Globally connected, locally engaged

Active Citizens is a social leadership training programme that promotes intercultural dialogue and community-led social development.

Through the programme, we bring together people with different beliefs and perspectives to learn from and share with each other. Working with our partners around the globe, we train participants in the skills and knowledge needed to affect social change in their communities.

'I thought that global connection is important, I was wrong! Now, after participating in Active Citizens ; I think that global connection is the only means to build any successful society' Ayman Elshahed attended Active Citizens in 2012 as a university student, implemented Social Action Project in Imbaba and now he established his own  NGO which successfully builds the capacity of hundreds of Egyptians every year. 

Our training highlights the following:

Step 1  - Me - Identity and culture

Participants get a better understanding of the concepts of identity and culture and apply their learning to understanding the beliefs, behaviour and attitudes of themselves and other people.

Step 2 - Me and You - Intercultural Dialogue

Participants learn methods of dialogue as a tool for building empathy, trust and understanding within and across cultures.

Step 3 - Local and Global Community - We together

Participants develop an understanding of ‘community’ and its relationship with identity and culture. The group apply their learning to their own community to identify the problem they would like to address and the people they need to engage to achieve their objectives.

Step 4 - Social Action Planning

Participants focus on planning a social action initiative in their community, considering the process in different levels of detail and complexity. This involves identifying and clarifying their agenda, a specific intervention and how they will deliver it. 

A Glimpse of our Social Action Projects: 

 

Can Ya Makan

Advocating youth participation in policy making; by building the capacities of youth in the field of public policy analysis and writing policy recommendation papers. The volunteers worked on specific societal problem for which they developed their own policy recommendation and a policy brief. Developing the advocacy tools for their policy papers as a creative short video presenting the policy recommendations in a story telling way.

For more information, visit Can Ya Makan.

Different and Equal (5 Netfahem)

Promoting effective dialogue, reconciliation, tolerance, and respect to diversity among youth in Egypt. In partnership with the Ministry of Youth and a number of local civil society organizations, the Project organized four five-day Different and Equal Camps and a large number of active citizens’ workshops for 1000+ youth from different governorates all over Egypt who initiated community initiatives promoting effective dialogue.

For more information, visit their Facebook page.

Drop of Water

The initiative seeks to establish and mobilize a network of volunteers, that promote awareness and behaviour change campaigns while developing the volunteers’ knowledge and skill base. Thus, the active citizens are initiating this campaign to increase the knowledge “water” in Egypt, improving public awareness and health practices relating to water consumption and improving practices around domestic water use.

For more information, visit their Facebook page.

Read about the positive experiences of other Active Citizens on the British Council website.

MORE INFORMATION

Visit the Active Citizens website to learn more about the programme or email your questions to the team.
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