Civic Education Conference
8-10 December 2013
Alexandria, Egypt
From recommendations to actions
By Nelly Corbel
The American University in Cairo – AUC, Egypt
From December 8th to 11th, the Goethe-Institute Cairo together with the Tahrir Lounge
gathered an audience committed to the cause of civic education in the historical premises of
Bibliotheca Alexandrina. In partnership with the Hanns Seidel Foundation, the German
Federal Agency for Civic Education and the Center for Democracy and Social Peace Studies,
the conference developed a set of 57 recommendations.
The rich history of Alexandria paired with the drafting of the constitution provided an
engaging context to the first conference on civic education (CEC) in Egypt at this scale. With
a representation from over ten countries and representatives from all sectors of the Egyptian
society, the conference offered a long awaited platform for comprehensive peer-to-peer
exchange on citizenship education. CEC was the result of a collective effort initiated in the
fall of 2012 when a delegation of Egyptian civic actors traveled to Germany with the Tahrir
Lounge for a study trip across the Mediterranean in times of transformation in the context of
NECE’s conference on exchange. A year later with a deep engagement by the youth and
institutional commitment from partners on both continents CEC became a reality.
From theory to practice the two days and a half long conference had the ambitious goal to
draft a set of recommendations laying down the foundations for drafting an Egyptian civic
education roadmap. A vast majority of participants present left with aspirations relevant to
their daily work: decision-makers with the needs of civil society, academics and researchers
with inspiration for advancing the local conceptual framework on the topic, and field workers
with new partnership potentials. As conference moderator, I left humbled by the work my
colleagues lead every day, grateful for the German effort to provide participatory support,
inspired by the passion of the art scene but more importantly with a grown sense of
responsibility. All the above listed outcomes can become high impact projects and initiatives
but without efforts for continued convening, ownership from each to take the lead on one of
the recommendations, aspirations is what they will remain. Only through collective
commitment, conscious of the time sensitivity of the moment will these become reality.
Therefore, what are the next possible steps? The set of 57 recommendations agreed upon
by a majority of the participants were clustered around four core topics: stakeholders,
content, neutrality and challenges. Most of them start by a verb: ‘ensure’, ‘train’, ‘support’,
‘engage’, so on and so forth. Thus who will be the subject of the sentence, who will give life
to these verbs?
Though not a needs assessment, the recommendations include concrete suggestions. In
summary, the participants advised the below:
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The sector requires increased coordination nationally: This implies the need for further
documentation efforts and regular convening platforms engaging multi-stakeholders.
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Actors whether institutional or individual expressed the importance for capacity
development in specific areas, namely teaching methodologies and facilitation skills.
Conceptually, participants expressed the weight of adapted references for civic
education concepts, grounded in local intellectual and religious history.
CEC offered a unique catalyst but it is now our collective responsibility, as civic actors in all
fields to make these recommendations reality. Some will require integrating in the civic
education curricula (formal or informal), some will need further consultations with relevant
stakeholders, some call for further conceptual or research work and finally some encourage
advocacy but none are impossible to accomplish. Unlike a number of recommendations I
have read in the past, the CEC participants remained grounded, an invaluable asset for
stakeholders to draft a joint action plan.
As Egypt moves forward in its transformation process with the expected and less expected
developments, a solid foundation for citizenry is critical to insure the steady growth of the
transition. With some 90 million inhabitants, the country represents a numerical and historical
weight in the region. Therefore, insuring the balance between ideals and reality, CE has
become a European responsibility as much as an Arab one. Civic education cannot be
considered a luxury or threat anymore in the region and the EU cannot underestimate its
importance in its cooperation strategies. The small strip of water in between the two
continents does not prevent what happens on one side to affect the other. It is therefore
crucial for the EU to engage a broader net of civil society than it currently does in Egypt. It is
equally crucial that Egyptians take ownership of their fate and lead this effort with local
expertise and engages its neighbors. Both regions are undergoing deep threats to the
democratic process, therefore as Franklin Roosevelt said when signing the declaration of
independence ‘We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.’
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