles of democracy. The teams, which

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comprised representatives of the Ministry of Education, local NGOs and other civil society
partners, took special efforts to ease the reintegration of ex-combatants into communities.
Conflicts were common and often centered on grievances over resources. For example, one poor
community which was experiencing high levels of violence and criminality included many
displaced people, mostly unemployed and living in tents without access to water or sanitation. A
seminar was organized for the community members, to discuss how to move from violence and
revenge to tolerance and reconciliation. As part of the solution, DW’s water and sanitation
programme became involved, providing basic services which helped to ease the tension over
resource.

Promoting political participation among Afro-Ecuadorians

In 2005, IFES, an international democracy-building organization, launched a project to

strengthen Afro-descendant community groups and enable Afro-Ecuadorians to participate in the
political life of the country. IFES partnered with local Afro-Ecuadorian CSOs and conducted the
following set of activities:

 Leadership training for Afro-Ecuadorians: the project established a political leadership

school, which provided training in project management, ethno-education and political
participation;
 Dialogue with political leaders: the project encouraged Ecuador’s political parties to run
Afro-descendant candidates and to participate in debates that examine Afro-descendant
issues;
 Increased visibility for Afro-Ecuadorians: the project showcased Afro-Ecuadorian
history, culture and national contributions on a weekly radio program, in publications and
in special events.

The project also trained some 60 Afro-descendants to monitor election procedures in five
provinces during the 2006 presidential and legislative polls. These trainees took part in the first
such election monitoring in their communities, to measure voter turnout among Afro-
Ecuadorians and determine the specific problems they face at the polls. The observers studied
how Afro-Ecuadorian voters acted in polling canters and how they were treated overall.

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A political leadership training programme in Latin America

The National Democratic Institute, a US-based NGO, has been operating a civic education
programme in Latin America since 1995 to help make political parties more responsive and
representative. NDI started by looking at the common characteristics of successful parties around
the world and identified three elements to their success:

(i) internal democracy in selecting candidates, leaders and a policy platform;

(ii) ongoing outreach and recruitment of all sectors of society including traditionally
underrepresented populations like women, youth and minority groups; and
(iii) transparency and openness in party activities and financing.

In 1999, NDI launched its Political Leadership Programme, which has brought together young
leaders from across the region, from 56 major political parties and movements across the
ideological spectrum. These leaders are immersed in an intensive academy that focuses on skills-
building activities aimed at addressing the three elements of success mentioned above. In
addition, each participant has to design and implement a party-strengthening project with the
support of a high-level party mentor. These projects have included: increasing indigenous
participation in Guatemala; reforming party statutes and internal democracy in Colombia and
Venezuela; promoting youth and women participation in Mexico and building communication
and outreach capacity of local party branches in Bolivia, Colombia and Paraguay. After the
participants return to their countries, NDI provides advice and support by periodically bringing
in political practitioners who can offer advice from their experiences elsewhere in the region.

In conclusion, the definitions of civic education have shown that it is a term with different sides
and the case studies have also provide the evidence to show why it is understood from a
multifaceted dimension.

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 REFERENCES

Margaret S.B. (1998). The role of civic education: A Forthcoming Education Policy Task Force
position paper from the communitarian Network, Washington, DC: Center
for civic education

Civic education. Civic education in Nepal

www.ndi.org/content/leadearship_ program

www.ifes.org/ecuado.html#project_52

www.dewangola.org/dwWEB/english/programmes/peacebuilding_&_citizenship.html.