With the project "Civic Education", the Goethe-Institut strengthened civil society structures in Egypt and other countries in the North Africa and Middle East region. This was done in particular within the framework of a further education programme for trainers from the region and by supporting the NACE network (Networking Arab Civic Education). Both initiatives stem from the three Civic Education Conferences (CEC) held in Egypt in 2013, Tunisia in 2016 and Morocco in 2018. More than 200 actors from Europe and the Arab region came together at these conferences and formulated recommendations for action to support civil society in the North Africa and Middle East region.
Training trainers to become multipliers
In cooperation with the Centre for Applied Policy Research at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich (CAP), the Goethe-Institut Cairo organised an annual training-of-trainers programme (ToT) on civic education from 2014 to 2020. It was initially aimed at actors from Egyptian civil society, who were trained as certified trainers within the framework of the training. Since 2017, the programme has also addressed civil society stakeholders who were already active as trainers. In addition, the country focus of the programme expanded to Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia. Representatives of institutions in the field of civil society education were thus also able to network at the regional level.
Networking and consolidation
The aim of the regional networking offer was to strengthen and expand the civil society networks at both regional and national level in order to bundle competences and resources and to sustainably support actors and institutions in the field of civic education in the MENA region. Alumni and their networks were systematically included in all national and regional network activities.
The Goethe-Institut Cairo is a member of the network NACE (Networking Arab Citizenship Education), which goes back to an initiative of the German Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb) and was officially presented in Tunisia during the CEC 2016. As a platform for stakeholders and institutions in civic education in the MENA region, NACE aims to strengthen and anchor civic education in the region on the one hand and to exchange with existing networks in Europe on the other. In this context and with a view to its own networks, the Goethe-Institut Cairo aimed to use synergies in regional networking. The Goethe-Institut contributed its local expertise and networking to this.
Developing practical solutions
Tolerance, social diversity, human rights and democracy are key concepts underlying the training concept, which were tested and evaluated together with the participants in various methods. The trainings followed a participatory approach, which made it possible to experience the challenges and opportunities of democratic principles in decision-making processes and in conflict situations in a concrete group context.
During the project period, more than 70 trainers successfully completed this programme. The alumni were supported in many ways within the framework of the project: The Goethe-Institut Cairo provided funding that enabled the alumni to implement their own workshops, trainings or further project ideas. In addition, it offered them the opportunity to use coaching by experienced local trainers in their own professional context for personal professionalisation. Regularly organised alumni events also offered them a platform for networking and exchange with alumni from other Goethe-Institut projects.
"What was unique about the programme was that it did not only focus on theoretical concepts, but on interactive and unusual methods that helped us apply these concepts in projects," says Mohamed Ghanem, one of the programme's alumni. Ghanem joined the programme in 2016 as a participant and then received advanced training in 2019 to become one of the main trainers in Egypt. Through the training, Ghanem and other participants tried to find answers and solutions to their questions themselves and discuss the conditions that would help them implement their projects.
Civic Education "Open Source
Within the framework of the Training-of-Trainers programmes, four manuals have been produced in which the tested approaches, methods and tools are presented and explained in detail. They are intended to support trainers in the MENA region, but also beyond, in conducting seminars and workshops in the thematic field of "Civic Education". The manuals are available in Arabic and English as "open source" materials for free download: