Citizenship Education in a Fragile State: NGO Programs for Democratic Development and Youth Participation in Haiti

Abstract

This research centres on NGO citizenship education programs in Haiti to better understand youth experiences, outcomes, and perceptions of democracy. The findings from this study illustrate how programs from Western-based NGOs with liberal democratic traditions typically construct citizenship education in relation to the individual agency of the learners, whereas youth living in the context of fragility note the prerequisite for stable social structures as a foundation for citizenship. Through multi-dimensional analyses, this article highlights the importance of historical perspectives, the value of comparing disparate societies, and the necessity to explicate social locations in cross-cultural research. The concluding proposition states that not only does context matter in international research, but illustrates specifically how context affects youth participants subject to curriculum emanating from competing ideological environments. The issues explored here are among the key concerns for the future of comparative and international research in a globalizing and diverse world.