World Forum for Democracy

The 2016 World Forum for Democracy will focus on the relationship between education and democracy. It will examine whether they can reinforce each other and together address the risks of new social divides. In particular, the forum will explore how education and democracy can nurture active citizens with critical and analytical skills, and how through fostering grassroots innovation and bottom-up democratic reform, it can help develop civic engagement and improve opportunities for all.

The World Forum for Democracy is a unique platform for political decision-makers and activists to debate solutions to key challenges for democracies worldwide. By identifying and analysing experimental initiatives and practices, the Forum highlights and encourages democracy innovations at the grassroots and their transfer on a systemic level in order to strengthen the foundations of democratic societies. The Forum thus contributes to the evolution of democracy towards more participatory and inclusive structures and institutions.

Themes and Labs 2016

The World Forum for Democracy 2016 will focus on how education can help bridge the social divide and become a real asset for our diverse democracies.

The Forum will analyse the impact of education systems on democracy and identify innovative initiatives and practices which can make education (both formal and non-formal) more democracy-centred, and critically assess their potential to trigger systemic change. It will focus on the issue of how education can become better at nurturing citizens as active members of society who engage in public space – and how grassroots innovation can be enhanced to promote change in education practice on a greater scale. The Forum will discuss not only what Education can do for Democracy but also what Democracy can do for Education.

The Forum will consist of plenary sessions for high-level addresses; keynote introductions and a joint debate/summing up, as well as a series of focused working sessions – labs – to address specific issues through the critical analysis of tested initiatives or new ideas. The key conclusions and lessons learnt from the labs will be discussed in a summing up session in order to prepare the overall conclusions for the Forum.

Official Link: http://www.coe.int/en/web/world-forum-democracy/home

Deadline: 21 October 2016

Venue:  7-9 November 2016 in  Strasbourg, France