Civic Education:

Pakistan has a chequered history of frequent military coups and extremely fragile and compromising civilian government which has hindered the growth of a pluralistic, democratic and a tolerant society in Pakistan. Such ad-hoc-ism has adversely affected all the social sectors and has gravely depoliticised the citizens. Politics for general masses and particularly youth has become a synonym for corrupt social practices and there is a state of apathy towards the socio-economic and political environment in Pakistan. Especially the youth, that is a historic harbinger of a social change in all societies, has suffered the maximum in an utter state of waywardness.

Most of the youth, therefore grow up within an environment were they are expected to be obedient, law-abiding, docile, and fiercely patriotic citizens, despite all the failures of the state as an instrument of ensuring a minimum quality of life for its citizens.

We strongly believe that this scenario certainly necessitates a strong and defining intervention to prevent the youth from becoming resigned to the present situation. They must realize the importance of their role and must deliver well in the development of a democratic society that should ensure the inevitability of their involvement in the socio-political and economic structure of Pakistan.

Realizing a strong need to initiate a civic education process that can enable young citizens to exercise their political choices and rights in a more conscious manner, this programme informs, inspires and involves the youth to understand principles and practices of active citizenship and democracy. PEAD, therefore, has started a process to empowering the youth across Khyber Pukhtoon Khwa with the resources, training and support to build the skills, confidence and strategies necessary to take action for socio-political & economic sustainability of Pakistan in the form of a project which has been started in collaboration with the Hanns Seidel Foundation Germany, titled Creating Awareness of Rights and Responsibilities in Youth CARRY.