Education for Democratic Citizenship and Well-Being (EDC-WB)

General Overview

EDC-WB aims to create a practical democratic educational programme for Ukrainian educators and community leaders, to empower Ukrainian citizens to exercise their democratic rights and engage actively in democratic life.

Purpose and Significance

Ukraine is progressing towards democratic governance and European Union membership. The processes of democratisation and European integration require not only the consolidation of democratic institutions but also the socialisation of democratic values within society. A significant challenge for Ukrainian democracy is the limited societal understanding of democracy and citizenship, coupled with a lack of experience with a functioning democratic system. In democracy indexes such as V-Dem, Freedom House, and Nations in Transit, Ukraine is often classified as a transitional or hybrid regime with substantial challenges to overcome. These classifications reflect ongoing deficiencies in the implementation and understanding of democratic principles. Despite making strides, Ukraine still faces a long journey towards developing a stable and deeply rooted democracy that is solidified not only institutionally but also within its society.

The Education for Democratic Citizenship and Well-Being (EDC-WB) project addresses these challenges by creating a democratic educational programme for various Ukrainian stakeholders, supported by the Ministry of Education and Science in Ukraine. Additionally, the creation of a technical platform to host such programmes is planned. Under the coordination of Linnaeus University, Sweden, three other EUniWell universities are involved: Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Ukraine, the University of Murcia, Spain, and Nantes Université, France.

Ukrainian flags being shown in front of an official building

© Karollyne Videira Hubert on Unsplash

Implementation Method and Timeline

To successfully implement this educational programme, multiple workshops and meetings with strong participation from Ukrainian key stakeholders are conducted. These meetings are followed by weekly digital meetings to ensure continuous exchange within the project team.

June, 2024: Project launch - Online

September, 2024: Project-Meeting 1 – Poland

The first workshop in Krakow, Poland focused on sharing expertise, identifying target groups, and understanding their needs regarding democratic education. It was held in Krakow, Poland to ensure a smooth and safe travel for Ukrainian partners and to explore possible cooperation within future applications with Jagiellonian University in Krakow.

October 2024: Project-Meeting 2 - Spain

The second meeting in Murcia, Spain, focused on developing training program for online and onsite implementation, teaching methods and recruitment procedures.

February, 2025: Project-Meeting 3 - Spain 

The third workshop/meeting will prioritise consolidate the training program, assess the necessary technical tools for implementing the educational courses developed and to start recruitment process of participants.

April, 2025: Student Seminar - Online

A seminar for students from partner universities, coordinated digitally by Linnaeus University, will be held.

Expected Outcomes

By focusing on education for democratic citizenship, EDC-WB strives to empower Ukrainian target groups to facilitate education and dissemination through theory and practice. The programme aims to equip learners with knowledge and skills to understand and promote democratic rights and responsibilities in Ukrainian society.

In December of 2024, the project was awarded 300,000 euros from the Swedish Institute to implement the training program to four strategic Ukrainian stakeholders. This work will continue in 2025-2026 with the first training session in August of 2025.

The program on Education for Democratic Citizenship focuses on the following modules:

  • Democratic Governance;
  • Democratic Education;
  • EU Governance & Citizenship.

The project will also result in a larger application to Erasmus+ in 2025.

Contact:

Daniel Silander, Department of Political Science, Linnaeus University
Jan Aidemark, Department of Informatics, Linnaeus University