of the Judiciary’s Impartiality and Integrity
6. Involvement of nGos in Civic Education
− Provide information regularly through an internet portal, not only on public procurement notices but even on monthly and annual reports by companies and on public contracts awarded to them.
To civil society
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− Involve the business community in monitoring the process of public institutions through joint activities with the NGO sector. This cooperation will also address the issue of lack of funds for NGOs.
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− Reach out to former key members of the most active NGOs who are now involved in politics to stimulate deeper cooperation and smoother communication. Insider’s views and recommendations can make NGOs much more effective.
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− Create a platform of cooperation for the fight against corruption between watchdog NGOs, investigative journalists, and representatives of public communities with the aim to publish the annual Public Institutions Civic Integrity Report, using both traditional and social media tools.
6. Involvement of nGos in Civic Education
It is known that societies have long had an interest in the ways in which their individual members are prepared for citizenship and in how they learn to take part in civic life. Today that interest might best be described as a growing concern, particularly in Albanian society. The three essential components of civic education—knowledge, skills and disposition—have been widely explored through a series of initiatives by Albanian NGOs over the years. This is particularly the case regarding civic knowledge and skills.
Civic knowledge is a broad concept and is seen as such even in school curricula. After 1990, most Central and Eastern European countries, including Albania, realised that constructing a modern democracy also requires building a modern school system in which principal ideas and procedures of democracy are taught and implemented. UNESCO, within the CORDEE initiative, and the Austrian Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs have provided assistance on curriculum development in civic education in order to exchange views on these concepts, on the legal status of civic education, and on the practice and problems of teaching civics
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in Central and Eastern Europe, including Albania. It has focused on the problems of civic education at the secondary education level, i.e., pupils from 11 to 18 years old. It also looked at the following: 1) civic education in the institutional system of the respective countries (legal framework, pertinent institutions and their competences, actual problems and perspectives); 2) civic education in educational programmes for teachers (pre-service and continuing education, content, curriculum, institutions, actual problems and perspectives); and, 3) civic education and curriculum development in schools (lessons, content, learning aids, methods, actual problems and perspectives).18
Civic education is seen as the concept of teaching democracy and includes not only teaching about the constitutional, legal and political institutions of democracy but also the development of democratic attitudes, skills and behaviours.19 Albania experienced civic education as an important component of public participation during the constitution-drafting process, in which Albanian NGOs used public forums, radio programmes, pamphlets, newspaper columns, constitutional papers by experts, and essay-writing contests. Education on constitutional issues continued through the work of the OSCE after the constitution was approved in 1998. Meanwhile, the second essential component of civic education—skills—has been recognised as the most important, and an area in which Albanian NGOs have a key role to play.
If citizens are to exercise their rights and discharge their responsibilities as members of self-governing communities, they need not only acquire a body of knowledge but also the relevant intellectual and participatory skills. Thus, in addition to the acquisition of knowledge and intellect, education for citizenship
18 For more information, see: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0011/001161/1161 44eo.pdf.
19 For example, the project by IDM “Understanding Civic and Faith-Based Education in Albania” (2011–2012) aimed to promote and foster civic and religious values and religious tolerance and understanding in Albania. It has also encouraged and supported concrete efforts to establish cooperation among local stakeholders, including public and non-public educational institutions, religious communities, local authorities, civil society, and media. It has made efforts to affirm the active participation of religious schools within the framework of current institutional developments, to develop students’ civic knowledge and skills to engage in civic education projects of interest to their communities and develop public policies that address and seek to solve community problems. For more information, see: “Understanding Civic and Faith-Based Education in Albania,” www.idmalbania.org/understanding-civic-and-faith-based-education-albania.
37 Albania has been focused on the skills required for informed, effective and responsible participation in the political process and in civil society. These skills have been categorised by NGOs as interacting, monitoring, and influencing. A number of projects funded by various donors have been implemented so far by NGOs in Albania related to local participation in budgeting, influencing policy and in making progress and preparing shadow monitoring reports on certain public policies and strategic frameworks.
The third essential component of civic education is disposition. This refers to private and public traits. The necessary experience should engender an understanding that democracy requires responsible self-governance of each individual, that is, moral responsibility, self-discipline and respect for the worth and human dignity of every individual. These are essential to the maintenance and improvement of constitutional democracy in Albania but are developed slowly over time and as a result of what one learns and experiences in the home, school, community and civil society.
recommendations To the government
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− Develop a volunteer/community service programme that will be integrated into the curriculum of primary and secondary education.
Civil society can contribute greatly in this regard by engaging youth in these projects.
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− Develop indicators for monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of what students are taught in school as part of civic education. Based on the information that will result from this evaluation, the government can decide what further steps to take toward improving civic education in schools.
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− Improve legislation and institutional mechanisms that enable citizens to increase their civic skills through participation in public policy and decision-making.
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− Support awareness campaigns that provide a sense of civic disposition to Albanian citizens through a better understanding of the need to be self-responsible.
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To civil society
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− In cooperation with public education bodies, participate in drafting curricula targeting youth. This will raise awareness of the need for public participation in the decision-making process.
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− Engage more strongly in monitoring and influencing public policies on relevant key public priorities through the establishment of civic actions such as the Raise your Voice campaign.
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− Build a civic education network aimed at establishing an Annual Civic Education Award for an individual, NGO or communities that promote such values of civic disposition as moral responsibility, self-discipline, and respect for human worth and dignity.
Conclusion
As the EU integration process intensifies, greater interaction between government and civil society is becoming a necessity. Since the genesis of its EU integration aspirations, Albanian civil society has strived to be active on several fronts. However, it faces many challenges in playing a meaningful role in the EU integration process, and in particular with regards to the negotiations on chapters 23 and 24. Although the process would benefit from rigorous monitoring, policy analysis and input from CSO experts, capacities within the sector remain limited. Moreover, the problems of transparency and inclusion in the policymaking processes persist among government institutions. Such serious obstacles to constant constructive communication often leaves both Albanian CSOs and the international community with the notion that the public administration lacks the will to improve cooperation with the non-governmental sector.
Despite some improvements in recent years, the Albanian political environment has maintained its practice of closed-door policymaking and lack of formal channels for contributions to it. Still, there are encouraging cases of cooperation between the government and civil society, such as the consultation process for the Open Government Partnership action plan, which proves it is not always that state institutions are necessarily against engaging CSOs in policymaking processes. This is something that further cooperation could be built on. As the country heads towards the opening of accession negotiations, starting with chapters 23 and 24, civil society
39 Albania must intensify its role in monitoring the achievement of commitments and in policy input. To this end, legal and practical improvements in access to information and institutionalisation of government–CSO relations remain a precondition.