Democracy Needs Civic Education – a civic education platform for Iraq

Elbarlament is currently developing an innovative knowledge-sharing and knowledge-management digital platform for national and international actors for civic education in Iraq and is implementing capacity-building and networking activities in urban and rural areas in cooperation with international and national actors, in the field of civic education. The project aims to contribute to a democratic, cohesive and peaceful Iraqi society through an increased social and political engagement of civil society, especially youth, at the local, regional and national level.

Civic education is summarising the democratic competencies of citizens to participate in social and political processes. Furthermore it is crucial for consolidating the still-fragile transformation process of Iraq that requires versatile measures. It is a way to promote peaceful nation-building and reconciliation, including dialogue between Iraqis of different tribes, religions, ethnicity, etc.

A key component of the project is a digital civic education platform which will provide interested Iraqis access to a range of resources, including articles, videos, and interactive materials designed to facilitate learning and engagement. Through the innovative approach of a digital platform for civic education, a coherent political education offer will be developed and material   from different organisations working in the field of civic education will receive more visibility. At the same time, the digital civic education platform can increase its impact if it is used and promoted by other actors in the field, and if these actors actively contribute to it.

During the initial phase of the project, elbarlament will set up the digital platform for civic education in Iraq that provides information and material on:

• Political knowledge,
• Heritage, culture, and history
• Civic values and skills and
• Thematic knowledge about relevant societal questions. 

The platform aims to include various features that promote participation and dialogue, like commenting functions, an event calendar, knowledge tests, a blog, polls, and surveys and will be made available in Arabic, English and Kurdish language. In addition to creating the platform, elbarlament plans to provide training activities to citizens in both rural and urban areas on civic education and build a network of civic education practitioners through various activities. 

The project is implemented by elbarlament and funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.