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Citizens must reclaim public sphere

Enlisting three vital steps to reclaim civic society in Pakistan, renowned political scientist, Dr. Rasul Buksh Rais stressed to redefine civil-military relationship, reconsider relationship of religion with the state and evolve democratic mechanism to deal with ethnic and religious minorities. Addressing at a panel discussion on “Public Sphere for Civic Action? Squeezing, Expanding or Changing?,” on the second day of the National Conference on Active Citizenship by the Center for Civic Education Pakistan, Dr Rais said, “dilemma of Pakistani politics is elite settlement that excludes citizens.” More

Renowned human rights activist, I. A. Rehman has said that the civil society’s ability to constructively participate in the affairs of the country is increasingly squeezing. “Citizen’s are alienated and are losing their trust in their ability to bring about meaningful change” he added.

Delivering keynote address on Civic Courage in Pakistan at National Conference on Active Citizenship arranged by the Centre for Civic Education Pakistan with support from National Endowment for Democracy, I. A. Rehman said, “finally the 160 million citizens of Pakistan will be successful in the endeavours to realize dream of people-centered Pakistan.  More

Lord Malloch-Brown, Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth office of the UK government, said that civic education has the answers to community problems. 
Speaking at the conclusion of a two days teachers’ training workshop of Project Citizen Pakistan, arranged by the Centre for Civic Education Pakistan with support from the Global Opportunities Fund, Foreign and Commonwealth office of the UK government, he admired the concept of Project Citizen Pakistan that links education with solution of the community problems by involving schools kids. He said teachers are critical to a country and its future because they trained the future generations to participate and contribute in community life. More

The Freedom of Information Ordinance 2002:
5-Years on: window yet to be opened

Citizens need information to follow and scrutinize the actions of the government. Accurate and timely information enables them to have a meaningful say in decision-making processes and enhances their ability to hold the government accountable. 

Globally the idea of citizens’ right to know is gaining grounds as a proactive concern and today more than 57 countries of the world, including Pakistan have formally acknowledged it by adopting Freedom of Information laws. Resultantly the culture of openness is replacing the centuries old practices of secrecy in the arena of governance. More

Centre for Civic Education Pakistan (CCE) with support from National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) has launched Leadership Development Course for Youth. Twenty young leaders from diverse fields like academia, business, journalism, law and civic sector hailing from different parts of Pakistan have been selected through a competitive process to participate in the course. More

Youth Training 

The first training workshop of Leadership Development Course for Youth was held in Islamabad from May 25-27, 2007. Mr. Zafarullah Khan, executive director of CCE, facilitated the course. The sessions were designed to discuss democracy as a system of governance, participatory culture and pluralist mindset. Political system (polity, parties, the Parliament and public policies) in Pakistan and imperatives of active citizenship were also part of the course contents. Special sessions on effective communication skills, and research methodology for conducting survey/opinion polls were embedded in the program. The participants of the course will be conducting survey to study the causes of non-engagement among Pakistani Youth. Mr. Emil Atanasovski, Youth Program Manager, of National Democratic Institute of International Affairs on this occasion talked about the role of youth in promoting participation in political processes.

Guest Lecture: Pakistan an open but less democratic society

Renowned social scientist Dr. Saeed Shafqat delivered a lecture on “Role of Youth in a Democratic Society” at Leadership Development Course for Youth. Dr. Shafqat said Pakistani society is a belief driven society where beliefs are dominant and research is not given much importance. Pakistani society is a non-democratic but an open society where people very frankly give their views about issues, he added. More

The participants of Leadership Development Course for Youth visited central secretariats of Pakistan Peoples Party and Pakistan Muslim League in Islamabad. At the PPP central secretariat, Senators Safdar Abbasi and Dr. Babar Awan and staff of the secretariat welcomed them. The PPP Senators briefed them about their party structure, functioning and PPP policies and stand on different issues. More

School kids exhibit amazing public policy formulation skills

Middle grade students of three selected schools came up with creative solutions to solve increasing traffic problems in Rawalpindi. “Driving license should be issued only after training and proper driving test. Secondly the culture of one car for every student must end with introduction of decent school transport,” they suggested. More

School kids bring hope to their community

Middle grade students of Islamabad worked on 32 amazing projects and came up with innovative solutions to community problems like waste disposal, clean drinking water, encroachment on roads and footpaths, and counterfeit medicines. More

School kids suggest public policy options

Middle grade students of five selected public schools exhibited amazing policy formulation skills for solution of problems of clean drinking water, increasing  street crimes, hazards of kite flying, garbage disposal and growing unemployment in Lahore, at a ceremony arranged by the Centre for Civic Education Pakistan. More

Students suggest solutions to community problems

Youth participation in democratic process

Youth active participation in democratic processes can provide a stimulus for solving people’s problems, said Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif, deputy chairman of the National Volunteer Movement while speaking as chief guest at the show case ceremony of Project Citizen Pakistan for Youth, arranged by the Centre for Civic Education Pakistan (CCEP) at Muhammad Ali Jinnah University. More

Since 2004 Centre for Civic Education Pakistan has been campaigning for funding reforms for political parties and strongly advocating for checks on abuse of money in politics. The CCE has prepared a Civic Brief to portray the financial health of major political parties during 2005-2006. The next General Elections constitutionally due in 2008 are a timely occasion to introduce funding reforms so that Pakistani democracy evolves to a point where the participation of political parties does not depend on the size of their resources. 

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Civitas Declaration

10th Annual World Congress • Warsaw, Poland • May 2006 More

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Educating the Young for Active Citizenship

Centre for Civic Education Pakistan has launched Project Citizen Pakistan in 58 (public and private) schools of Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore and Peshawar. Eight youth groups have been involved to promote the concept of active citizenship among out of school young people. More

Project Citizen Pakistan launched in Lahore

Mian Imran Masood, Minister of Education Punjab addressing at the inaugural ceremony of Project Citizen Pakistan exhorted the need of community participation in improving the affairs of educational institutions. “We are open to new ideas, innovative initiatives and are willing to support reputable and serious non-governmental organizations,” he added. More

Project Citizen Pakistan launched in Peshawar

In Peshawar Project Citizen Pakistan was launched by Mr. Shafiullah Khan, Secretary, NWFP government for Schools and Literacy Department who viewed the project as a step in the right direction to create civic awareness among students.

Nazim City District Government, Haji Ghulam Ali, was the chief guest at the concluding ceremony of the teachers’ training workshop. He said that every citizen can play his/her role in development of the country. He regretted that citizens talk about corruption in governance and complaint about lack of civic amenities but do not come forward to put in their share in correcting the wrongs being done. He said the system of governance cannot be reformed without active participation of all citizens.

Project Citizen Pakistan launched in Islamabad

Brig. (retd) Maqsudul Hassan, Director General, Federal Directorate of Education inaugurated Teachers’ Training Workshop for Project Citizen Pakistan in Islamabad. On this occasion he said that the aim of education should be to prepare good and responsible citizens for future. More

Centre for Civic Education Pakistan, considering access to information as ‘oxygen’ for good governance and a basic tool to empower the citizens, has translated country’s Freedom of Information law in to Urdu (national language). Since literacy level in Pakistan is pathetically low, the Urdu version of the law and enabling tips to use it were widely appreciated. The CCE-Pakistan also translated the “access to information” related clauses of the local government law in to Urdu.

Political Party Law

Centre for Civic Education Pakistan in collaboration with National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) has translated Political Parties Order (PPO) 2002 into Urdu. The translation will help political activists understand the law better so that their parties can meet requirements of the law. In Pakistan laws are written in English, a language which vast majority of the people cannot understand. We hope that translation of the law will not only be helpful for political activists to understand the law but will also trigger a debate inside and outside the parliament for brining improvement in the present law.

Centre for Civic Education Pakistan, with support from National Endowment for Democracy arranged a roundtable on “Voters Registration in Pakistan: a vital step towards democratic participation.” Speakers included; Kanwar Muhammad Dilshad, Secretary Election Commission of Pakistan, Brig (retd) Saleem Ahmad Moeen, Chairman National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), Ahsan Iqbal, information secretay-PML-N, Dr. Shehzad Wasim, former minister of state for interior and leader of ruling PML, Senator Rukhsana Zuberi of PPPP, Wilson Lee, Assistant Program officer of National Endowment for Democracy, and Zafarullah Khan, Executive Director CCE-Pakistan. More

Centre for Civic Education Pakistan, with support from the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), arranged Multi-party roundtables on Internal Party Communication in Karachi and Quetta. Mr. Ian Reid, a Canadian communication consultant, was the guest speaker. Activists of the Pakistan Muslim League, Pakistan Muslim League (N), Muttahida Quami Movement, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) and Pakistan Peoples Party attended the roundtable in Karachi. In Quetta the participants were from Pakistan Muslim League, Pakistan Muslim League (N), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F), Pakistan Peoples Party, Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, Balochistan National Party, Jamhoori Watan Party and  National Party. More

Centre for Civic Education Pakistan arranged a National Conference on “Political Parties and Challenges of Democratic Development” in Islamabad. In their separate messages for the inaugural session of the conference leaders of five mainstream political parties, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, President Pakistan Muslim League, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Ameer Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam, Qazi Hussain Ahmad, Ameer Jama’at-i-Islami, Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, Quaid Pakistan Muslim League-N and Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, Chairperson Pakistan Peoples Party exhorted the need to strengthen political parties for stability of democracy and development of the country.  More

Centre for Civic Education Pakistan has initiated “Civic Link Lectures Series” to provide forum for discussion on vital civic concerns. First lecture of the series on, “NGOs and Political Parties: Can they be complementary Players?” was delivered by Mr. Ivan Doherty, Director of Political Party Programs at the National Democratic Institute (NDI). More

Zafarullah Khan, Executive Director, Centre for Civic Education, had an opportunity to emphasize the need of ‘normative parties based democracy in Pakistan with chances of free and fair political competition’ along with highlighting the work of the centre especially, Pakistani Project Citizen, Political Party Development Program, Civic Education Campaign and Political Funding Reforms Campaign in a meeting with President George W. Bush, Secretary Condalisa Rice and Ambassador, Ryan C. Crocker.  More

Centre for Civic Education Pakistan has joined World Movement for Democracy-a network of democrats who are struggling to open closed societies, challenge dictatorships, democratize semi-authoritarian systems, consolidate emerging democracies, and strengthen established democracies. More

To promote the concept of active citizenship and educate people about their rights, Centre for Civic Education Pakistan has established a Civic Education Network in ten districts of the country. With support from National Endowment for Democracy the Civic Education Network has embarked on a Voters Registration Campaign to persuade and guide people, particularly youth above 18 years and women, to get their names registered in the electoral rolls.  More

Centre for Civic Education Pakistan, has produced a series of public service radio programs titled “Civic Link”, on topics of citizen’s interest including; Safe Cities, Safe Schools (in the backdrop of devastating earthquake), Freedom of Information, Voter Registration, Local Government, Good Governance, Political Parties, Civic Education, Civil Society, and Free Market Economy. Prominent media anchor, Tauseeq Haider hosted these programs. More