USAID Civic Education Activity – Georgia

Deadline: 07-Jul-21

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission to Georgia (USAID/Georgia) is planning to seek applications from qualified entities to implement the USAID Civic Education Activity in Georgia.

The purpose of the USAID Civic Education Activity (hereafter referred to as the “Activity”) is to use civic education to prepare the next generation of Georgians to be civically engaged, know and exercise their democratic rights and responsibilities, harness technology, and build partnerships, including with the private sector, to demand and facilitate increased government accountability.

Georgia’s Youth Policy Concept (2020-2030) has five strategic priorities, three of which will be directly addressed by the Activity:

Active participation in public life and democratic processes
Promoting youth development and realization of their potential
Improving the management of the National Youth Policy at the central and municipal level

Goals

The theory of change for the Activity is: “IF school administrators, students, and other stakeholders are motivated and incentivized to strengthen civics and democratic practices in schools; IF they have access to sustained resources from alternative sources in the private sector and wider community; and IF they are able to use digital technical resources; THEN civic education systems will be able to continuously improve and develop, supporting increased abilities of Georgian youth to be more responsible citizens who can demand and facilitate more government accountability through civic action.”
The goal of the USAID Civic Education Activity is to contribute to a Georgian society of civically active, responsible, engaged youth and young adults who can demand and contribute to 9 an accountable and accessible government and a democratic society. The Activity will contribute to USAID/Georgia’s Country Development Cooperation Strategy 2020-2025, Development Objective 2: Fragile Democratic Gains Consolidated Through Enhanced Citizen Responsive Governance.
The National Youth Strategy was developed in alignment with the Georgian National Youth Policy Concept 2020-2030 and governs the National Youth Agency. The strategic goals that notably align with the Activity are:
- Goal 1: Enhance youth engagement and promote equal participation in public life and democratic processes
- Goal 2: Promote youth development and realization of young people’s potential through youth work, non-formal, and informal learning
- Goal 5: Promote entrepreneurship among youth

Funding Information

Estimated Total Program Funding: $10,000,000
Award Ceiling: $10,000,000
Expected Number of Awards: 1

Objectives

Objective 1: Improve Student-Led Civic and Democratic Engagement in Schools
- Illustrative Activities
  - Supporting student-led after school civics clubs to allow for more flexible, youth-driven activities and to offer an alternative to potentially negative after school behavior
  - Establishing feedback loops for parents and students to weigh in on decisions about academic directions, curriculum, extracurricular activities, private sector cooperation, etc.
  - Creating co-curricular opportunities for students to practice representative democracy (e.g., voting for student leadership, practice developing and managing a small budget, moot courts, simulated legislative hearings, debate tournaments to promote greater interest in and understanding of government and civil society)
  - Integrating service learning opportunities or programs through partnerships with civil society, local government, and/or the private sector
  - Establishing or strengthening existing student councils or other student self-governance systems
  - Developing a National Student Parliament or similar
  - Opening a dialogue with the MES, universities, and other stakeholders on adjusting high school graduation/university admissions processes to encourage greater consideration of extracurricular activities and volunteer experiences
Objective 2: Strengthen engagement of the private sector in civic education at the school level
- Illustrative Activities
  - Identifying and mapping relevant private sector stakeholders and industry actors to strengthen the civic education system as it aligns with their business interests (e.g., digital technology, banking/lending for financial literacy, telecommunications, media, etc.) and/or as it relates to their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) objectives.
  - Co-creating with the private sector a PSE strategy for the Activity that grounds expectations for PSE, segments and maps the private sector’s constraints, interests and incentives for collaboration, and outlines priorities, incentives and a process for engagement to achieve expected results.
  - Supporting the continued capacity building of the Civic Education Teachers’ Forum, including their ability to represent the needs of the civic education community and effectively engage with the private sector
  - Partnering with ITC companies to promote the role technology can play in civic engagement, e-governance, and government accountability, e.g., hackathons for mobile applications for civic priorities, matching grants from the private sector for students’ extracurricular civic initiatives (e.g., under the Momavlis Taoba Activity, Crystal funded various grants requested by student groups in Tbilisi and Kutaisi, and Dio funded grants in Tbilisi, Batumi, Kutaisi, and Samtskhe-Javakheti)
  - Creating a private sector advisory council in which private sector leaders are engaged to expand their role in civic education (e.g., chambers of commerce serving on a grant review board for proposals from youth)
  - Establishing a business mentorship, internship or career pathway programs (ie. business leader TED talks) for students (esp. women, minorities)
  - Organizing informational networking activities for students such as career days, business talks, and externships as an entry point for engaging the business community
  - Engaging banks in developing and delivering financial literacy programs
  - Co-hosting competitions with the private sector that promote civic leadership and skill building among youth and demonstrate the value of public-private collaboration
  - Identify ways to recognize outstanding efforts (financial and non-financial) of the private sector in civic education to continue their involvement and investment beyond the life of the program.
Objective 3: Students improve their ability and proficiency to responsibly use and harness technology to advance their civic agendas and participate in public discourse
- Illustrative Activities
  - Supporting continued professional development for civic education teachers by developing virtual teacher training modules accessible on demand, specifically on digital-related topics – consider using the Learning Management System and creating incentives for private sector partners to engage
  - Developing teaching guides and classroom materials/learning resources on how to implement project-based activities (on topics such as digital citizenship, media literacy, parliamentarism, multi-party democracy, environmental protection, social learning) and how to teach project management through project-based learning
  - Strengthening existing and developing new, high-quality Georgian-as-a-second-language teaching and learning digital resources in cooperation with and for minority-language schools
  - Establishing pen pals/buddies with civics classes in U.S./European schools
  - Developing digital credentials (badges) programs for implementation in American Spaces, local libraries, and/or other relevant institutions
  - Engaging the private sector in competitions for best civics-related mobile app or website idea and partnering to operationalize the concept
  - Improving students’ online research skills through school projects
  - Supporting schools to partner with media companies and online businesses who can sponsor events, conduct disinformation training, broadcast/publish spotlights on student activities, etc.
  - Training civics teachers integrate the use of existing digital engagement platforms into their classrooms (e.g., EVOKE, Cisco’s GPS, Global Citizen)
  - Coordinating with schools’ and Resource Centers’ IT staff to understand the needs and skill levels of teachers and to design training programs to be implemented by IT staff
  - Teaching students to protect themselves online in directions including cyber security, understanding disinformation or bias bubbles and its effect on political polarization, and cyber bullying