Conducted the training ENGAGEMENT to address the lack of nonformal education in schools
SMART Method of Public Policy has been used during the ENGAGEMENT training organized by the Center for Sustainable Community Development, addressing the problem of lack of nonformal education in schools. This problem was initially published on www.PoliticiPublice.ro, the Romanian citizen engagement platform serving SMART Method of Public Policy. The participants at the training discussed options to solve the problem and made an official recommendation to the Ministry of Education. The training ENGAGEMENT is made up of three parts: a theoretical part of civic engagement and policy making, a practical part consisting in World Caffee where participants discuss the options to solve the problem and another practical part consisting in real-world policy making, when participants choose the best line of action and make the recommendation to public authorities. A policy paper is also issued, officially endorsing the solution to the targeted public authority able to allocate resources and implement the solution in the community.
I want to showcase in this blog post a working day using the training ENGAGEMENT:
First, we discuss theoretical aspects of citizen engagement and policy making.
Then, we discuss the problem, analyze the solutions received from citizens on the active participation platform www.PoliticiPublice.ro (in this case) and, together with the participants, we decide what the options are to address the problem. In this case, we figured out three options: maintaining the status quo, setting up private/public partnerships and issuing new legislation.
Every option was then discussed during the World Caffee, in small working groups.
After participants switched places to have the opportunity to express ideas at every working group, the moderators made a plenary presentation of the outcomes of their discussions and issued a draft description of their options. Once the presentations were over, we discussed the options in plenary and chose the recommendation for the Ministry of Education. Here is what it sounds like: We consider that a piece of legislation is not yet feasible to include nonformal education activities in the Romanian formal education system. However, we recommend that the Ministry of Education issue a document that is not mandatory to schools, encouraging collaboration between educational institutions and NGOs or companies, in order to develop a nonformal education platform for students. This way, the educational resources would be developed and better adapted to the creative potential of young people. Also, nonformal activities tend to keep students in schools as they generate constructive challenges, benefiting the community and the students’ personal development.
The policy paper was then issued using the template of SMART method of Public Policy, was signed and sealed by our partner, and is to be officially register at the headquarters of the Ministry of Education. This way, the results of our work could be seen right away!
All these activities lasted for one day! I thank the Center for Sustainable Community Development Giubega, the partners of SMART Method of Public Policy, the participants, and our host – the Municipality of Giubega, Dolj County.
And a reaction from the mass media: SMART Method was applied this weekend in Giubega, to introduce nonformal education in schools.
