While Global Citizenship Education is recognised by many as a powerful tool to resolve the current global challenges our world is facing, the level of investment by national governments remains limited. Why is that? To answer this situation, CONCORD launches its new report “Global Citizenship Education – How much do we care?“. Based on a research across all EU Member States (+ Norway), this publication reveals the level of funding dedicated to Global Citizenship Education (GCE) in Europe between 2011 and 2015.
THE REPORT:
Analysing the quantitative sources of investments by national governments as well as the qualitative narrative around GCE (How is GCE named? What is its framework of action?), this report digs into the complex world of GCE and provides a full picture of its current states in Europe.
The power of Global Citizenship Education is that it takes a long-term, root causes approach to the social ills that we are experiencing today. And yet, for some reason, it is being ignored as a solution. […]
The EU has stood accused in the past of short-term, short-sighted responses to the likes of the “refugee crisis”, which in reality is no more than a crisis of solidarity, of understanding and of compassion. Against this, Global Citizenship Education is a vital tool and sound long-term strategy to bring those values back to life and thus should play a bigger role within EU.
STRUCTURE OF THE REPORT:
The report is composed of 2 parts:
– a general overview and analysis
– a comparative part made of an analysis per country of all EU member states (+ Norway), including interesting details on GCE definitions, concepts, funding trends.
Strong of these analysis, the report draws conclusions and recommendations on where possible improvements at policy and advocacy level can be made.
MAIN FINDINGS OF THE REPORT:
THE FUNDINGS:
- The funding for GCE is in a phase of stagnation – not much has changed since 2010.
- The context, however, has changed: we acknowledge new global challenges, new agreements and an overall different political situation in Europe.
- While the importance of GCE is sometimes recognised (by UNESCO for example), this does not lead to financial investment.
- Almost half of EU countries (i.e. so called EU10/12 countries) are dependent on EU funding which signals that there are no well established national funding and partnership structures.
THE STAKEHOLDERS:
- The main public sector funding providers are the ministries of Foreign Affairs and their agencies. Strangely, the education sector is not much involved in funding and advocating for GCE. Nevertheless, they play a critical role in the integration of GCE in the formal education system (curriculum, teacher training…)
- More and more partners are involved in GCE (UNESCO,OECD, GENE). This means that national NGOs should redefine their role and added-value in the area. They should become active advocates of their work and its impact.
THE ROLE OF NGOs:
- The context of crisis of trust and lack of effective partnership models between the governmental and non-governmental sectors impacts the general framework in which GCE funding operates.
- Development NGOs have critical resources in terms of knowledge, experience, networks, but they aren’t effectively used.