Elarbi Imad is the President and Executive director of the Moroccan Center for Civic Education. He graduated in applied linguistics from the University of Reading in the UK, holds a Master degree in Education from Cardiff University, and a University Doctorate (Hon) from Ottawa University, Canada. Mr. Imad served as President of the Board of Directors of the Arab Civitas regional network and co-chair of the International Congress on School Effectiveness and Improvement (ICSEI 2020). He has been working as a teacher trainer, regional and international project director, international consultant and expert in education, citizenship education, civil society and youth. Mr. Imad has presented at national, regional and international conferences across the world. He has over 20 years of project management experience, including program design, planning, implementing and assessing international-funded projects. He also has a long experience building the capacity of educators and CSOs leaders in addition to his capacities in staff and financial management. He serves as an active member of many networks in the MENA region and Africa, Global Outreach Senior Advisor for Forever Learn, Great Britain, the National Director of the Civitas International, the North South Center of the Council of Europe Coordinator for Global Education in Morocco, Vice President of the Global Citizenship Fund, Senior Advisor to the International Council of Adult Education in the MENA region, and member of the Board of Directors the Africa Voice Dialogue. Currently, Mr. Imad is the Branch Manager of Arizona State University in Morocco.
Abstract
Abstract Title
دور التربية على المواطنة في الوقاية من العنف بالوسط المدرسي
The main objective of the session is to share with the audience the Project Citizen initiative that has been particularly successful because it focuses upon practical issues that affect the daily lives of students and youth. It has also contributed to making schools safe as it is one of the ways to prevent violence in schools. Since the initiative is a real-life tool to demonstrate citizenship in action, a number of NGOs, schools and universities have approved its integration into the regional and national curriculum and are currently supporting its expansion. Project Citizen is a curriculum through which students and youth work in advocacy groups to select a public policy problem, research the problem, identify optional policies to deal with it, select and develop a policy for which to advocate, and create an action plan for convincing policymakers to adopt their proposal. Project Citizen is used to train educators, including teachers as well as university and NGO leaders, to facilitate its process with target populations. Participants will become knowledgeable and effective advocates capable of informing others and convincing candidates to adopt proposed positions in their platform. Beyond the initiative’s outcomes, beneficiaries have acquired a number of skills and competencies such as team work in a safe environment, critical thinking, communication skills, commitment to civic action, self-confidence and leadership.