By Gabriel Marmentini and Rafael Crispim
Studies have shown that citizens in many countries, especially younger ones, are uninformed, alienated, and agnostic when it comes to the functioning of political institutions and the practices and values necessary for the exercise of democratic citizenship.
To try to overcome this problem and offer qualified civic education to young people, governments in several countries have developed civic education programs targeted to elementary and secondary school students. These programs aim at improving the preparation of kids for living and acting in a democracy. These initiatives often present a dimension of neutrality, defense of plurality and individual freedom, without presenting interpellations or ideological guidelines.
Different public and private organizations seek to complement formal civic education. Take for instance youth parliamentary programs led by governments, or the United Nations programs targeted at younger generations. Though many social actors are involved with the topic, evidence is scarce on the effective impact of programs of this type coordinated by civil society organizations (CSOs). How do civil society organizations effectively contribute to civic education and the formation of leaders committed to democratic values? And particularly, which lessons can be learned from the experiences of developing countries?
To answer such questions, we analyzed in detail the case of Politize! – Civic Education Institute, a Brazilian civil society organization dedicated to strengthening democracy in the country through content, training, and campaigns. Since 2018, Politize! has run the “Ambassadors” program, which targets young Brazilians, and develops educational and practical activities to train civic leaders to solve public problems. The program has trained over 2,000 leaders from multiple municipalities across the territory and is helping advance a democratic culture throughout the country.
In our analysis, civil society organizations engaged with local leaders may act as complementors to “traditional” forms of civic education. This way, programs and projects in that regard may be complementary instruments to promote reflection and assimilation of democratic values and attitudes. Also, the recent political landscape in Brazil has been characterized by a lack of trust in politicians and political parties, hate discourse, and systematic mis and disinformation propagated through social media. The complexity of this context allows us to extract lessons learned from a successful case and to sound a call for action to other organizations across the globe to contribute to the formation of the next generation of civic leaders.
Political (dis)engagement in Brazil
Brazil struggles with a high degree of political disengagement, especially among young people, which leads to political apathy and disbelief in institutions, as demonstrated by studies of different institutions. For instance, a recent survey1 carried out with more than a thousand young Brazilians showed that about twenty percent of them did not understand the concept of democracy, and more than half of those interviewed said they did not trust political parties. Furthermore, the study also indicated that none of the official institutions of the Brazilian state exceed 50 percent trust among those interviewed. Adding to this lack of trust is a level of political polarization that discourages people from engaging in conversations with those who hold different views—a situation that particularly affects younger individuals.
This persistent distrust that young people have in political institutions does not necessarily mean a lack of adherence or commitment to democratic values. As we argue, the political engagement of today’s younger generation (the so-called “Gen Z”) could be characterized as engaged skepticism.2 In other words, a skeptical perception towards parties and professional politicians due to their distance from citizens’ real problems, coupled with an attitude of engagement in local and immediate issues.
So how can society benefit from this positive (though skeptical) attitude and engage youngsters in civic participation? The way we understand the situation, young people should be better informed and prepared with the right tools to exercise their citizenship, which is what formal education programs on topics related to politics and citizenship aim to promote.
Integrating civic education into formal school curricula
The relationship between formal education and political participation is perhaps one of the best-established relationships that exists in the field of political behavior. It is generally argued that with more formal education comes a greater interest in politics, a greater concern with elections, a greater confidence in carrying out one’s role as a citizen, and so on.
For these reasons, there has been a notable growth in the interest of new approaches to civic education around the world since the last decade of the twentieth century. This interest has taken many forms, including program implementations, research projects, policy plans, and the development of important resources and curriculum initiatives for schools to meet the need for a new and more effective educational approach to democratic citizenship. This entire movement was due to the reported decline in the rate of active participation of citizens in civic life. Consequently, many Western democracies carried out analyses and research projects that subsequently inspired curriculum initiatives that reflected a new approach to civic education and citizenship for schools.
Generally, these educational programs have been centered on three aspects: (1) political knowledge, (2) civic participation, and (3) strengthening democratic values. What is generally suggested is that the school should work on the themes of civic education through democratic practices governed by criteria of equality, freedom, and justice. The objective would, therefore, be to prepare young people to adopt democratic ideas and habits, teaching them how to participate in civic life, and how to make autonomous and informed decisions. This would encourage self-reflection and foster an understanding of both individual and collective interests, emphasizing the importance of maintaining consistent opinions on significant issues over time. It would also enhance civic knowledge about the functioning of institutions, strengthen support for democratic values, increase trust in public life, and more.
Civil society organizations (CSOs) have also been invited to participate in such initiatives in a period when organized groups were called upon to engage in public affairs, enabling them to autonomously share the exercise of political power. This recognition was linked to the belief that democracy needs to consolidate itself and to be supported by a set of democratic values constructed and exercised through the daily practices of diverse actors in society. In this way, CSOs have had a relevant role in building the curricula that would be the reference for schools to integrate civic education into their educational programs.
But one piece is missing in this equation: exposure to practical problems and the identification of actual solutions, or the so-called “learning-by-doing.” It is precisely in this aspect that we believe CSOs may act as complementors of traditional civic education programs. As CSOs are generally closer to social movements and societal demands, these organizations can amplify younger generations’ learning experiences by bridging theoretical and practical knowledge.
Such initiatives are already in place, but the work of civil society organizations is often fragmented and may not be connected to a structured governmental program, limiting the impact. In Brazil, one organization has developed a civic education program and is achieving success training new civic leaders to act for the benefit of their communities. The lessons from this work may be valuable to inspire other initiatives elsewhere.
Civil society as a complementor of civic education: the case of Politize!
Created in 2015, Politize! is a CSO whose mission is to build a generation of citizens who are aware and committed to democracy by providing civic education to anyone, anywhere, always with respect for the plurality of ideas, beliefs, and positions. The institution has four main areas of activity: content, basic education, campaigns, and leadership training.
As mentioned, one of Politize’s main leadership training programs is called “Ambassadors.” Politize! maintains a network of more than 56 “Embassies” spread across Brazil through the program, whose objective is to develop educational and practical activities to train civic leaders capable of collaborating in solving public problems. Since 2018, Politize! has already trained more than 2,900 people from 392 municipalities in all Brazilian states. These Ambassadors are encouraged to take an active role in identifying and solving problems in their communities. Their actions have already impacted more than 180,000 people and resulted in more than 600 public policy proposals at the municipal and state levels.
The Ambassadors program is structured in two stages. First, the participants receive formal online training regarding democratic values and the Brazilian political institutions. The objective is to level the knowledge base for every participant. In the second stage of the program, participants are incentivized to develop the Public Policy Canvas3 and to engage in social impact projects. These projects are carrying out activities within local communities, providing important information to the population, and creating proposals for solving the municipalities’ main challenges.
Empowering young people to understand Brazilian democracy
After being exposed to formal and nonpartisan content in the first stage of the program, participants report an apparent greater ease in understanding the role of each institution in the three branches of the Brazilian Republic. The responsibilities of the legislative and judiciary initially generated confusion in many cases, but these were generally resolved throughout the classes. For example, the program evaluation reveals that there is a positive variation of 13.75 percent in the understanding of the role of a judge from the initial to the final assessment. There is a learning curve that participants experience, but the final result is a general higher understanding of how politics and government are structured.
Another relevant aspect is an apparent greater adherence to democratic values among participants who completed the program, mainly in relation to respect for divergent opinions and decisions made by the majority of the population. When asking participants whether they would support a coup d’état, it is possible to observe a considerable reduction in the number of them who would support such an action and an increase in the same proportion of participants who would not support a coup in any way after the end of the program.
Participants of the Ambassadors program are also asked about their perceptions regarding democracy in Brazil. In general, it is clear that even after training there is a degree of distrust in democratic institutions, which contributes to the idea of “engaged skepticism” mentioned before. We identified that, for instance, confidence in elections and in Brazilian democracy itself is not unanimous among young people participating in the program. Although the majority of them say they believe they live in a democracy, there is a significant number of participants who indicate having some reservations.
Another example of this same behavior is noticeable when we ask participants about their trust in institutions. About 63 percent of participants indicate at the beginning of the program that they trust state institutions, while at the end of the program this number increases to approximately 78 percent. This degree of trust in institutions is greater than that found in other studies mentioned earlier, in which trust levels of the official institutions of the Brazilian state never exceed 50 percent among those interviewed. There is an apparent influence of the training program on the participants’ understanding of Brazilian democratic institutions and, as a consequence, a greater degree of confidence in their functioning, though this impact is not unanimous.
In general, what these ideas suggest to us is that there is, in fact, a beneficial effect of the Politize! Ambassadors Program in terms of the civic education of its participants. Those who undergo this type of training tend to become politically engaged, strengthen their capabilities to communicate and develop healthy dialogues, and are more able to identify public problems in a more structured manner. We can also see that young people, although initially skeptical, begin to understand democratic institutions in greater depth and, from this, tend to believe in democracy, consolidating their bond with democratic values throughout the program and beyond it.
Recognizing oneself as a civic leader
The training of civic leaders offered under the Politize! Ambassadors Program involves objective and subjective elements. The program includes exchanges of experiences and individual reflections as part of the training process. Politize! structured the second stage of the program to focus on the practical application of the knowledge acquired on the first stage. Through the engagement of participants with the Embassies, participants are invited to connect with their local realities and create proposals for solutions to public problems.
Carolina, Isabella, and Gabriela are Ambassadors in the State of Santa Catarina, in Brazil’s southern region. The group decided to propose a public policy that addressed single mothers’ issues, such as lack of childcare and/or support networks. But they researched and could not find data repositories on this topic in their municipality, so they proposed a public policy to incentivize data collection initiatives at the municipal level, which would shed light on this issue and bring visibility to the cause. Another example is Magda, an Ambassador in Ceará (northeastern region), who created a public policy proposal aimed at elderly people in her city. The idea was to create a mobile app dedicated to this population to help them access public services such as healthcare appointments, emergency calls, and so on. Her proposal inspired a bill that is currently under consideration by the local parliament.
The participants of Politize!’s Ambassadors program have been encouraged to lead civic action, recognizing themselves as political actors capable of changing their communities for the better. As a participant from Rio de Janeiro said: “I think a civic leader is a person who doesn’t necessarily have a title, but who mobilizes people first. For me, civic leadership is someone who can mobilize other people towards a specific objective for society.”
A call to action
As we argued earlier, many young citizens have feelings of distrust in democratic institutions and, therefore, end up moving away from political life. To overcome this problem, in addition to formal civic education in schools as a public policy, we suggest that civil society organizations could act in youth engagement and can complement the states’ initiatives in this regard. With the example of Politize!’s Ambassadors Program, we sought to illustrate how CSOs can structure civic education programs that are effective and generate the desired impact.
Programs which seek to forge civic leaders must also expose participants to practical experiences of political action and, in this way, form a generation of citizens aligned with democratic values. The more familiar younger citizens become with “democratic culture,” the better they will be prepared to assume positions of public leadership and strengthen democratic institutions from within.
Our ultimate goal is to ensure that future generations are more aware of and committed to democracy. This involves fully understanding how to effectively exercise citizenship. For this to be true, a whole nation should understand democracy as much more than holding periodic free elections. And this is our call: despite the government, or political ideology, every democratic country should be committed to forging leaders that will act in ways that benefit their communities. While governments have a role to play in this process, their efforts must be supported by social movements and civil society organizations. CSOs in countries that also want to help strengthen their democracies can act to achieve such an objective. After all, a full democracy is built on solid pillars, among which is democratic civic education.
Gabriel Marmentini is a Brazilian social entrepreneur who co-founded two civil society organizations: Politize! – Civic Education Institute, and the Brazilian Association of Head and Neck Cancer (ACBG Brasil). His bachelor’s degree was in Public Management, and his MSc and PhD in Management.
Rafael Crispim serves as the Volunteer Administrative Director of Politize! and is a Ph.D. Candidate at the School of Economics, Business and Accounting, at the University of Sao Paulo, in Brazil. He has also been a Visiting Scholar at SDA Bocconi School of Management, in Italy.
