Civic Education: Practitioners’ Conference

Call For Papers:

Civic Education: Practitioners’ Conference:

“Towards a national understanding of civic education”

The Democracy Development Program (DDP), is planning to host a conference for Civic Education institutions and practitioners in South Africa in late 2020 and invites interested candidates to submit a paper to be presented at this conference.

This conference is to explore the possibility of developing a common national understanding of civic education, and will also be a space to share and reflect on the existing civic education delivery methods and identify the synergy among them. The conference will further cultivate a space for the practitioners to discuss and think about how to measure the impact of civic education; and explore a way towards the consolidation of the evolving regional community of practice in civic education as a hub of knowledge exchange and continuous support.

Papers will be accepted in responding to one or more of the following themes:

• The movement towards the realisation of human rights in South Africa: This theme is intended to undertake a look-back at the various pieces of the liberation movement, and civil society activism that enabled the move away from the oppressive and abusive Apartheid state by referencing and engaging with the intention, strategy and successes of the work undertaken at that time. The idea is to create a timeline of where we’ve come from, and where we are as it relates to civic education

• Laying down the law: What instruments, institutions and legislation exist to enable a conducive environment towards the proliferation of civic education initiatives? What tools track whether the creation of statutes and institutions is sufficiently representative and engaging of the perspectives in our country?

• Approaches and methodology: In contemporary South Africa, what are the different modes through which civic education is conducted? Is there the possibility of creating a benchmark? How do these different approaches support one another? Is there a platform where they are documented for learning and sharing?.

• Sustainability and replication: What opportunities are there for this type of work- how do you create mechanisms for funding and are there any self-sustaining methods in the interest of upscaling impact?

• Innovation: What impact has COVID-19 had on civic education initiatives? What are the tools that can be engaged to ensure that the work is able to continue, even in the absence of in-person facilitated processes? What are the debates still to be had about digitalisation of such processes – to what extent do these further entrench inequality?

The conference targets representatives from various civic education institutions, academics and researchers, including donor community, local government practitioners, traditional leaders, civil society, government officials, public administration students, legal fraternity as well as representatives from various political parties, the private sector and labour unions.

Submission Procedure:

Interested applicants wishing to present their original research should submit extended abstracts(1000 – 1500 words) by Tuesday, 15 May 2020, 12 Noon (South African time).

All extended abstracts/queries should be submitted electronically to Mr Sphamandla Mhlongo on brianb@ddp.org.za

Important Dates: