Conclusions and Recommendations of the Global Strategic Plan for Democracy Education

Major Conclusions

• Education is key to the survival and expansion of democracy. Democracy requires not only institution building but also active citizens who have the knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes of democratic life, without which a democratic culture will not prosper.
• Democracy education should be sensitive to issues of culture, gender, and tradition.
• Democracy education is essential to protect, sustain, consolidate, and advance the democratic gains in all countries, especially in societies in transition.
• Democracy education should be an integral part of the education of every citizen everywhere, and should be considered as essential as reading, writing, science, and mathematics.

Major Recommendations

• Greater attention should be given by educators, scholars, governments, non-government organizations, foundations, and others in the international community to the fostering of democracy education.
• Additional resources are needed to adequately support democracy education initiatives.
• The Convening Group of the Community of Democracies should make the promotion of democracy education a major priority, and should work with its participating governments to raise this matter high on the agenda of the international community. The Community of Democracies is especially suited for this undertaking.
• Democracy education should be an essential element in international development strategy, and emphasized in the worldwide Education for All initiative of the United Nations. The Community of Democracies should urge participating governments to advocate the importance of democracy education in the international organizations in which they are represented, among them, the international development organizations, banks, and multilateral and political organizations.
• The participating governments in the Community of Democracies should include democracy education in their national development strategies.
• Donor governments, regional organizations, corporations, and foundations are urged to make democracy education a priority in future funding activities.
• The United Nations system should be invited to declare a "Decade of Democracy Education," and help mobilize the resources to make it a practical success.
• Special attention should be paid to the Middle East and Africa. Lessons gleaned from successful pioneering work in democracy education in the transitional societies of Europe, Asia, the Americas, and parts of southern Africa should be applied to those two main areas.
• The established democracies should learn and find inspiration from the work on democracy education in the newer democracies.
• Organizations that evaluate the status of democracy in various countries are urged to include the progress in democracy education in their evaluations.
• The Council for a Community of Democracies should coordinate an advocacy network of NGOs to promote democracy education among governments, international institutions, and non-government organizations.