Generation Citizen (GC), to date, has been a completely domestic organization, focusing on educating young people in the US to be engaged and informed citizens by bringing civics back into the classroom. However, the organization was originally inspired because of Scott Warren (CEO of GC) witnessing the motivation of individuals in emerging democracies to fully participate in the political process. Research shows that in countries like these there is a slowly growing demand for democracy among the population, but a widespread hesitation to take action beyond voting in elections. Still, research also indicates that experience is critical to the development of democratic attitudes and behavior. With this in mind, GC conducted a landscape analysis in the summer of 2016 to explore the ecosystem of international civics education programs and understand the varied, ongoing work to promote the need for engaged and informed citizens, primarily in emerging democracies. The analysis yielded valuable information and perspective, including an interest in collaboration between countries and organizations. At the conclusion, GC decided to build a network of organizations to interchange the varied and successful know-hows and practices.
Thus, the Generation Citizen Global Network aims to bring together interested organizations from countries with emerging democracies to share best practices and to collaborate and exchange youth civic experiences, knowledge, and skills. The network will provide a platform for these organizations to bring to light their current political and social environment for networks of organizations, academicians, and other relevant parties.
This site is the online exchange portal for the network of organizations to use and share information and best practices, provide constructive feedback on organization's work and use for other logistical purposes, including a quarterly webinar series.