“Citizens for Global Education, Education for Global Citizenship” – The Conference Through the Lens of a Macedonian Participant

From 24th to 25th of June 2014, CONCORD Europe and DEEEP, in partnership with Oxfam Interational, the North-South Centre, Beyond2015, UNESCO, Education International, the Global Campaign for Education, Engagement Global, and CIVICUS, organised the “Citizens for Global Education, Education for Global Citizenship” Conference.

The conference took place in Brussels and gathered representatives of civil society and the development sector from all over the world, in order to share experiences, knowledge and practices for the Post-2015 agenda in development and education. The more than 100 participants, including academics, development practitioners, institutions, students and educators have worked together on the “Brussels Proposal – Towards a new direction for Education”.

Ivana Davidovska from Center for Intercultural Dialogue from Macedonia, with the support of TRIALOG had the chance to participate in the conference and be one of the few representatives of the South Eastern Europe. Her experience is briefly presented in this article: 

‘As an Educator I had an extraordinary chance to be part of such a great conference and contribute to the global dialogue about citizenship education. The event outlined the need for a common global approach in education, but at the same time showed the differences of needs and understanding within educational practices in various parts of the world.

I was happy to contribute to these discussions, by raising the attention that education is not just limited to schools and teaching systems, but rather it is a lifelong process of facilitating learning that can take many different forms and ways. Here especially the civil society organisations can often take the lead, as being one of the most active providers of citizenship education so far, especially through processes of youth work and non-formal education. Nevertheless a cross sectorial cooperation and efforts from all stakeholders are needed in order to establish common approaches and new ways to reach inspire and engage learners to find sustainable solutions to global challenges. This are in particularly the bases of the Brussels proposals, a document drafted as an outcome of the Conference.

The event also inspired many reflections of mine, with regards to development work and education, particularly the need for greater involvement of all stakeholders in order to develop quality and rights based approaches in education. There is a space indeed for improvement in this field, and I hope that the whole post 2015 and “Citizens for Global Education“- movement will foster the process to have positive outcomes. Additionally it was great opportunity for making new contacts, networking and sharing with practitioners from the field with many different backgrounds and experiences.

I am happy for this inspiring opportunity, as I am certainly looking forward to be more engaged both in development of citizenship education, as well as building bridges for capacity development in the sector where I am active in. I am looking forward to this learning journey."


Information and photo provided by: Ivana Davidovska, Center for Intercultural Dialogue, Macedonia