PrintThe Programa de Ciudadanía – Comunidad de Prácticas en Ciudadanía [Citizenship Program - Community of Practice in Citizenship] considers “transformation as a value, a goal and a way of life”, where the members of the Community of Practice in Citizenship become agents of transformation that benefit their local reality. The members of the Community of Practice, who come from the schools in the Province and from communities involved in Popular Education, collaborate to develop programmes in citizenship. When these are implemented locally, they promote citizenship as a way of life, that is, they enable the local people to acquire skills and mental attitudes such as leadership, commitment and participation.
The activities identified to implement the different citizenship programmes, which are built around the needs of local realities, have included: being experts in solving local problems (children), carrying out surveys (adults), street playgroups, leading reconstruction after natural disasters. Citizenship programmes are circulated to groups/committees, according to their area of interest/action and age group (children/adults), in seven regions of the country.
The implementation at local level of the activities of the citizenship programme boosts individuals’ self-confidence and increases dialogue between participants; it establishes the basic principles of the processes of democratic decision-making. These characteristics lead to proactive citizens’ initiatives that strengthen the existing social fabric. The meetings involved in the citizenship programmes are transforming local citizens, as citizens capable of a better inner understanding of themselves, and as citizens with a sense of belonging and cooperation in their wider local reality - a personal transformation that benefits everyone.