Centre for Basic Research (CBR) has since June 2018 been implementing a project titled: ‘Strengthening Evidence-based Democratic Governance Agenda Setting and Engagement by Civil Society in Uganda’. The project which ends in December 2020 is supported by the Democratic Governance Facility (DGF). The primary focus of the on-going project premised on the assumption that civic education is one of the foundations upon which democracy thrives is to produce, manage and disseminate knowledge in such a way that enables civic education stakeholders and practitioners to pragmatically engage duty bearers and the citizenry to enhance democratic governance practices. This is pursued
through a three-pronged strategy.
The first strategy is to undertake research on pertinent civic education thematic areas analyze primary and secondary data generated, and appropriately package and disseminate the findings of the various researches, via different kinds of publications, media events and activities tailored to inform democratic governance agendas and interventions by civil society engaged in civic education in general, and DGF Implementing Partners (IPs) in particular. This, it is hoped, enhances citizen engagements with government at different levels, which strengthens democratic practices.
10 desk studies on different thematic issues on civic education have been conducted, in addition to the comprehensive review of civic education in Uganda study. Dissemination of the National Synthesis report from the latter, whose field work was conducted by CBR in 20 districts of Uganda between September and December 2018 was held on 30th September,2019. It was intended to contribute to our understanding of not only how civic education was conceptualized by state and non-state actors, but also how it has organized and delivered, as well as the impact it has had over the years.
The second strategy is establishing an elaborate documentation of published and unpublished literature on the broad agenda of civic education that is relevant to the promotion of democratic governance around the intervention areas of DGF’s civic education partners, for use as reference materials during current and future studies and researches on emerging civic education dynamics on the basis of which lessons can be learnt and best practices inferred.
The third strategy, which is complemented by media activities, seeks to encourage continuous debates on different thematic issues regarding civic education including 2 interactive online discussions. This is aimed not only at raising civic awareness and competencies, but also to solicit for and respond to citizens’ views on pertinent civic education issues, as a way to engender greater citizen appreciation and participation in democratic processes based on an increased understanding and acceptance of their rights and responsibilities.
The fourth strategy is to hold Monthly Expert Seminars on critical civic education issues in Uganda. These seminars are considered as an important avenue for the convergence between theories and the practices of civic education in Uganda in general. The Expert Seminars provide opportunities for civic education intellectuals and practitioners to engage with emerging issues from on-going researches to understand not only the contribution to the deepening of democratic governance discourse on civic education that has been undertaken so far by state and non-state actors, its approaches, delivery mechanisms, and impact, but also the intellectual debates on the appropriateness of the civic knowledge generated in which are embodied the country’s core values and principles, on the basis of which civic competencies and dispositions can be nurtured.
