After three routiera rides and one stint of hitching, I arrived in the southern city of Cahul, on Sunday afternoon, for a two-day session examining civic education in Moldova. More specifically, how to transform the curriculum from merely reading about how a democratic republic should operate, to actually allowing students to participate in it's evolution. It was only a few months ago that civics became a requirement in Moldovan classrooms. The quick decision left many schools with no choice but to turn to teachers outside the discipline to teach it. Furthermore, most of this generation of teachers had Soviet birth certificates. It may not remember the days before independence, but it is carrying the burden of the transition. At least, that is my opinion.
The specific model for improving civic education that is being proposed by Vincent's partners is a program called "The Village." For a good comparison, think Model UN. Typically, it is carried out over the course of 10 months in which students are not only responsible for constructing their community, but also for running it. City councils need to be elected, currency must be printed and regulated, decisions need to be made regarding the use of public lands, taxes must be levied, and commerce needs to develop in a free market. The program has been run once in Moldova, and to a greater extent in Poland and Bulgaria.
Vincent (pictured left) invited those interested down to Cahul to meet with his partners and discuss (in three languages) the viability of The Village on a large scale in Moldova. Anyone that know's Vincent will tell you he has one speed--overdrive. If he had it his way, I'm sure he would have just marched over to the Ministry of Education and tried to convince them to adopt The Village in Moldovan classrooms tomorrow. But alas, there is a bit more work to be done to prove that more participatory models work better in achieving the goals set forth for the civic education curriculum.
There are many more posts to come on this topic. This summer we hope to condense the 10 month program into a 10 day camp to be attended by Peace Corps Volunteers and respective host country counterparts that will then carryout the larger program in at least 7-10 Moldovan communities. The photo to the left is the rest of the team as it stands now Craig, Chris, Vincent, and Matt. I hope to be quite involved in the monitoring and evaluation of this project, both during and after the completion, using some of the evaluation techniques I studied in Kenya (using Participatory Rural Assessment). Depending on the results of our investigation, we could indeed have a serious impact on the civic education of Moldovan youth.
Finally, it should be noted, that this was also simply a great stop on my week of travels. Here is a photo of Jessica (Vince's wife, Health Education PCV) and I putting together the pizzas on the last night. The kitchen looks so American from this angle. Please note that is not the standard. It could be said that anytime PCVs get together around a table it's a "round table discussion." We have each offer unique perspectives on a very similar experience. First of all laughing, then learning, from one another. Pofta buna!
The specific model for improving civic education that is being proposed by Vincent's partners is a program called "The Village." For a good comparison, think Model UN. Typically, it is carried out over the course of 10 months in which students are not only responsible for constructing their community, but also for running it. City councils need to be elected, currency must be printed and regulated, decisions need to be made regarding the use of public lands, taxes must be levied, and commerce needs to develop in a free market. The program has been run once in Moldova, and to a greater extent in Poland and Bulgaria. 
Vincent (pictured left) invited those interested down to Cahul to meet with his partners and discuss (in three languages) the viability of The Village on a large scale in Moldova. Anyone that know's Vincent will tell you he has one speed--overdrive. If he had it his way, I'm sure he would have just marched over to the Ministry of Education and tried to convince them to adopt The Village in Moldovan classrooms tomorrow. But alas, there is a bit more work to be done to prove that more participatory models work better in achieving the goals set forth for the civic education curriculum. 
There are many more posts to come on this topic. This summer we hope to condense the 10 month program into a 10 day camp to be attended by Peace Corps Volunteers and respective host country counterparts that will then carryout the larger program in at least 7-10 Moldovan communities. The photo to the left is the rest of the team as it stands now Craig, Chris, Vincent, and Matt. I hope to be quite involved in the monitoring and evaluation of this project, both during and after the completion, using some of the evaluation techniques I studied in Kenya (using Participatory Rural Assessment). Depending on the results of our investigation, we could indeed have a serious impact on the civic education of Moldovan youth. 
Finally, it should be noted, that this was also simply a great stop on my week of travels. Here is a photo of Jessica (Vince's wife, Health Education PCV) and I putting together the pizzas on the last night. The kitchen looks so American from this angle. Please note that is not the standard. It could be said that anytime PCVs get together around a table it's a "round table discussion." We have each offer unique perspectives on a very similar experience. First of all laughing, then learning, from one another. Pofta buna!
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