Project Citizen Showcases

Ghana National Project Citizen Showcase 2014

Student teams from nine regions of Ghana presented their policy proposals at the annual National Project Citizen Showcase on February 10–11, 2014. The showcase was organized by the National Commission for Civic Education, the Center for Civic Education's Civitas International Programs partner in Ghana. Archbishop Porter Girls’ School’s project on illegal mining in the Western Region received top honors. Sponsors of the event included the European Union Delegation to Ghana and Star Assurance Company Limited, a Ghanaian insurance company.

Jordan National Project Citizen Showcase 2013

Twenty-seven student teams exhibited public policy research and solutions at the annual national Project Citizen showcase event in Jordan. The Jordanian Center for Civic Education, the Center for Civic Education’s Civitas International Programs partner in Jordan, organized the event in Amman on May 18, 2013.

The Project Citizen showcase featured civic action projects conducted by young people in elementary through secondary schools from thirteen areas throughout Jordan. Participating teams of young people presented their project portfolios in a large exhibition hall to students from other schools and visitors that included community members, education and non-profit organization leaders, government officials, and the media. The exhibition-style event enabled the young people to share their projects in a supportive environment while engaging in substantive dialogue with their peers and adult visitors.

For their Project Citizen projects, young people identified a problem in their community, researched the problem, communicated with local stakeholders, and developed a policy-based solution to the problem. Among the projects, students identified critical issues in Jordan, such as water scarcity and refugees, and developed localized solutions to address these problems in ways that affected their daily lives. Students also worked on significant issues affecting childrens’ well-being and academic achievement, such as school waste disposal issues, local traffic safety, domestic violence, availability of playground facilities, and the need to rehabilitate the school library. List of Teams and Projects.

 South Africa National Project Citizen Showcase
 
On September 8^th, 2012 the first national Project Citizen Showcase in South Africa was held in the Chamber of the Kwazulu-Natal Legislature in Pietermartizburg. The Chamber dates from 1889 and the room was once graced by presentations from Mahatma Gandhi and Winston Churchill. The showcase was organized by South Africa Civitas coordinator Anash Mangalparsad of the Center for Community and Educational Development. Schools from six different provinces of South Africa participated demonstrating their newly acquired civic knowledge on topics such as water quality problems, litter in schools, illegal dumping and littering, drug and substance abuse, gang violence, and discrimination. 

The winning class in the high school category was Little Flower Secondary on the topic of “Water Problems in Sisonke District”. The winning class for the elementary school category was York Road Primary on the topic of discrimination. Speakers at the event included Karl Stoltz, the Minister Counselor for Public Affairs of the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria, the Honorable Chris. J. Ndelela, the Mayor of Pietermartizburg, and Mark J. Molli, Associate Director for the Center for Civic Education.
 
Burma’s First Project Citizen Showcases

In February 2012, Burma's first Project Citizen showcases were held in Rangoon and Mandalay. Fifty-four educators and 743 students from eleven monastic schools participated in the pilot program. In June 2012, King Prajadhipok's Institute, the Center for Civic Education's Civitas International Programs partner in Thailand, conducted Training of Trainers workshops in Rangoon and Mandalay. Thirty-three local trainers were prepared to introduce the Project Citizen program to additional monastic school teachers in their areas. 


Middle East and North Africa Regional Project Citizen Showcase, 2006

Over fifty students representing nine countries in the Middle East and North Africa traveled to Jordan to participate in the First Arab Civitas Regional Showcase from February 4-5, 2006. The students, aged twelve through fifteen, were accomplished participants in the Project Citizen program, a civic education curriculum asking students to identify, study, and propose solutions to local public policy issues.  

Student delegations from Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, the West Bank, and Yemen traveled with their teacher and presented their public policy portfolios to an audience of fellow students and special guests from Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. Students were selected to represent their nations following national showcases held in each country. After each team presented, Civitas program directors from the region also served as commentators and initiated a spirited period of audience questions. Students agreed that the Project Citizen experience gave them self-confidence, public speaking skills, and a new perception of community. Project Citizen is a highly interactive classroom activity developed by the Center for Civic Education. 

Highlights of the event included an address given by Jordanian Minister of Education, the Honorable Dr. Khalid Touqan, who stated, “If a society wishes to be free and open, civic education is imperative.” US Embassy Public Affairs Officer Michael Pelletier also addressed the students in fluent Arabic and recommended that students must “study, understand and accept [civil society] before implementing it.”

The event was organized by the regional Arab Civitas program office in Jordan, in coordination with the Center for Civic Education, under the Arab Civitas grant funded by the U.S. Department of State's Middle East Partnership Initiative from 2003 to 2008. Civitas partners in the Middle East and North Africa include a network of dedicated civic educators who are working to implement Project Citizen in Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, the West Bank, and Yemen.    

“It was a very important chance for the Arab delegations to exchange experiences and mechanisms of implementation,” noted Muna Darwish, the Director of the Arab Civitas Regional Office, concluding, “we created very important bridges” between participating countries and students.