![]() If you are busy hustling to get food on the table, to support families you don’t have the time or the nerve to educate yourself on civic and political processes. And we need to understand: Knowledge is one thing, but we also can’t expect the youth to be active citizens when some don’t even have and never had jobs or any other development opportunities. We all need to realise that young people in particular have the difficult task of defending and developing the political achievement in South Africa’s young democracy and they need to encourage and foster youth participation in political processes.īut also, we need to up our game in terms of civic education, so that the youth feels knowledgeable and empowered to participate in democratic processes. What we observe in our capacity building activities is that a lot of people are frustrated with the parties and maybe even with the state because they experience no progress in their quality of life. I would argue that the low voter turnout should not only be interpreted as that young South Africans are not interested in politics or don’t understand politics. With our Civics Academy we work for example a lot with young people trying to empower them to become active citizens. ![]() This is of course a worrying signal for a young democracy as South Africa. 12% less voters cast their ballot compared to 2016 resulting in a total voter turnout of only around 30%. If you look for example at the local government elections last year. It is also about living up to our democratic responsibilities. But active citizenship is not only about having rights. The overall objective of civic education is to promote active and responsible citizenship. The state of civic education in South Africa That means that civic education shows us what we can do to protect and support our democracy. This knowledge empowers us to claim our democratic rights, as well as demand good, democratic governance from our elected leaders. ![]() Civic education provides us with knowledge, for example knowledge about our rights and responsibilities as people and on the roles and functions of government institutions and parliament. Civic education aims to inform and empower citizens to fulfil this role. Successful democracies depend on the active participation of informed citizens. How would you define civic education and its current state in South Africa? Civics Academy is therefore a resource for every organisation or individual to promote civic education or educate him or herself. Via our social channels we also try to actively promote civic education. As such Civics Academy covers educational content related to democracy, governance, elections, political parties, the justice system, the Constitution, local government, economics, civil society and human rights. In short, Civics Academy offers free video and audio content as well as other learning resources aiming to inform and to strengthen democratic values and responsible citizenship. The aim of Civics Academy is to provide anyone and everyone with the tools they need to be active and responsible citizens. The project was also launched at the Nelson Mandela Foundation (NMF), with Professor Thuli Madonsela as keynote speaker and strongly supported by the CEO of the NMF Sello Hatang. During the first year Civics Academy was introduced to different civil society partners active in democracy education/youth empowerment. The initiative was started in 2016 with the first videos being produced on relevant topics of civic education. When did Civics Academy start and what was the primary thinking behind starting the program? The Daily Vox team had a question-and-answer session with Uta Lehmann, project coordinator for Hanns Seidel Foundation, managing Civics Academy. It was initiated and run by the German Hanns Seidel Foundation. Ĭivics Academy is a non-profit online educational project based in South Africa. ![]() One organisation trying to change that is Civics Academy. Oftentimes though it is not given the importance it deserves compared to other aspects of democracy. Civic education and participation is an important part of any democracy.
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