National Identity in the Context of Global Citizenship

The regional conference on global education “National Identity in the Context of Global Citizenship” was a follow up to the series of national seminars that have taken place in the last two years in the new EU member states, within the framework of the Joint Management Agreement signed by the European Commission/ DGDEVCO and the North-South Centre, designed to promote global education in the new EU member states. In particular, this conference aimed at the new EU member states in the Central and South East European region, such as Bulgaria, Romania and Slovenia as well
as the new EU Mediterranean member states Cyprus and Malta. Serbia and Montenegro were also invited as members of the North-South Centre. Taking into account the interconnectedness of countries in the region of South-Eastern Europe, civil society representatives from other countries in the region were invited as well. The conference was organized by the Slovenian Platform of NGOs for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid SLOGA.

The specific objectives of the conference were:

• to exchange ideas and practices in the field of global education and global citizenship throughout the region
• to facilitate networking and interaction between diverse stakeholders throughout the region
• to discuss synergy potentials and provide opportunity to develop future collaborations
• to raise awareness on the importance of including global education in the educational sector and to challenge prevailing ideas on the concept of citizenship and national identity
• to involve a larger diversity of stakeholders into the debate on global education