International Civic Engagement Project

Welcome to the International Civic Engagement Project! We are a multinational, multicultural, multi-confessional partnership of individuals and institutions dedicated to improving the practice of active citizenship in the US and around the world through education and the reform of educational institutions, curricula and teaching practices.

When we teach democratic citizenship, we do so with a special understanding of democracy and citizenship. We believe deeply in the dream of democracy, but also understand that the democratic dream is a challenge. Democracy is not a given, it is remade daily by the fact—and the quality—of citizen participation. We thus do not have an ideological definition of citizenship, but rather understand citizenship as a practice: citizens are those actively engaged in the life of their community. We believe that citizenship has to be taught and learned—citizens need a concrete understanding of their community, the communication and teamwork skills to work together to find mutually acceptable solutions, and the learned values of respect for others and personal responsibility for their community. Given this locally rooted learning process, partners can set aside notions that democracy is an American cultural phenomenon irrelevant to their national experience.

Our programs and resources have all been developed through international collaborations. We hope that you find them useful examples no matter where you come from. Please feel free to use anything you find on our site and to contact us if you have questions or would like to partner with us.