Inter-American Program on Education for Democratic Values and Practices Office of Education and Culture Department of Human Development, Education and Culture Educating to Strengthen a Culture of Democracy in the Americas

Why was the Program created? The Program was created to develop and strengthen a democratic culture in the Americas through education. It was adopted by Ministers of Education in the framework of the IV Inter-American Ministerial Meeting of Education (Trinidad and Tobago, 2005) and reflects the commitment of OAS Member States to the Inter-American Democratic Charter, in particular articles 26 and 27.

Specific Objectives The Program contributes to building and strengthening the capacities of public and private institutions and civil society organizations of the OAS member states to develop policies, programs and initiatives in the field of citizenship education. The achievement of this objective is possible by promoting an informed policy dialogue, the exchange of experiences, the creation of knowledge in the field, and different types of cooperation among a diverse range of institutions from member states.

Structure of the Program Our activities are framed under three mutually reinforcing components: Professional Development and Educational Resources; Cooperation and Information Exchange; Research and Analysis. The Program has an Advisory Board composed by 40 renowned experts on citizenship education from all over the hemisphere.

Professional Development and Educational Resources All three courses were evaluated jointly with the Educational Portal of the Americas (EPA) and a strategy has been implemented since February 2011 to transfer them to the EPA´s Virtual Platform. -Hemispheric Course on Evaluation of Policies and Programs in Education for Democratic Citizenship. -Education for Democratic Citizenship in the Caribbean: An Online Course for Educators -Hemispheric Course for Teachers: The Inter-American Democratic Charter and the Teaching of Democratic Values and Practices. Participants: 1000 educators were trained, including policy makers, classroom teachers, teacher educators, school authorities, civil society leaders, etc. Future online courses: a) working collaboratively with the IADB and the Educational Portal of the Americas to jointly deliver an online course targeted at Spanish-speaking teachers, and focused on preventing corrupt behaviors among secondary school students; b) exploring opportuniies to develop an online course to provide classroom teachers with content and teaching strategies to help them incorporate democratic principles and values into their classrooms through the use of the arts and communications media Working colaboratively with ITEN: 6 Webinars on Peace Education. Creation of a virtual group on gender and citizenship education. National Seminar on Education For Democratic Values and Practice. To mark the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Panama and the Office of Education and Culture of the OAS organized this event, held in Panama City, on September, Virtual library for democratic classrooms, to be launched in November 2012.

Cooperation and Information Exchange Two rounds of Technical Assistance Missions in citizenship education were implemented ( and ). To date almost 2,000 people had a direct and/or indirect participation in both rounds. A total of 193 institutions submitted their cooperation proposals for both rounds. 19 technical assistance missions were selected to provide funding for logistic costs. These missions were carried out by 57 institutions: 30 governmental, 18 non – governmental, 18 CSOs, 7 universities and 2 private non-profit institutions. Topics: Electoral Education, The Use of the Arts and Communications media for Promoting Youth Participation, Student Governments, Youth leadership, Peace Education, Conflict Resolution, School Mediation, Early Childhood Education, The Right to Education for Indigenous People, Women and Migrants.

Future editions will be focused on: Evaluation of Policies and Programs in Education for Democratic Citizenship, Human Rights Education, Service Learning and The Role of Civil Society Organizations in promoting education for democratic citizenship. Research and Analysis The Inter-American Journal on Education for Democracy has published 7 editions. Production and publication of online bulletins and articles within the Policy Brief Series: Education and Democracy, in partnership with prestigious institutions working in the field and related topics.

Citizenship Education: An interinstitutional and plural building process Inside the OAS Area of Culture and ITEN, Office of Education and Culture. Participation in the Armando Paz Project, in collaboration with the Secretary of Multidimensional Security and the Trust for the Americas. Educational Portal of the Americas. OAS Youth Focal Point. Inter-American Comission of Women Department of International Affairs Department for Electoral Cooperation and Observation Department of Sustainable Development Outside the OAS Council of Europe: International Contact Group on Citizenship and Human Rights Education. Council for a Community of Democracies. Inter-American Development Bank Ministry of Education of Peru. Secretary of Education, Government of the State of Hidalgo, Mexico. Autonomous University of Mexico Inter-American Institute of Human Rights. IIDAC (ONG, Brazil) Global Issues Resource Center (ONG, USA) Ministry of Education of Afghanistan.

Future Actions Explore more effective ways to increase the visibility of the Programs´ activities and results. Redefine and promote a hemispheric discussion about future lines of action of the Program. Promote policy dialogue among OAS member states to establish an agenda of priority topics in citizenhip education. Continue pursuing and implementing technical assistance missions among countries on priority topics in citizenship education. Build and manage a matrix of experencies of cooperation on determined topics. Increase the reach and scope of existent courses and expand the offering of online courses to strengthen the capacities of teachers, teacher educators, pubic officials, leaders of civil society, among other educators that work in the formal and non formal framework of citizenship education. Strengthen the capacities of OAS member states to implement evaluation processes of policies and programs in citizenship education.

Questions for Dialogue How can the Programs activities, experiences and results be better known? Which would be the most adequate mechanisms to stimulate discussions on the Programs future guidelines, in terms of objectives and actions that the Program should follow in the medium and long term? What would be the most adequate spaces and mechanisms to promote political dialogue among member states to establish an agenda that includes priority topics on citizenship education, and based on these topics, promote different cooperation modalities? How can we promote greater interinstitutional cooperation among different types of institutions of member states and identify financing mechanisms that permit the continuance of the proesses already developed? What activities could be created to manage and maintain a matrix of virtual cooperation? How can we achieve a greater reach and scope of online courses and new institutional support to expand and institutionalize them in programs of professional development? On what priority topics should the next online courses be based on? How can the Program contribute to strenghten the capacities of member states to implement evaluation processes of policies and programs on citizenship education?