Skills4Democracy

S4D aims to strengthen democratic resilience through civic education. Building strong democracies starts in the classroom, where young people can develop the knowledge, skills, and values needed to think critically, engage in public life, and resist manipulation and disinformation.

The initiative helps educators, institutions, and civil society actors develop the competences and tools needed to foster democratic values, active citizenship, critical thinking, and inclusive participation.

It also creates opportunities for cooperation and policy dialogue, enabling countries to learn from one another and respond to emerging democratic challenges while upholding human rights and democratic principles.

Building on The European Wergeland Centre’s extensive experience, the initiative mobilises a European community of civic education practitioners through capacity-building, cross-country cooperation, and knowledge exchange. It equips educators, institutions, and civil society actors with the tools and competences needed to deliver high-quality civic education.

The initiative begins with a 16-month pilot phase focused on learning, testing, and adaptation before progressing to full implementation.

Capacity-building: Training, peer learning, and professional development opportunities help educators and institutions strengthen civic education and address contemporary challenges such as disinformation, social exclusion, discrimination, and climate-related issues.

Knowledge-sharing and innovation: A dedicated Digital Hub will provide access to educational resources, research, webinars, promising practices, and learning opportunities. The Hub will help strengthen connections between policy, research, and educational practice across Europe.

European cooperation and policy dialogue: Forums, exchanges, networks, and policy dialogue activities bring together educators, researchers, policymakers, and civil society actors to share experiences, identify effective approaches, and strengthen civic education across borders.

Through S4D, we aim to:

• Strengthen democratic competences and civic engagement among young people and educators.
• Increase resilience to disinformation, polarisation, and other challenges affecting democratic societies.
• Improve access to high-quality civic education resources, methodologies, and promising practices.
• Strengthen the capacity of educational institutions to promote democratic values, participation, and inclusion.
• Enhance cooperation among educators, civil society organisations, policymakers, and researchers across Europe.
• Contribute to stronger democratic resilience and social cohesion across the EEA and Norway Grants Beneficiary States.

The programme is implemented across the 15 EEA and Norway Grants Beneficiary States:

Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia.

S4D builds on European standards and good practices in civic education, democratic citizenship, human rights, and democratic culture. The initiative draws on The European Wergeland Centre’s long-standing experience and contributes to strengthening democracy, human rights, participation, inclusion, and democratic resilience through education.