Government-Civil Society Partnership for Informal Education on Democracy (SK0145)

Background situation or problem addressed by the commitment: A variety of non-governmental organizations in Slovakia provides informal education programs on democracy, human rights, values, citizenship, volunteerism, and sustainable development. However, from the perspective of civil society, there is a lack of systematic collaboration with state administration. Furthermore, discussion between civil society partners and state administration regarding the systematic and effective alignment of education on these topics and bridging formal and informal education is lacking.

Content of the commitment: The commitment aims to create a space for regular meetings between nongovernmental organizations, state administration, and other stakeholders working in the field of informal education in relevant topics. The output of the activity is to map and connect existing initiatives, concepts, and programs of informal education and, in a participatory manner, establish effective cooperation between civil society and state administration, connecting informal and formal education on values, democracy, human rights, including the rights of national minorities, citizenship, volunteerism, and sustainable development.

How the commitment will contribute to solving the problem: The commitment builds on previous cooperation between the Ministry of Education and civil society in the area of informal education on values. It builds on previously adopted materials and programs, while opening a new space for formulating new goals within the support of implementing informal education in primary and secondary schools. It also expands the scope of actors who can bring innovative perspectives to the topic through their experiences.

Relevance of the commitment to the principles/values of OGP: Formalizing cooperation between MŠVVaŠ SR, MIRRI SR, and civil society supports participation as a tool for collaboration between the government and civil society. It also supports participation as one of the principles of democracy development, human rights, including the rights of national minorities, active citizenship, and as a fundamental assumption of sustainable development. The commitment's content also reinforces accountability in terms of protecting public control tools. Regularly publishing the schedule, agenda, and outputs of meetings supports transparency and accountability.

Additional information: Embedding the cooperation and commitment outputs can serve as examples of best practices for sharing for example through the Summit for Democracy cohort on Civil and Political Participation of Youth, formed within the Summit for Democracy.

Milestones of the commitment with specific tasks:

1. Establish and continually coordinate a multistakeholder forum of all involved stakeholders, including civil society, on informal education on values, democracy, human rights, citizenship, and sustainable development. Develop and publish the forum's rules of procedure on the website of MŠVVaŠ SR. Responsible agency - MŠVVaŠ SR, in cooperation with ÚSV ROS, deadline: by January 31, 2024.

2. Develop a proposal for cooperation between MŠVVaŠ SR, MIRRI SR, and civil society with the aim of aligning formal and informal education on democracy, human rights, values, citizenship, and volunteerism. Responsible MŠVVaŠ SR, deadline: by January 31, 2025