Citizenship and Civic Participation unit

Cherishing Identity and Nurturing Values:

In the bid to promote citizenship and civic participation, NDU puts focus on enabling younger generations to hold on to their roots, cherish their identity and values in a globalized world where cultures collide.

1. Addressing challenges of Globalized cultures and values

In the wave of rapid urbanization, globalization and mobility, African socio-cultural institutions continue to be eroded and the young generations need alternative frameworks of support to orient them into 21st century. Whereas globalization, migrations and mobility present opportunities for sustainable and inclusive development, the consequent challenges are steep and complex. The rich African cultural heritage is being substituted by market-driven media storylines. As storylines become more global, media become the cultural modifier and unifier for an otherwise heterogeneous population.
Mainstreaming is the process by which globalized influences erode local socio-cultural values (Gerbner, Gross, Morgan, Signorielli & Shanahan 2002). The mainstreamed cultures lack complexity, richness and diversity because the content is uniform. The local cultural heritage and local identities are rarely reflected because the content is developed from symbolic resources and materials imported from globalized cultures (Strelitz 2004; Strelitz and Boshoff 2008). The new constructed values influence youths’ choices, fashion, hairstyle, artistic tastes and social interaction.

Consumerism and commercial orientations: within the context of globalized structures, profitability takes precedent over creativity and cultural values. Media which are crafted along consumerism and market orientation create distorted representation of reality among young generations.
The consumer is perceived as an autonomous individual but not as a member of an entity. The market-driven narratives use attractive role models and exciting presentations to hook individuals. The producers seem to have perfected the art of presenting attractive content for young people across the globe. The cash stricken state media in Africa depend on cheap imports that save them from the costs of producing local programs (Enyonam et al 2008). They have to rely on cheap materials developed from abroad.
To aggravate matters, high proportions of urban youths spend less time with their parents (Population Council 2005) and thus depend on media for socialization. Thus, the ‘pedagogy’ of media prevails over the influence that families and educational systems have over younger generations (Kellner 2001). Young people within elite families increasingly influence household decision making (Hagen, 2010). They determine the spending habits of parents, and pressurize them on what to buy. This pressure is termed as “pester power” or the ‘nag factor’ by Strasburger, Wilson and Jordan (2009). Children easily identify the product they saw on television and they pester the parent to buy it from the supermarket.
The children social worlds are increasingly being constructed around consumption, materialism and what is ‘cool’. The global corporate entities are increasingly intensifying their penetration into the new niche market of children (future clients). In this respect, young people represent long lasting brand loyalty (Nakken 2007; Harris 1999). Manufacturers can no longer afford to under-look young people as passive citizens as it used to be in the past. The children social worlds are increasingly being constructed around consumption, materialism and what is ‘cool’. Daily exposure enables children to develop brand recognition and taste for some of the products.
Globalized educational systems: Foreign education systems tend to occupy the space of local minds. This kills or hampers opportunities for creation of new perspectives and local innovations. The situation is aggravated by contemporary individualism which prevent people from seeing themselves as part of their communities. Life-skills orientation should not be delegated to the spontaneous influences of globalized institutions. There should be deliberate initiatives by responsible agencies (schools, Universities, homes, religious institutions and local governments) to develop localized and customized structures for lifelong learning.

In light of the above, Ndejje University undertakes life-skills and life-long learning programs to help younger generations to: cherish their cultural values and to optimize local products and local resources for development. Special reference is made to the Block-Placement initiatives. Once a year, multi-disciplinary teams of students are placed in communities for two months; supervised by faculty members. As they learn from communities, they diffuse knowledge, skills and innovations (bio-waste recycling, sanitation smart Agriculture). In the process, they identify peculiar social and economic issues and opportunities to address.

2. Life-skills and lifelong learning

Lifelong learning initiatives are being developed to promote willingness, desire and ability for individuals/communities to; a) Learn to be themselves; b) Develop skills of tapping the treasures within them.
There are myths and assumptions that specific groups/societies/nations have deficits in knowledge, skills and values and that it is the duty of outsiders to bridge the gaps. As Bruner (1990) points out, an endangered society is the one where alternative narratives cannot be scripted, and whose members can no longer change the stories they tell themselves. In such cases, communities are held hostage by a sense of fatalism.
Innovative approaches are needed to demystify incapacitating beliefs and to change behavior patterns that are often considered unalterable. The initiatives ought to offer practical alternatives and to illustrate practical options. For instance, educational edutainment and role modeling could be used to reinforce desirable attitudes, knowledge and practices. Life-skills and lifelong learning initiatives at Ndejje University are based on the following premises

I. Cultural diversity is one of humanity’s greatest source of creativity and wealth. It entails diverse ways of viewing the world. Societies everywhere can learn a great deal from each other by being more open to the discovery and understanding of other worldviews. Ndejje university attempts to develop frameworks for fostering dialogue among different worldviews and to integrate knowledge systems from diverse realities

II. No individual (or group of people) is doomed from birth. A treasure lies within each individual (and/or within a society) and tapping it calls for participatory interventions.

III. Lifelong learning promotes the fundamental aspects of common humanity that include Social justice, respect for cultural diversity, international solidarity and shared responsibility

Learning to be could be manifested in the following forms;
a) Valuing and upholding local/indigenous knowledge systems;
b) Strengthening elements in one’s own culture; not resisting other cultures; c)

3. Engaging younger generations

In conventional African settings, there are fundamental philosophical debates rotating around the question of what is right; and who determines what is right. Traditionally, knowledge and wisdom was conveyed from adults to the young through fire-place riddles, legends, myths, proverbs and fairy stories.
Learning was arranged on the assumption that elders are the primary source of knowledge on all issues and that knowledge was presumed to have enduring validity. However, at Ndejje university acknowledges that the youths could have independent and superior information sources on specific aspects of their day-to-day living. This is evident in their mobility and manifested by their relatively advanced masterly of ICT. Interactions with young generations planned to be in formats appropriate to their sub-cultures.
The quasi-modern youths’ subculture has unique symbols, choices, fashion, styles, interests, slang; music and film genres (UNESCO HIV 2002; Hebdige 1979). It also has distinctive forms of recreation, socializing, coping and unique role-models and expressions. Educators could simply play the role of facilitators; but not the custodian of wisdom and knowledge on all aspects of life.

Aim and objectives of Life-skills and lifelong learning

In light of the above discussions, initiatives to promote citizenship and Civic participation aims at weaving together the social, economic and environmental dimensions for sustainable development. Specifically, the initiatives focus on the following core objectives;

a. Promoting self-esteem, self-confidence and the ability of individuals (and communities) to have control over their destiny. This is done via;
i) Establishing (or restoring) confidence, self-respect and social esteem;
ii) Enabling individuals to understand themselves better, to avoid despair or delusion;
iii) Encourage individual to identify constructive role models;
iv) promoting among individuals a desire and ability to search for their roots, establish their identity and cherish their values;
v) Developing capacity among individuals and groups to act with autonomy, judgement and personal responsibility.

b. Develop the creative potential of individuals (communities) in all its richness and complexity; this is being done via:
i) Promoting reasoning, aesthetic sense, physical capacities and communication skills;
ii) enabling individuals thrive in context of unequal opportunities

c. Instill among individuals willingness and ability to recognize the diversity of lived realities and to affirm universal core values. This is being done via;
i) Promote respect, equity, equality and dignity for humanity;
ii) enhancing cultural literacy