Panama

Forum on the inclusion of afro-descendant history in the school curricula

City/State/Region
Begin – End: 2020 – 2020
Name of organization in charge: Ministerio de EducaciónCoordinadora Nacional de Organizaciones Negras (Conegpa)Dirección de las Etnias de la Alcaldía de Panamá
Type of organization in charge: government civil society
Level: national

Impact

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Implementation: was the innovation effectively, partially or not put into practice at all?

Fulfillment of Aims: were the goals of the innovation completely, partially or not achieved at all?

Output: has the innovation generated recommendations, initiatives, decisions or policies?

Outcome: if there were a policy output, was it enacted or implemented?

Implementation: yes
Fulfillment of Democratic Innovation’s aim: yes
Output: -
Policy Outcome: -

The Forum on the inclusion of afro-descendant history in the school curricula is virtual dialogue that took place in May 2020 and was organized by the Ethnic Directorate of the City Hall of Panama, the Ministry of Education and the National Coordinator of Black Organizations (Conegpa) representing 23 civil society organizations. Its purpose was to discuss the inclusion of topics such as slavery, African history, maroonage and the contribution of the Afro-descendant population in the development of Panama in the school curriculum. This inclusion aims to make the identity of Afro-descendant groups and the reality of structural racism in the country visible. In addition to the groups previously mentioned, the forum was attended by the Director of UNESCO for Central America, as well as Panamanian historians and academics. At the Forum, the representative of the Ministry of Education announced that she would create a Deliberative Table in favor of the International Decade for People of African Descent to follow up on the inclusion of these topics in the academic curriculum.

Institutional design

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Formalization: is the innovation embedded in the constitution or legislation, in an administrative act, or not formalized at all?

Frequency: how often does the innovation take place: only once, sporadically, or is it permanent or regular?

Mode of Selection of Participants: is the innovation open to all participants, access is restricted to some kind of condition, or both methods apply?

Type of participants: those who participate are individual citizens, civil society organizations, private stakeholders or a combination of those?

Decisiveness: does the innovation takes binding, non-binding or no decision at all?

Co-governance: is there involvement of the government in the process or not?

Formalization: only backed by a governmental program or policy
Frequency: single
Mode of selection of participants: restricted
Type of participants: civil society
Decisiveness: democratic innovation yields a non-binding decision
Co-Governance: yes

Means

Deliberation
Direct Voting
E-Participation
Citizen Representation

Ends

Accountability
Responsiveness
Rule of Law
Political Inclusion
Social Equality

Policy cycle

Agenda setting

Formulation and decision-making

Implementation

Policy Evaluation