Girvydas Doublys

Girvydas Duoblys is revolutionizing civic education in Lithuania by engaging students, teachers, parents, and whole communities in a school-run democratic model that stimulates civic involvement and initiative.

Girvydas believes that civic education offers an opportunity to dramatically affect the world beyond school walls. By working through public schools, he connects with a diverse student body and gains access to an institution that is open to new ideas. He engages the student body in the student election process, revitalizes classroom learning through a dynamic curriculum, and offers leadership training and support for newly elected students. Through his national effort called Action Days, students identify and solve pressing problems in their local communities. With Girvydas's leadership, students are advocating for important initiatives, like public parks, greater support for single mothers, and student representation in local government. He has designed a set of experiential learning opportunities that also engage teachers, parents, local government authorities, and journalists. As a result, the community members witness the power of the democratic process firsthand and see concrete results from initiatives of their own design.

People in Lithuania are reluctant to participate in civic life. Such passivity developed during Soviet times when people outside of the Communist party did not have opportunities to participate, since all aspects of life were controlled by Soviet ideology. After Lithuania declared independence in 1990, values of democracy started to be introduced. Progress has been slow, however, because many Lithuanians were not aware of the mechanisms of participation. Democracy cannot exist without citizens' participation in public life.
When Lithuania gained its independence, civic education became part of the national curriculum. According to this curriculum, civic education should be treated as an independent subject as well as a topic to be integrated into other subjects and community life. But even though textbooks and exercise books are available to all schools, civic education in Lithuania has had a minimal impact. Research about civic education in schools indicates a lack of well-trained teachers, minimal interdisciplinary collaboration, and the incongruence between the theory of civic education and school and community life.
There are several organizations in Lithuania which share Girvydas's aim to activate Lithuanian citizens. A high percent of these organizations also target teachers, students, and other social groups. The organizations dealing directly with schools have neither supported students post election nor have they provided engaging experiential learning opportunities. Some of these organizations have failed to take advantage of opportunities to involve, cooperate with, and strengthen local communities based around the schools. Other organizations have failed because they have not found ways to involve parents in school life. Therefore, although other organizations are actively working to promote citizen action, the limited scope of their activities and size of their target groups have kept their impact at minimal levels.

Girvydas has created experiential learning opportunities to make civic education effective at four levels: Student Council, Student Parliament, local Action Days, and national Action Days. Through these experiences, Girvydas engages community members, the media, and future trainers to build a network for the continuing spread of his idea.
In order to spark involvement in school government, Girvydas organizes elections for student councils. The process is educational for students running in each election and engages the voting student body and staff of each school. Elections are conducted by representatives–one teacher and one student per school–that have participated in a training for election organizers. Once students are elected, they participate in a comprehensive leadership training course. Students learn about the process through teaching manuals titled "Election of School Students Council" and "Election of School President" that have been prepared, published, and integrated into school curriculums. Since the first elections in 1996, more than 10,000 students and teachers in over 90 schools have taken part in these campaigns.
Student Parliament provides a mechanism for greater networking among schools and promotes the role of young people as civic actors. The election process begins with each participating school electing a candidate for parliament. Students between the ages of 12 and 18 are entitled to vote while students between the ages of 15 and 17 have the right to be elected as members of parliament. Following the example of the Lithuanian Parliament, the number of parliamentarians elected from each district depends on the population of students within that district. Student Parliament offers students at participating schools the opportunity to learn how an effective campaign operates, the importance of voting, and different perspectives and possible solutions for issues concerning Lithuania. It creates discourse and encourages the exchange of ideas between schools as well as the development of regional students' councils. Student Parliament changes the perception that young people are passive and apathetic in public and political life by providing young people with responsibility, knowledge, and skills necessary for developing and implementing their initiatives on the local and national level. The Student Parliament provided direct aid to the current government in Lithuania by supplying information about students' concerns and suggestions for change. Over 670 schools in every district of Lithuania participated in the first Student Parliament.
Local Action Days strengthen cooperation between schools and municipalities. Action Days are led by administrators of selected schools, local politicians, and civil servants of municipalities. After Girvydas trains the prospective organizers, the specific event becomes their responsibility and Girvydas continues as a consultant only. Action Days typically involve 60 to 80 students from the local municipality. Students are divided into groups facilitated by a representative of a local citizen organization. The task of each group is to prepare a proposal offering concrete solutions to a problem faced by the community. Students vote for the best project, and the municipality provides financing for its implementation. The Action Days give young people the responsibility, skills, and funding to develop and implement local initiatives. When Girvydas started to organize Action Days in municipalities in 1997, the idea was not easy to sell. The situation has changed so much now that municipalities call and ask him to help them organize Action Days. So far he has organized 34 Action Days in different cities.
To build on the success of local Action Days, Girvydas piloted Action Days in the Parliament of Lithuania and in the Office of the President of Lithuania. More than 400 Student Council representatives and teachers took part in these two Action Days. During the Action Days students had to prepare special documents showing their understanding of the situation in Lithuania in different spheres: education, ecology, defense, economics, culture, and leisure time of youth. They presented these documents during the plenary sessions and discussed them with highest level of Lithuanian politicians, including the President of Lithuania, Valdas Adamkus. Students had the opportunity to work together with politicians and witness how the Lithuanian Parliament and the Presidential office make decisions. Through reforming civic education in schools, Girvydas is activating local community representatives–parents, teachers, civil servants, and local media representatives. Students are reaching out to communities in order to learn about local issues. Community leaders are involved in organizing and facilitating Action Days. Parents become involved in student elections and key public events. Government representatives are listening to the perspectives of youth, and teachers are sharing an energized civic education curriculum. These civic education experiences demonstrate for everyone the power of the democratic process and the impact of citizen-based action.
Girvydas offers students opportunities to work collaboratively with journalists. For each event, students prepare and publish a newspaper or articles about the process or event. This demonstrates the importance of reaching out to the press as a way of promoting an idea or issue. It also empowers students to make their voices heard. Girvydas also involves the media creatively in each event he organizes. Media representatives often act as participants and advisors and therefore easily become committed to promoting the work of Girvydas at a local or national level.
Girvydas has built a solid foundation for his work to ensure its replication. He has a wide cooperating network of organizations and schools. Around 1,000 schools out of 1,400 in Lithuania have taken part in Girvydas's activities. The network is stable and effective. These organizations and schoiols aim to multiply his community-model ideas. Girvydas has trained a diverse group of 25 individuals who have already taken on partial responsibility for training project participants. Although Girvydas' activities have taken place only in Lithuania, he is ready to spread the idea internationally. He has already started developing his international network. He has taken part in a variety of activities in Georgia, Moldova, Albania, Ukraine, Russia, and Kosovo as a lecturer or seminar moderator. Seen as the key player regarding civic education in Lithuania, Girvydas has gained recognition in Europe. He is involved in the Council of Europe as an "expert on civic education." His high profile, successes, and solid network will contribute to the international expansion of his idea.

Girvydas remembers his time at school as the most boring part of his life. Although he did not receive good marks during his last year in secondary school, he was active in student affairs and was able to enter the Vilnius University Faculty of History. He graduated from university with high marks and was invited to pursue a Ph.D. in history–an opportunity he refused. Instead, he started to work at the Vilnius College of Electromechanics as a history professor and dormitory director. Girvydas became extremely interested in his role in the dormitories where he introduced a model of self-government even though Lithuania was still under Soviet power. A year after Lithuania gained its independence in 1990, Girvydas started to execute his idea to enable students, their parents, and teachers both to participate in school life decision-making procedures and to represent their own interests. While working at the Ministry of Education, Girvydas noticed that the education system in Lithuania was narrow-minded and that the curriculum did not address the everyday life of students in school. In 1993 Girvydas founded the Human Rights Centre that provided training on how to teach human rights. In September 1998 Girvydas founded the Centre for Civic Initiatives. It develops the citizen sector in Lithuania by providing students and teachers in secondary schools and universities, policymakers, civil society organizations, and the broader community with knowledge about the meaning and use of international and regional human rights instruments. This organization has grown to a staff of seven. It is through the Centre for Civic Initiatives that Girvydas carries out his work.