South Asian Network for Civic Education launched

Islamabad

To promote civic rights of citizens’ in South Asian region, a network of civil society organisations South Asian Network for Civic Education (SANCE) has been launched in Pakistan.

The initiative is led by the Sustainable Social Development Organisation (SSDO) in Pakistan. The network will be of local civil society organisations from South Asia region and will have its separate chapter in each country of South Asia.

Call for membership to civil society organisations in all districts of Pakistan has launched by SSDO, approximately 100 organisations will be chosen from all districts of Pakistan to promote civic rights of citizens’ in Pakistan and across the region. A call for focal organisation in each country of South Asia region will be launched soon, where a partner organisation in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan will be identified to establish its local chapter of SANCE across the country.

The civic education is one of the key areas which are given a top priority around the globe both at government level and as well as at civil society level but ignored by the government of Pakistan and in South Asia regional level.

Executive Director of Sustainable Social Development Organisation (SSDO) Syed Kausar Abbas said that the civil society is working on civic rights in a scattered way but there is a need to develop a collective voice of the civil society on the civic education.

“We have established a network of civil society to make a collaborated effort for the civic rights of the citizens’ in the country and as well as in the region,” he said.

Kausar said that this network will identify its partner from each district of Pakistan. These partners will raise awareness about civic rights of people at both local and regional level with the help of local communities and SANCE. The network members will also launch a civic caravan and national and regional level consultations and conferences with members of Parliament and civic education experts will be organized to develop a charter of demand for the rights of the people at both country and regional level.

He said that starting from 100 network members in Pakistan the network is expected to gather approximately 500 organisations including all the local country chapters of its region. “This will be first ever grassroots level effort and campaign of civil society for civic rights of the people. We shall come out of hotels and will move towards the gross root level communities to organize awareness sessions through street theatres, public forums and community consultations at their door steps.”

He said that the first phase of its local Pakistan chapter and a focal organization in each country will be completed till mid of August this year. The network will further extended till the end of this year to develop a collective strategy for the promotion of civic education at all level.

SSDO in collaboration with SANCE network will organise a grassroots level engagement with the youth of different universities to educate them about their constitutional rights. In addition, the network plans to strengthened community to empower their voices in decision making process.