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The Twelfth World Congress on Civic Education, titled "Sustaining Civic Education: Achievements and Challenges," was held in Morocco from May 24—30, 2008. The event was co-hosted by the Center for Civic Education and the Moroccan Center for Civic Education, in collaboration with the Higher Council for Education, the Moroccan Ministry of Education, and Al Akhawayn University under the High Patronage of His Majesty Mohammed VI King of Morocco.
Moroccan Project Citizen students who presented their portfolio to participants at the World Congress.
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Educators representing more than sixty-five countries and thirty U.S. states met in Casablanca and Ifrane. They shared ideas and best practices for securing the sustained commitment to civic education programs from educators, policymakers and civil societies around the world.
At a press conference, Richard A. Nuccio, director of Civitas International Programs, Elarbi Imad, president of the MCCE, and other participants, stressed the importance of government-civil society partnerships to the sustainability of civic education.
Charles N. Quigley, executive director of the Center for Civic Education,with Elarbi Imad, president of the Moroccan Center for Civic Education.
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“Civic education should be more than just the responsibility of governments and it requires more than merely passing a law or providing funding. It should be a dynamic process in which civil society builds up demand on government for constant improvement of civic education, and in which the government learns to benefit from the closeness of civil society leaders to the tasks of civic education,” said Nuccio.
“This all began with an exchange visit to Los Angeles five years ago,” said Imad. "It has been a wonderful experience for our organization to host the World Congress and share the progress we have made in promoting civic education with civic educators from all over the world."
The World Congress opened with the signing of a cooperative agreement between the Moroccan Ministry of Education and the MCCE.
Deborah A. Price, assistant deputy secretary, Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, U.S. Department of Education, speaks during the conference opening and signing ceremony. Seated at right are Elarbi Imad, president of the Moroccan Center for Civic Education; Abdelaziz Meziane Belefkih, advisor to His Majesty King Mohammed VI and vice-chair of Higher Council for Education; Ahmed Akhchichen, Moroccan minister of education; and Charles N. Quigley.
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“Convening the congress in Morocco provided an important example that it can happen—that all of a country’s education institutions can work together,” said Alden Craddock, director of the International Democratic Education Institute at Bowling Green State University, the MCCE’s primary U.S. partner.
The growing Civitas International civic education network faces both immediate and long-term challenges to the sustainability of its programs due to changes in funding. A major innovation launched officially at the world congress was the restructuring of existing Civitas country partnerships into larger, inter-regional partnerships, in which older members will be relied on to assist newer members in new programs of cross-regional collaboration. Thematic workshops at the World Congress addressed pathways to sustainability, including international collaboration. Other discussions focused on topics such as relating civic education to human rights, reconciliation, and utilizing games and digital media in civic education.
Mirshariff Tillah, former president of the Phillipine Center for Civic Education and Democracy, emphasized that “the world congress is important to young organizations because it shows us what is possible.”
Previous world congresses were held in Latvia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Northern Ireland, Russia, Mexico, Hungary, Jordan, Poland, and Argentina.
The 2009 world congress will be held in Cape Town, South Africa, on May 27–June 1, 2009.
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