Forming Responsible Citizens – Promoting citizenship education to prevent school violence, particularly against girls and women

Project snapshot

Launched in 2015, the project “Forming Responsible Citizens”, promoted by the Spanish organisation Ideaborn aims to contribute to strengthening the civic values of young people and promoting the role of schools and civic education as main vehicle for preventing violence and transmitting values of tolerance and equality between women and men.
The project is currently implemented in Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia with the financial support of governments of Norway and Monaco.

The project is structured in three components:

• National Diagnosis: Analysis of existing civic education curricula and textbooks in secondary-middle school with a culture of non-violence and gender perspective.
• The development of didactic material complementary to the existing curricula: new didactic materials for teachers of secondary school are developed to complement existing country curricula in coordination with the national ministries of education and in line with country strategic priorities on civic education and responsible citizenship.
• Teachers’ training and implementation in schools: Teachers from 12 pilot schools are trained in the use of the new didactic materials, with a project-oriented and participatory approach. The project support broad children participation through the creation of Citizenship Education Clubs in the pilot schools.Education clubs are small school-based units formed of teachers and students, which are nevertheless open to the parents and other members of civil society. These clubs implement the theoretical guidelines and the practical activities outlined in the “Forming Responsible Citizens” project and give students the opportunity to acquire the abilities of dialogue and conflict solving. Values such as gender equality and cultural and religious tolerance are transmitted through practical exercises together with the education community within and outside the school.

About the promoter and partner institutions

The project is promoted by Ideaborn, an organisation based in Spain, in cooperation with local non-governmental organisations from Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia. It is implemented in partnership with national education authorities from the participating countries.

The selected local partners have all established successful cooperation with national educational authorities in their respective countries by conducting joint projects in the field of education. These local partners are:

- The Moroccan Center for Civic Education (MCCE)

- Social Development and Empowerment Center (Tunisia)

- Jordanian Centre for Civic Education (JCCE),

- Adyan Foundation of Lebanon

- Lebanese National Commission for UNESCO.

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