Vision

In order to encourage global citizenship among young people, we must first clarify what the concept means. NCDO has therefore worked together with representatives from the educational community to develop a vision of global citizenship. NCDO found inspiration in the Earth Charter and the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

What is global citizenship?
Global citizenship is the international dimension of people’s involvement and participation in society.

A global citizen:
- is conscious of the world;
- is conscious of his or her own role as a global citizen;
- respects diversity in norms and values;
- is willing to work to create a more just world;
- assumes responsibility for his or her own actions;
- contributes to his or her own community;
- has an insight into international developments and the Millennium Development Goals;
- feels involved with his or her fellow man.

Does the global citizen lose his or her own local identity?
Global citizens understand that they are not only part of a local or national community, but also part of the world at large. They identify both with their own immediate surroundings as well as the wider world outside the limits of their own community.
Global citizenship implies:
- a consciousness that goes beyond the limits of the local or national community;
- knowledge of and insight into international developments;
- involvement, empathy and respect towards people from other parts of the world;
- reflection upon the many ties between their own personal situation and conditions elsewhere;
- the willingness to fix moral conclusions to that knowledge.

Global citizenship therefore does not imply that it is impossible to identify with one’s own local or national community. Global citizenship revolves around the capacity to find connections between one’s own immediate surroundings and the world at large.

Why is global citizenship important?
Globalization makes the world a more complex place. Cultural, political and economic borders are disappearing. Migration makes populations more varied. The power of nation states is declining and national identities are under threat.
Those who do not understand these developments run the risk of feeling lost and threatened, with the result that they may take a hostile stance towards the changes around them. In contrast, those who do keep up with and understand current developments will see the opportunities that globalization brings with it.
Only this ‘global consciousness’ will make it possible to find solutions to the major international issues of our times, such as unequal access to resources such as water and protection of the environment.

Download the vision statement on global citizenship, or order it using the order form.