citizenship :layers of identity processing

Canada 2014

Talking about citizenship ,some will identify it as the legislative recognition of our legitimate belonging to a specific country as mentioned in the constitution.

However,citizenship as a concept is considered complex and rich with: meanings ,struggles and questions ,for instance : Do we  need the constitutional aknowledgment and the collective agreement that we are part of fhe "whole " to fully claim that  we are citizens? Does a person who lived in the seperated Ethiopia and Eriteria during 1991 consider himself/herself Ethiopian or Eriterian?

Do indigenous people in Canada known as "First Nations" introduce themselves as citizens of Canada,though they are partially rejecting the idea of this global recognition of their "land " as such?

Such questions lead to understand citizenship as being related not only to the state  legal status but rather to the natural rights :How "I" preceive my belonging ,my rights ,and duties upon the background I uphold and where I was born ?

A Palestinian may live in what is known as Isreal but he would not aknowledge himself as being Isreali in terms of citizenship but rather as a Palestinian living on an occupied land within the known "ISRAELI PALESTINIAN CONFLICT"dilemma .At this level,We came to understand that our sense of belonging is not only based on paying taxes ,or memorizing the national anathema but rather  on set of strings :

• Legislative
• Natural
• Social (family ,community,state..)

Actually,this process is fluid and keeps moving until we reach the broader meaning : The global where "Me "gets used  to live along with "others"beyond limits and frontiers especially in the TECH era.

Later,I was shocked after I answered a questionnaire to see how much I am committed to the progress and the development of my community ,I found out that citizen-driven community is almost absent in Tunisia or let's say under construction  .This lack of awareness towards the creation of such active citizenship started to sparkle after the revolution ,accompanied with thousands of associations and fondations .
Coming back to the main questionnaire ,I have been wondering about these main points :

• How many Tunisians care about the ecosystem or even understand this concept ?
• How many Tunisians are  interested in  buying local food and products instead of the foreign ones?
• How many Tunisians go for shopping while finding alternatives instead of using  plastic bags?

• How many Tunisians think that throwing trash in public spaces harm the environment  ?

Approximately ,25% of Tunisians consider that those criteria or ways of conduct are what reflect our citizenship and how much we are engaged towards the improvement of our community.

As a logical linking to the theory of change Approach:citizenship should be also considered as an asset to make the needed change .Thus,a civic engagement and a well-elaborated schedule of activities should be taken into consideration in our educational curricula and the civil society  .If the the Tunisian Government  and NGOs want to contribute towards the creation of a conscious and aware generation of leaders .Then ,the policy-makers and the decision-makers should work to develop simple activities :like gardening at school level , and develop it in  way which gives more value to the practical side , almost absent in our  pedagogy teaching methods .

Academically speaking, in Coady approach there are two types of  change causation :

Intended Causation :"the relationship between mosquitos and mosquio bites "SCRIVEN1991,PG,)

The unitended causation :the relationship between mosquitos ,mosquio bites and malaria"

Otherwise,a poor education system like the "LMD"will improve the rates of literacy which is  an intended causation reflected in the skyrocketing  numbers of graduates .However,the unitended causation is how these graduates end up unemployed because of the lack of skills ,citizenship awareness ,and civic engagement.

Coady Institute ,Canada ,2014

To conclude ,citizenship is an  intersection of what we had and what we should work on to reach sustainability and developement in our communities .Tunisia should work on developing such layers because of the large gap between the academic and the non-academic education.
I would prefer to accetuate that Citizenship is rich and full of meanings and dilemma which should be analysed and grasped .From there we can come up to master the different other apporaches which I will explain in my next article :"Concepts of citizenship,women's rights and Empowerment"

References:Eileen Alma

Global change Leaders Program 

Canada ,2014