Educational Service for Participatory and Digital Citizenship (PT0024)

Brief Description of the Commitment

Develop and implement non-formal educational programming, which addresses the fundamental principles of democracy, human rights and civic and digital participation. With Human Rights and the Sustainable Development Goals as a framing vision: • Provide information about the functioning and organization of the Government; • Promote participation and civic awareness; • Promote Knowledge about Democracy; • Encourage Digital Participation.

Problem Definition

1. What problem does the commitment aim to address? Removal of citizens from the political system and reduced exercise of participatory and digital citizenship. According to the report The Global State of Democracy 2023, carried out by The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), democracy has been contracting in all regions of the world, in half of the countries included in the report, they found declines in at least one indicator of democratic performance. Europe remains the best-performing region in the world, led by a number of consolidated democracies. However, from these initial high levels, there have been significant declines in specific indicators of democratic performance in many of these established democracies, such as Austria, Hungary and Poland, signaling that action is needed to counter this trend. It is said that a total of 17 countries suffered erosion in the democratic indicators analyzed in the last five years, and Portugal was no exception, after, in 2020, it registered a drop in three of the parameters that measure the quality of democracies. Portugal, despite everything, remains a healthy democracy and although it shares with other European countries some deficit in the corruption component and the lack of greater openness to citizens' participation in government decisions.

2. What are the causes of the problem? To answer this question, you should follow the following guidelines: Explain the causes of the problem. As much as possible, identify the root of the problems. Utilize problem analytic tools (e.g., problem tree, five whys, fishbone diagram, or other related methods) when necessary and provide evidence whenever possible. According to the Study Institutions and quality of democracy: political culture in Southern Europe, carried out by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation, “The crisis of trust in Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Greece is clearly linked to the incapacity of the governments of national democracies and the European Union to generate prosperity, employment and economic security for ordinary citizens over the last 30 years. The era of globalization has thus brought harmful consequences to the relationship between citizens and democratic regimes.”

Tree of problems analisys:

Problem: Decrease in the quality of Democracy Challenge: Bringing citizens closer to democratic institutions What part of the problem are we going to solve: Promote civic participation through the transmission of information about the Democratic System, in the context of the organization and functioning of the Government.

Direct Causes: Inability of EU Governments to generate prosperity, employment and economic security for ordinary citizens; Challenges posed by the characteristics of the information and knowledge society in the digital era; Global geopolitical and socioeconomic context.

Indirect Causes: Negative assessment of the performance of political and party power; Citizens' dissatisfaction with the Judicial System - they consider that there is unequal treatment before the law Quality of living and working conditions; Erosion of the quality of information and freedom of the press; Functional and digital illiteracy.

Direct Effects: Dissatisfaction with the functioning of democracy; Infoexclusion Risk; Political and Social Polarization; Erosion of social cohesion.

Indirect Effects Lack of trust in democratic institutions; Removal of citizens from traditional participation mechanisms; Permeability of citizens to disinformation;

Description of the Commitment

1. What has been done so far to solve the problem? The Educational Service for Democracy is a recent project at the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers (SGPCM). During 2023, some specific activities were carried out, 2024 is the starting year for a permanent programmatic offer aimed at the external public. In this sense, we still do not have data that allows us to evaluate the impact of the actions carried out. We are committed to identifying indicators that allow us to evaluate the impact of the work carried out and, if necessary, improve and rectify practices and paths.

2. What solution are you proposing? Greater knowledge about the national political system, its principles and mode of operation are a contribution to: • Transmit and share knowledge in the areas of democratic culture, human rights and active citizenship; • Stimulate the development of skills for Democratic Culture - Attitudes | Values | Capabilities | Critical knowledge and understanding; • Encourage citizen participation – Institutional mechanisms |Exploration of new participation formats

3. What results do we want to achieve by implementing this commitment? Increased public participation by citizens: • Transmit and share knowledge in the areas of democratic culture, human rights and active citizenship; • Stimulate the development of skills for Democratic Culture - Attitudes | Values | Capabilities | Critical knowledge and understanding; • Encourage citizen participation – Institutional mechanisms |discovering new participation formats.

Commitment Planning (Milestones | Expected outputs | Expected completion date)

Creation of a simulation of the functioning of the Council of Ministers in partnership with civil society | Perform between 15 and 30 sessions | December 2027

Creating podcasts on political topics, with the intervention of citizens | Make between 3 and 5 Podcasts | December 2027

Holding conferences and webinars on human rights and citizenship issues | Carry out between 3 and 6 initiatives | December 2027

Results assessment | Create a report for each year of activity | December 2027