Peace & Civic Education Programme in Nigeria

The protect our future project is based on the premise that to protect the future of Nigeria, students / youths who form a significant majority of the population should be trained to know their right and cultivate a culture of peace and democracy. This involves the skills of living peacefully and ability to elect their leaders themselves. This will lead to youths being a powerful voice in sustaining democratic values and a culture of peace. The strategy is to train teachers in primary and secondary schools as well as student leaders. The teachers who are already part of the existing school community will have a commitment to impact to the students. The desire is that this peace education project given in schools will have an effect in the wider community.

The pilot scheme of the project took place in the Niger Delta area of the country. However, it is the intention to now duplicate the programme in other part of the country incorporating the learning experience from the pilot scheme. The project focuses on training various stakeholders. In the first phase teachers are trained in workshops and student leaders in summer peace camp meetings in an atmosphere of friendship and interaction. The selection reflects gender, multicultural and religious reality in the country. The schools there after form peace club that serves as a vanguard for further networking and peer mediation. A manual has been published to assist in this regard. The training are on rights and obligations of the citizens, election conducting and monitoring. Peace education comprising: culture of peace, conflict prevention, transformation and management.

• Training of teachers who are already part of the existing school community
• Training of students leaders at peace camp meetings
• Trainings of students in their schools
• Creation of peace clubs for further training and peer mediation.

• High level participation
• Places the students in the large dimension of events defining the world as actors not spectators from the local to global dimension.
• This method fights against fatalistic concepts that ordinary people have no power by widening their horizon and giving them the tool of analysis.
• It provides the space to recognize the contradiction between views from their own experience and views based on dominant culture.

• The training will take the form of lectures, workshops, interactive sessions to build up friendship and solidarity, and visits to democratic institutions.
• Enlightenment and awareness programmes.
• Visits to the grassroots institutions.
• A commitment to share knowledge and experience with others.
• Participatory approaches will also be used.