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Lithuania

Raising Civic Awareness (LT0010)

Overview

At-a-Glance

Action Plan: Lithuania, Second Action Plan for 2014-16

Action Plan Cycle: 2014

Status: Inactive

Institutions

Lead Institution: Ministry of Education and Science

Support Institution(s): NA

Policy Areas

Education, Public Participation, Public Service Delivery

IRM Review

IRM Report: Lithuania End-of-Term Report 2014-2016

Starred: No

Early Results: Did Not Change

Design i

Verifiable: No

Relevant to OGP Values: Not Relevant

Potential Impact:

Implementation i

Completion:

Description

Enhancing the quality and competitive capacity of general and higher education systems: civic and historical education has been updated at schools. Civic and national identity education projects have been implemented. Arrangements have been made for educational civic activities and personal development across the country, various organisational forms thereof are being developed, thus encouraging the strengthening of local and national organisations of pupils and students. 2. The growth of the Civic Empowerment Index in 2012 was 35.0, in 2017 – 40.0. 3. Growth of the Civic Empowerment Index for pupils and students in 2013 was 46.0, and in 2014 – 46.7

IRM End of Term Status Summary

Commitment 4. Raising Civic Awareness

Commitment Text:

Initiative 2: Public participation in public governance

Area: raising civic awareness

Action: To update civic and historical education at school

Expected outcome:

  1. Enhancing the quality and competitive capacity of general and higher education systems: civic and historical education has been updated at schools. Civic and national identity education projects have been implemented. Arrangements have been made for educational civic activities and personal development across the country, various organisational forms thereof are being developed, thus encouraging the strengthening of local and national organisations of pupils and students.
  2. The growth of the Civic Empowerment Index in 2012 was 35.0, in 2017 – 40.0.
  3. Growth of the Civic Empowerment Index for pupils and students in 2013 was 46.0, and in 2014 – 46.7.

[Emphasis added]

Responsible institution: Ministry of Education and Science

Supporting institutions: Not specified

Start date: 2014.....................   ...................... End date: 2020

 
Commitment aim:

This commitment aims to update the civil education curriculum in schools. However, the commitment is unclear about what projects and initiatives should be conducted, and it does not include sufficient information about performance and outcome indicators.

 
Status

Midterm: Limited

According to the midterm report, both milestones were ongoing and in different stages of completion. While teachers interviewed by the IRM researcher viewed the steps in reforming civic education as positive, CSO experts interviewed had a considerably more critical take. Some of these criticisms had to do with the lack for resources allocated to implement the reforms and the lack of CSO involvement in developing the civic education curriculum. 

See midterm report for a detailed analysis.

End of term: Substantial

The key development in the civic education policy area is that the Ministry of Education and Science developed and issued a 2016–2020 interinstitutional strategic activity plan on civic education.[Note 21: The legal act can be found here: https://www.e-tar.lt/portal/lt/legalAct/3326bca0f26a11e5989ee743dd0efbb0.] It aims to strengthen youth civil and national perception skills (taking into account geopolitical realities in the region, kids will be taught how to recognise signals of information warfare, for instance).[Note 22: A press release can be found here: https://www.smm.lt/web/lt/pranesimai_spaudai/naujienos_1/sutelkiamas-demesys-i-pilietini-ir-tautini-ugdymajis-tampa-kryptingas-nuoseklus-itraukiamos-skirtingos-organizacijos.] The plan also includes education on democratic skills, such as critical thinking and political skills. It also aims to involve a wider range of actors in civic education, including NGOs in Lithuania, recognising their importance in youth civic education. However, the plan does not specify concrete action to complete these goals and only sets down interinstitutional coordination procedures and overall goals.  An interinstitutional working group is to gather on an annual basis and report on progress in pursuing the goals set out in the plan.

Did it open government?

As implemented, this commitment has not contributed to opening government practice. The main activities have targeted national identity teaching rather than focusing on educating the public about their rights and responsibilities, an application that could strengthen overall citizen empowerment in the country. However, the forthcoming interinstitutional activity plan now includes youth democratic skills building; thus, it can be expected that citizen empowerment will in fact be addressed in the period of 2016–2020.

Carried forward?

There is no commitment in the third national action plan that targets the civic education policy area.

Commitments

  1. Open Data

    LT0024, 2018, E-Government

  2. NGO Database, NGO Fund

    LT0025, 2018, Civic Space

  3. Publish Fiscal Information

    LT0026, 2018, E-Government

  4. Public Services by NGOs

    LT0027, 2018, Capacity Building

  5. Monitoring and Evlauation for Public Participation

    LT0028, 2018, Public Participation

  6. Legislative Process Evaluation

    LT0029, 2018, Capacity Building

  7. Build Open Data Portal, and Integrate Into the European Single Digital Market.

    LT0015, 2016, Capacity Building

  8. Publicize Information About Government Activities and Civic Participation in Governance.

    LT0016, 2016, Capacity Building

  9. Publish Online Information About Revenues and Spending of National and Municipal Institutions

    LT0017, 2016, E-Government

  10. Create and Broadcast Social Advertisements That Target Corruption in the Healthcare System

    LT0018, 2016, Anti-Corruption Institutions

  11. Create Legal, Organizational and Technical Tools to Easily Access Detailed Information About Election and Voting Procedures

    LT0019, 2016, E-Government

  12. Create Public Consultation Mechanism

    LT0020, 2016, Capacity Building

  13. Foster Open Public Governance Culture in Public Sector

    LT0021, 2016, Capacity Building

  14. Creation of NGO Database.

    LT0022, 2016, Civic Space

  15. Creation of NGO Fund.

    LT0023, 2016, Capacity Building

  16. Public Service Quality Improvements

    LT0007, 2014, Capacity Building

  17. Developing and Promoting E-Services

    LT0008, 2014, E-Government

  18. Encouraging Public Participation

    LT0009, 2014, E-Government

  19. Raising Civic Awareness

    LT0010, 2014, Education

  20. National Civil Society Fund Model Development

    LT0011, 2014, Civic Space

  21. Accessibility of Public Information

    LT0012, 2014, E-Government

  22. Public Decision-Making Transparency

    LT0013, 2014, Anti-Corruption Institutions

  23. Promoting Anti-Corruption Education

    LT0014, 2014, Anti-Corruption Institutions

  24. Increase of the Accessibility of the Information Held by Public Administration Authorities.

    LT0001, 2012, Records Management

  25. Centralised Publishing of Information on Government Activities

    LT0002, 2012, Records Management

  26. More Extensive Public Consultations

    LT0003, 2012, Public Participation

  27. Promotion of Public Participation in Public Administration Processes

    LT0004, 2012, Legislature

  28. Increasing the Accessibility of Services Provided to the Public.

    LT0005, 2012, E-Government

  29. Promotion of Public Participation in the Process for the Improvement of Service Provision

    LT0006, 2012, Public Participation