Concept for the 2016 programme cycle

Introduction

While human rights and democracy have always been at the heart of Europe’s political life, major developments have taken place in recent years which have drawn attention to the importance of human rights and democracy in the growth and prosperity of Europe.  Citizenship and governance are rising concerns in this respect and have a direct bearing on education and training systems, both as a transversal feature and as a component of their curricula.   The terrorist attacks in Paris and Copenhagen in early 2015 and in Ankara and Brussels in 2016 again showed the need to strengthen the democratic mission of schools to instill democracy and its values among the younger generation. Furthermore, the current refugee crisis poses a serious challenge for many governments and societies and creates an even more urgent need for actions that promote tolerance and inclusion. The large-scale arrivals of asylum seekers call for policies that promote democratic values, respect of fundamental rights and human dignity.

In this context, both the European Union and the Council of Europe have reaffirmed the essential role of Education in promoting and protecting democracy, human rights and fundamental freedoms, as well as in preventing human rights violations.

The European Union Ministers of Education adopted on 17 March 2015 in Paris a Declaration on Promoting citizenship and the common values of freedom, tolerance and non-discrimination through education. The Declaration urges EU level actions "to cooperate and coordinate, to exchange experiences and to ensure that the best ideas and practices can be shared throughout the European Union".

The follow up of the Paris Declaration is at the core of the mandate of the working group on “Promoting citizenship and the common values of freedom, tolerance and non-discrimination through education” set up within the Strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training (ET2020). The objective of the Working Group is to provide a forum for exchange on the key policy issues falling under the scope of the Paris Declaration, with a focus on citizenship, fundamental values and non-discrimination in the different sectors of education and training, focusing on young people as well as adults, in particular parents.

The Committee of Ministers of Council of Europe adopted, during its 125th Ministerial Session on 19 May 2015 in Brussels, a Declaration and an Action Plan dealing with the fight against violent extremism and radicalisation leading to terrorism. As part of the follow up to the said Action Plan, which contains a series of actions in the field of education, the 25th Standing Conference of Ministers of Education held in Brussels on 11-12 April 2016 adopted the following strategic objectives: 1) Make the preparation for lifelong active democratic citizenship of all learners in education and training a hallmark of the quality of European education systems; and 2) Provide all learners in education and training with the necessary competences (values, attitudes, skills, knowledge and critical understanding) to the culture of democracy.

These complementary European initiatives underline the decisive role of education in fostering the values inherent to democratic citizenship. In this context, the Council of Europe and the European Commission have decided to pursue their co-operation in this area and to support  the 2016 programme cycle of the “Human Rights and Democracy in Action” Pilot Projects Scheme.  The Scheme sets up an innovative cooperation platform for countries interested in peer-to-peer learning as a tool for implementing the European Convention on Human Rights, the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the Council of Europe Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education.


Scope of the Pilot Projects Scheme

1) Framework

The guiding inspiration of the “Human Rights and Democracy in Action” Pilot Projects Scheme is on the one hand provided by the Council of Europe Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education notably by “the promotion of social cohesion and intercultural understanding and the valuing of diversitiy and equality” and on the other hand by the Education and Training 2020 strategic framework of the European Commission: "Education should promote intercultural competences, democratic values and respect for fundamental rights and the environment, as well as combat all forms of discrimination, equipping all young people and children to interact positively with their peers from diverse backgrounds" and specifically with its third strategic objective which reads “Promoting equity, social cohesion and active citizenship”.

2) Who can participate?

The Pilot Projects Scheme is a funding programme for cooperation projects involving from three to eight States Party to the European Cultural Convention, with at least half of the participating countries being Member States of the European Union. It will operate by means of a competitive call for proposals.

The Pilot Projects Scheme will also involve the network of national EDC/HRE co-ordinators[1] which is already in operation in this field, to prompt proposals from between three to eight States party to the European Cultural Convention, and encourage the participation of European networks of NGOs, youth and children’s organisations and educational networks to ensure that awareness-raising activities for the general public regarding the significance of the Charter are included in the project proposals. Participating States are also invited to involve national, regional or local authorities competent in education and/or training as well as non-governmental organisations.

Since its launch in 2013, participants from nineteen countries, out of which fourteen members of the European Union, took part in the Pilot Projects Scheme by implementing seven projects. These seven pilot projects covered a broad range of contexts; diverse situations and approaches and demonstrated the relevance of the cooperation framework set up by the scheme.

They explored several articles of the Charter, i.e. training of teachers, skills promoting social cohesion, valuing diversity and handling differences and conflict curricula, as well as cross-cutting topics such as teaching controversial issues, competences for handling digital information and preventing violence at school.

Priorities in the 2016 call for pilot-project proposals

The 2016 programme cycle will focus on consolidating and disseminating outcomes produced so far.  States Party to the European Cultural Convention will be encouraged to further develop and/or build on the outcomes of past pilot projects. The scheme will encourage the participation of new countries which have not been part of the pilot projects so far and provide support to the translation, adaptation and dissemination of the previous outcomes, further piloting of the existing tools and supporting their introduction in the education systems of the participating countries. The outcomes of past pilot projects are as follows:

a)     Travel pass to democracy: supporting teachers for active citizenship

i)      Booklet

·         English; Croatian; Hungarian; Montenegrin; Romanian

ii)     Common Training module 1

·         In Hungary: Respecting human dignity in school. English; Hungarian

·         In Montenegro: Respect of human dignity in school. English; Montenegrin

iii)    National Training module 2

·         New approach in EDCHRE teaching and learning; the outcomes based on cross curricular instruction: English;

·         Community service training in 2 x 90 minutes: - English; Hungarian

·         Development of a tolerant personality: English; Montenegrin

·         The reflective teacher:- English; Romanian

iv)    Film: How can schools support students to be active citizens?

·         English; Hungarian

v)     Trailer

·         English; Hungarian

b)     Education for democratic citizenship and human rights: diversity of approaches

i)      Booklet

·         English; Russian

ii)     Questionnaire: English

iii)    Film

·         English; Russian; Georgian

iv)    Trailer in English

c)     Three country audit of the lower secondary curriculum

i)      Booklet

·         English; Finnish; French

ii)     Assessment tool

·         English; Finnish; French

d)     Teaching controversial issues – developing effective training for teachers and school leaders

i)      Professional development pack

·         English; French; German; Greek; Spanish; Montenegrin

e)     Teacher training in EDC/HRE – how to develop the ability of students to assess information from media and social networks?

i)      Booklet

       English

In addition the 2016 programme cycle of the Pilot Projects Scheme is expected to result in:

• The further development of the e-publication of the outcomes and conclusions of the pilot projects with consolidated assessment under the patronage of the Council of Europe and of the European Commission;

• The further development of the website of the Pilot Projects Scheme www.edchre-pilot-projects-eu.coe.int hosted on the EDC/HRE Council of Europe website listing are all available and national and international resources on the themes addressed by the pilot projects.

Practical Details – Application Procedure

Call for proposals: Further to a call for proposals released via the network of co-ordinators on education for democratic citizenship and human rights education of the Council of Europe, proposals for pilot projects will be collected, involving from three to eight States party to the European Cultural Convention (in English or French), including at least one Member State to the European Union.

Duration: The Scheme will last one year (from 1 May 2016 to 30 April 2017). Each pilot project will have a maximum duration of nine months. The budget made available to the project will not cover operating costs of national administration personnel assigned to the project, but only direct, eligible costs such as travel, hotel, special costs associated to meetings (venue, interpretation, stationery, secretariat, etc.). Exception may be made for non-governmental entities to participate in the pilot project, for expertise and research.

Budget: The budget range for the CoE/EC contribution will be from 42.000 Euros to 105.000 Euros per project. The number of pilot projects to be selected and funded could therefore be from 2 to 5 projects, depending on the size and ambition of the project as well as of the number of partners.

Selection process: The selection of pilot projects will be made by an Advisory Group composed of 4 members as follows:

·         2 representatives of the European Commission

·         1 representative of the Secretariat of the Council of Europe

·         1 member of the Steering Committee for Educational Policy and Practice (CDPPE) of the Council of Europe,

The project proposals will be evaluated according to following criteria:

·         Appropriateness and relevancy of the proposal in accordance with the principles of the Council of Europe Charter on Education for democratic citizenship and human rights education and with the Paris Declaration on Promoting citizenship and the common values of freedom, tolerance and non-discrimination through education

·         Potential impact on educational policy and practice in the participating countries

·         Potential for awareness raising at national and / or international level

·         Quality, accuracy, clarity, completeness and cost-effectiveness of the application and the estimated budget

·         Participation of NGOs, youth organisations/associations, parents associations in the project design and implementation will be an advantage

·         Participation of the States Party to the European Cultural Convention who were not involved in the Scheme so far will be an advantage.

A reserve list of projects which meet the criteria subject to budgetary feasibility will be set up. If in the course of the implementation cycle additional sources of funding are identified, the projects on the reserve list maybe funded.

The implementation of the pilot project will be overseen by the Council of Europe Coordinators on Citizenship and Human Rights Education. Ministries of Education, related national educational institutions and NGO’s active in the field of citizenship and human rights education will be eligible implementing partners and potential beneficiaries of the financial contributions.

Reference documents

§      Council of Europe Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education, adopted in the framework of Recommendation CM/Rec(2010)7;

§      Council of Europe Framework of Competences for democratic culture - Living together as equals in culturally diverse democratic societies (2016)

§      Recommendation CM/Rec(2012)13 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to member States on ensuring quality education;

§      The fight against violent extremism and radicalisation leading to terrorism - Action Plan (2015-2017)

§      Council of Europe Strategy for the Rights of the Child (2016-2021);

§      Council of Europe Recommendation CM/Rec(2009)10, Policy guidelines on integrated national strategies for the protection of children from violence;

§      Recommendation CM/Rec(2012)2 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to member States on the participation of children and young people under the age of 18;The Action Plan for the Second Phase of the World Programme for Human Rights Education,

§      The United Nations Declaration on human rights education and training;

§      The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities;

§      The UN Agenda for Education 2030 “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (EU JO 2000/C 364/01);

§      Council Conclusions on a strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training ("ET 2020") 12 May 2009;

§      The EU European Strategy for equality between women and men 2010-2015 (COM(2010)491 – 21.9.2010) and the EU European Disability Strategy 2010-2020 – A Renewed Commitment to a Barrier-Free Europe (COM(2010) 636 final);

§      The EU Agenda for the Rights of the Child (COM(2011) 60 final);

§      The Paris Declaration of the European Union Ministers of Education of March 17th on Promoting citizenship and the common values of freedom, tolerance and non-discrimination through education.

§      Eurydice Report on “Citizenship education at schools in Europe” (May 2012) ­and the publications on the CRELL (Centre for Research on Lifelong Learning, at the EU Joint Research Centre) in the field of "Equity, Social Cohesion and Active Citizenship”.



[1]  EDC/HRE coordinators are the officially appointed representatives of the States Party to the European Cultural Convention for liaison with the Council of Europe in the field of education for democratic citizenship and human rights education (EDC/HRE)