Belgrade, Serbia, October 30th and 31st 2017
This annual GDE monitoring process covering the period 2016-19, is in line with the Council of Europe’s Action Plan on Building Inclusive Societies (2016-2019); the Standing Conference of Ministers of Education held in April 2016 under the theme “Securing democracy through education”; and with the Council of Europe’s Conference organised by the Cypriot Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers “Education: a safe option to Democracy”, (Nicosia, March 2017).
It is also in line with UNESCO efforts to make progress towards Target 4.7 referring to Global Citizenship Education monitoring 4, in the framework of UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (UN Agenda 2030).
By bringing together practitioners and decision-makers to exchange and jointly discuss existing perspectives and further developments on the concept and practice of GDE, in terms of policy making, curricula development, pedagogical support and advocacy, the NSC contributes to the recognition and practice of GDE in the Balkan region.
Short introduction to the activity:
Having as an overarching framework the strategic recommendations of the Zagreb GE Congress; the conclusions of Council of Europe’s Conferences of Ministers of Education; and the SDG 4.7 target referring to Global Citizenship Education monitoring scheme, the objectives of the regional seminar are:
- to exchange and jointly discuss existing perspectives and recent developments on the concept and practice of GDE (in terms of policy making, curricula development, pedagogical support and advocacy);
- to identify common challenges in the Balkan countries and exchange information on best practices between GDE experts from the region, other European countries and/or organisations such as the NSC, European Commission (EC), the European confederation of Relief and Development NGOs (CONCORD), the Global Education Network (GENE), and UNESCO as well as with experts from the South;
- to promote GDE as an integral part of education and disseminate the Council of Europe framework of Competences for Democratic Culture;
- to provide the space and opportunities to develop joint action and collaboration within and beyond the Balkan countries;
- to elaborate recommendations for furthering GDE in the Balkan countries and establish priorities and benchmarks, until the follow-up meetings in 2018.
