Through the People Against Violence Everywhere (PAVE) project—implemented by Ethiopia Law School Association (ELSA) through technical and financial support from USAID/IFES—students engage in community peacebuilding and organized coffee ceremonies,
Impact:
IFES's Engaged Citizens course launched in 2021 at three universities throughout Armenia. Since the launch of the course, the course has expanded into five additional universities. The cohort of alumni of the course is 80 percent women. To date, student action projects have been given funding through international embassies and have allowed students to advocate for community improvements with the Prime Minister.
Impact:
IFES’s Democracy: From Theory to Practice university course gives students a theoretical background in democracy through the SEED methodology and practical and hands-on experience as students conduct projects and research fellowships. Over 160 students have taken part in the course to date through the University of Dhaka. IFES expects to expand the course to a second university in 2023 and up to five additional universities throughout Bangladesh through 2025. The course has been complemented by programming through the Students Against Violence Everywhere (SAVE) network, expanding beyond 13 public universities and over 1,600 students across all divisions of Bangladesh. IFES continues to mobilize existing SAVE participants through advanced trainings and community-based assignments. Additional webinars and online events, as well as campaigns for safe and inclusive campuses both offline and online, provide much-needed opportunities for education and student activism.
Impact:
Course evaluations have yielded encouraging results on all measures—course instructor interviews and surveys, student surveys and focus groups, classroom observations, and pre-and post-tests. The results demonstrated that students gained knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to effectively monitor and hold the government and members of society accountable to principles of democracy in the digital age.
Using skills developed in the course, since 2021, alumni have gone on to intern at Ukrainian institutions like the Central Election Commission and National Agency on Corruption Prevention. Beyond the knowledge and the skills developed, students also demonstrated a desire to be active citizens. The course alumni organization Youth Democratic Association (YODA) and IFES have organized several extra-curricular activities, such as the DemVision action project competition, DemoGRAtia interactive game, and social media DemTalk events to support current students and maintain a robust and active alumni community. Furthermore, in April 2022 IFES helped establish the Civic Educators Association to help build the capacity of and support course educators.