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14-16 November 2013, The Hague (The Netherlands)
The programme for this year’s NECE conference is now set, and registration for the conference workshops has been thrown open! This year the event will address the following topics and questions: How should citizenship education deal with democracy deficits and the loss of trust in the European project? How can citizenship education interact and cooperate with movements in civil society? How can we increase voter turnout in the European Parliament elections in May 2014? What is the role of citizenship education in funding programmes of the EU and how should it be promoted on the European level? There will be numerous opportunities to actively take part in the conference, among them the World Café, a Project Pitch Session, an Open Forum and a Project Marketplace. Participants are invited to draw up a public ‘Conference Paper’ to include recommendations on the topic of democratisation and participation in the EU.
Register now for the conference the workshops and side events: Registration NECE Conference 2013

The first NECE Focus Group Workshop “Participatory Budgeting” successfully took place on 11-12 October 2013 at the Federal Agency for Civic Education/bpb in Berlin, Germany. Within a small circle of stakeholders and experts from science and practice, strategies for an efficiently future networking and a concept to present the group at this year’s NECE Conference on 14-16 November 2013 in The Hage (the Netherlands) were developed. The results of the workshop will be published at our website, soon. If you are interested in a long-term participation please register at
focusgroup-pb@lab-concepts.de.
For more information and registration: Participatory Budgeting

8-10 December 2013, Alexandria (Egypt)
This focus group’s next meeting will take place within the framework of the Civic Education Conference Egypt (CECE) in Alexandria on 11 December 2013. The CECE is organised by the Goethe-Institut Cairo and the Tahrir Lounge in co-operation with the Hanns Seidel Foundation and the German Federal Agency for Civic Education/ bpb.
For more information and registration: Focus group meeting at the CECE.

8 - 10 December 2013, Alexandria (Egypt)
Within the framework of the German-Egyptian transformation partnership, the Goethe-Institut Cairo and the Tahrir Lounge are organising a conference in co-operation with the Hanns Seidel Foundation and the German Federal Agency for Civic Education/ bpb focused on the role of civic education and civil society during democratic transition. It will also raise and address questions on how civic education methods foster responsible citizenship. The organisers would like to extend a warm welcome to participate in the conference to European stakeholders from the field of citizenship education. The number of available spaces is limited.
For more information and registration: Goethe-Institut Cairo

In a recent article, Spanish NECE correspondent Concepción Naval looked at the “Civic Parliament” joint initiative sponsored by the University of Navarre and the autonomous region’s parliament, which is seeking ways to promote democratic values and civic participation. The aim of the initiative is to help define the underlying educational needs in terms of social communication and co-operation (for social action) that are required to motivate and contribute to the maintenance of such processes. Read the full article at the NECE website.
Find out more at: Parlamento Cívico

Since the transmission of the Memorandum to the Council of Europe regarding the Spanish Government´s project to remove Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education in school curriculum by the Fundación Cives in February 2013, they achieved the following things:

- Declaration of the Spanish State Council asking the Government to please not remove the course.
- Invitation to the Spanish Parliament to expose the cause
- Achieving a big European CSO support
- The Commissioner on Human Rights of the Council of Europe after receiving the letter and investigating in Spain, has published a report in which the asks the Government to reconsider this decision.

If any EU organisation wants to support the initiative of Fundación Cives, please send an E-mail to Edurne Grau, Coordinator at the Fundación Cives: edurnegrau@fundacioncives.org
Regarding the current situation, please read a comment by Edurne Grau here.

The European Commission has published a policy review document on 'Co-creating European Union Citizenship'. The document draws on the key research findings of fifteen EU-funded social sciences and humanities research projects that have contributed to the understanding of the genesis and evolution of EU citizenship. While citizenship status promises an important set of rights and opportunities for all EU citizens, challenges remain, and the report discusses the numerous remaining obstacles to reaching EU citizenship rights.
Find out more at: EUDO Observatory on Citizenship

Lead by the Open University in the UK, the FP7-funded research project “Enacting European Citizenship” has produced some very original results based on using innovative methodology involving activists and civil society directly in conducting research – and not limiting activities to 'traditional' forms of citizen participation, or actors who already consider themselves to be 'European' citizens. The project challenges dominant conceptions and ideas surrounding the meaning of European Citizenship, and highlights forms of active citizenship that are at risk of being forgotten by European institutions.
Find out more at: European Commission

England’s Department for Education has published a final draft of its National Curriculum for secondary schools in the country. The curriculum contains a number of specific changes that will have an impact on areas such as human rights and references to democracy, public institutions, voluntary groups and the ways that citizens` work together to improve communities. A key element is the inclusion of requirements to teach citizenship skills alongside knowledge and understanding – in particular the skills of critical thinking about political issues, research, debate and reasoned argument – as well as active participation in different forms of responsible action.
Find out more at: Democratic Life

Ofsted has just released a report on the state of citizenship education in England, which evaluates the quality of citizenship education in primary and secondary schools. It is based on evidence from inspections of citizenship between September 2009 and July 2012 in 126 maintained schools in England, including four special schools. Part A focuses on the strengths and weaknesses identified during the survey. Part B provides specific examples of good practice in teaching and learning in citizenship.
Find out more at: Citizenship Education in England

European citizens, organisations and policymakers can take part in a web-based discussion about Europe’s Single Market going on until 23 October 2013. Participants are encouraged to submit their own ideas and views on the topics of employment, social rights, banks and e-commerce, as well as to comment and vote on ideas submitted by others and take part in live online chats with experts and people who work for the EU. The results of the debate, which was initiated by the European Commission, will be summarised in a final report that is to be used as a reference source in shaping future EU legislation.
Find out more at: Online Debate Future Europe
Join the Online Debate: Your ideas for Europe

The EP has launched a four-phase information campaign leading up to the 2014 parliamentary elections. The first-phase baseline programme ACT.REACT.IMPACT, which seeks to explain the European Parliament’s new powers and their implications for people living in the EU, was launched in early September. Beginning in October and lasting until February 2014, Phase Two will highlight five key topics – the economy, jobs, quality of life, money and the EU in the world – at a series of interactive events in European cities. Starting in February 2014, Phase Three includes the election campaign proper, and will focus on the 22-25 May election dates. After the elections, a final phase will focus on the newly-elected European Parliament, its selection of the next European Commission President and the inauguration of the new Commission. .
Find out more at: EP Election Campaign

The Federation of Organizations Supporting the Development of Volunteerism in Romania (VOLUM) has made prolonged efforts to improve legal provisions involving volunteer activities in the country. The 50 NGOs that are part of the federation have now proposed amendments to legislation regulating the area (Law Nr. 195/2001). Implementing a legislative project like this is an important step towards also implementing the “Public Agenda of Volunteering in Romania 2012-2020” that was set down in 2011.
Find out more at: Changing the volunteering Law in Romania

The programme “Actors of Urban Change” is aimed at achieving sustainable and participatory urban development through cultural activities. This is carried out by strengthening competencies for cross-sector collaboration among actors from the cultural scene, current political administrations and the private sector. Through local projects, coaching and Europe-wide exchange, our actors of urban change put those skills into practice. The programme’s pilot stage will span from the summer of 2013 until the summer of 2015. Deadline for applications is 27 October 2013
For more information: Robert Bosch Stiftung

This issue will focus on young Europeans’ understanding of civics and citizenship and their perceptions, attitudes and behaviours with respect to specific European-related civic and political issues, institutions and policies. It will examine youth interest in public and political commitment, perceptions of threats to civil society, and democratic values. Its aim is to shed light on youth participation in activities to help people in communities foster the promotion of human rights, protection of the environment, support for equal rights and opportunities for ethnic/racial groups and immigrants. Deadline for submissions is 20 December 2013.
For more information: JSSE Call for Paper

22-25 October 2013, Kaunas (Lithuania)
The Eastern Partnership Youth Forum is aimed at increasing sustainable political/civic commitment in order to further support non-formal learning and youth work recognition processes through cooperation in the field of youth activities. The objective of this event is to improve both social inclusion and the lives of young people by increasing the quality and recognition of non-formal learning, education and youth work, as well as to make outcomes visible and transferable to other sectors.
For more information: Eastern Partnership Youth Forum

28-30 October 2013, Stockholm (Sweden)
The "Connecting Baltic Citizenship" seminar seeks to create strong networking possibilities between participating organisations, as well as providing knowledge about the “Europe for Citizens” citizenship programme and other relevant tools. Its main objectives are to encourage international and cross-sectoral partnerships, to identify resources for future cooperation, to offer space for exchanging experiences and good practices and to provide input on the next generation of “Europe for Citizens” in areas such as structure, selection procedures and application processes.
For more information: Connecting Baltic Citizenship

24-25 October 2013, Brussels (Belgium)
Horizon 2020, COSME, Erasmus for All, Creative Europe, and many other new EU programmes – a great amount of funding will be available for universities, research institutions, SMEs, industry, public authorities, NGOs and other stakeholders over the next seven years in Horizon 2020 and other funding sources. Yet, competition will be tough and only the most innovative concepts to be managed by excellent teams will be selected for funding.
For more information and registration: EU Training Site

Current publications on issues involving citizenship education in Europe can be found at the NECE website.

You receive the NECE Newsletter because you subscribe and confirmed to receive information about the NECE-Networking European Citizenship Education initiative. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here. The NECE Newsletter is published regularly and is distributed via e-mail and is open to everyone on the website: www.nece.eu.

The NECE newsletter is published by: Federal Agency for Civic Education, Germany Responsible in the sense of the German Tele-Media-Law. Adenauerallee 86, 53113 Bonn (Germany) www.bpb.de / www.nece.eu

If you have any questions please e-mail to: nece@lab-concepts.de

The NECE newsletter contains information about current professional debates in the field of citizenship education in Europe. We hope it will serve as an important tool of communication and co-operation among stakeholders and institutions in Europe actively engaged in citizenship education. Our aim is to increase transparency for the national actors in this field and for the growing NECE network.