About ICEP

ICEP is truly international in its perspective. We begin with the understanding that whether we are Americans or the citizens of newly democratic countries, we confront the alarming fact of citizen disengagement from the public arena. Whether it is Americans who bowl alone or others who think “NGO” means “Not Grown Ourselves,” the problem is the same: how do we educate a new generation of citizens able to save the democratic legacy?

In a nutshell, we are interested in how best to teach today’s young people the knowledge, skills and values they need to be participatory citizens in these complex, challenging, globalized times. We are also interested in reforming institutions of higher education that neither teach the necessary knowledge, skills and values, nor model appropriate relationships between “elected” and “constituents.” We aim to assist in the restructuring of universities, so that they become more positive agents of social change and they graduate young people who are better citizens and professionals.

ICEP today grows out of the efforts of project leader Dr. D. Michael Shafer when he was the director of the Rutgers Citizenship and Service Education (CASE) Program. When President Clinton came to Rutgers in 1993 to announce his national service plan, he publicly recognized CASE as a service-learning model for colleges and universities across America . He recognized Rutgers ’ efforts to train students to be competent, participatory democratic citizens possessing the knowledge, skills and attitudes to flourish in today’s complex world. In the years since, CASE has grown to become the largest single provider of volunteers in New Jersey , and a key direct service provider as the operator of www.njserves.org, the Internet portal to the New Jersey civic sector.

What Dr. Shafer recognized was that CASE’s service learning model offered newly democratic countries a simple means to transform curriculum and classroom practice from authority- and theory-heavy to hands-on, active learning, and that this transformation could help train a new elite in the knowledge, skills and democratic ethic necessary to carry these countries into the 21st century. Dr. Shafer and his CASE team worked with university senates, rectors, deans, department chairs, professors, students, NGOs, small businesses, and local, provincial and national governments to assist with: mission redesign; curriculum, course, and faculty development; civic engagement office creation; and NGO and small business support programs. ICEP is a partnership with many of the universities to which CASE initially provided technical assistance. ICEP uses many of the materials developed by partner institutions and draws on the talents of professors and trainers at partner universities.

Funding

ICEP is funded by government, foundation and university sources. In its original guise as Rutgers CASE, ICEP received funding from, inter alia, the United States Department of State Educational Partnerships Program and Democracy Commission, the United States Agency for International Development, the European Union Phare and Leonardo da Vinci programs, and the Open Society Institute. Today ICEP continues to seek and receive funding from similar sources.