Council for a Community of Democracies

Summary of Major Recommendations of the Pocantico Strategic Plan for Democracy Education

The governments of 106 countries have now endorsed The Community of Democracies movement and the commitment in its Warsaw Declaration to “promote civic education and literacy, including education for democracy.” Representatives of these governments and many non-governmental organizations met in Seoul in November of 2002 and affirmed that there is great potential for democratic societies to cooperate to “promote a culture of democracy through education….” The NGO Forum at the Seoul Community of Democracies conference recommended that a meeting of governments, national and international NGOs, and multilateral institutions be convened to consult on the development of a strategy for promoting democracy education worldwide.

Therefore, the Council for a Community of Democracies and the American Forum for Global Education convened a meeting of 36 representatives of governments, non-governmental organizations and international institutions at the Pocantico Conference Center of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund from June 8-10, 2003, to consider practical ways in which these educational commitments might be met (participant list attached).

Considerable progress has been made in different parts of the world since the Warsaw and Seoul conferences. Successful initiatives have been launched and best practices of democracy education can now be shared.

In many countries little or no democracy education exists, and where it does exist, it is often taught in a manner that does not encourage participation and critical thinking.

Observations and recommendations from this meeting are summarized in the “Pocantico Strategic Plan for Democracy Education” which is attached here or available from the Council for a Community of Democracies [www.ccd21.org]

In sum, the major conclusions and recommendations of the NGO community gathered at Pocantico are:

Education is key to the survival and expansion of democracy. Democracy requires not only institution building but also active citizens who have mastered 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 and tradition.
Democracy education is essential to protect, sustain, consolidate and advance democratic gains achieved in all countries, especially in societies in transition.
Democracy education should be an integral part of the education of every citizen, 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 foster democracy education and adequate resources need to be provided.

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.
Education for democracy should be an essential element in international development strategy, and emphasized in the worldwide Education for All initiative. 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 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 this a practical success.
Special attention is needed for the Middle East and Africa. Lessons of democracy education should be learned from the pioneering work being done in countries in transition in Europe, Asia, the Americas, and parts of southern Africa.
The established democracies should learn from, and find inspiration in, the global work on democracy education.
Organizations that evaluate the status of democracy in various countries are urged to consider 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.

The Convening Group of the Community of Democracies should, in partnership with civil society and the NGOs, assist the implementation of this plan in order to achieve their objectives as set out in the Warsaw Declaration and Seoul Plan of Action.