What role can companies play in civic education?

As political trust wanes and populism rises, there are calls for Europe’s corporate sector to step up. The Civic Scouts at Work programme empowers employees to promote democracy through civic education in corporate training. Can corporate social responsibility help adult learners cope with policy changes in Europe?

In recent years, Europe has witnessed a troubling decline in political participation and trust in institutions. With voter turnout declining in every EU vote held from 1979 to 2019 (Statista, 2024), and with the challenges posed by Covid-19 and the cost-of-living crisis, some argue the 2020s will be characterised by great pressure on national and supranational institutions to win back the support of their citizens (European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, 2022).

“Barometers indicate that while trust in governmental institutions is waning, trust in companies is on the rise,” says Louisa Slavkova, co-founder and managing partner at the CIVICS Innovation Hub, a pan-European organisation promoting civic education.

This shift presents a unique opportunity for companies to play a pivotal role in fostering democracy and enhancing corporate social responsibility (CSR). But is it really that straightforward? We spoke to researchers involved in a pilot programme in Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany and Hungary to understand how companies could help adult learners navigate policy changes in Europe and enhance their democratic skills.

While trust in governmental institutions is waning, trust in companies is on the rise.

The CIVICS Innovation Hub’s project, named Civic Scouts at Work, is a capacity development programme for employees. It aims to provide them with training modules which incorporate elements of civic education to develop various democracy competencies, such as critical thinking, tolerance and transformation skills.

“We also envisioned this project as an opportunity to raise awareness on a wide range of topics, including discrimination, sustainability and disinformation,” continues Slavkova.

According to Martin Kirbach, junior project manager at the CIVICS Innovation Hub, the programme’s aim is to help employees become active citizens and promoters of democratic values within their companies as well as their wider communities.

“Europe has been experiencing a worrying wave of populism, and we were keen to explore if and how companies could positively impact this political shift,” Kirbach says.

“We need to further coordinate with local facilitators and companies to understand the specific issues they want to address, rather than adopting a top-down approach,” says Martin Kirbach. Photo: Anton Filonenko.

He emphasises the importance of training staff to become Civic Scouts. “Our ultimate goal is to make these trained employees multipliers – people who can bring these values to their local pubs and family dinner tables and lead by example, becoming active drivers of change. A sort of chain reaction.”

This project is part of a broader research initiative aimed at developing recommendations for how companies can effectively respond to populism. “We want to identify potential problems that could arise from the inequalities evident in current patterns of political participation,” adds Kirbach.

The project, currently in its pilot phase, is focused on four countries and has involved 22 companies and around 200 employees.  The intent is to extend it up to 15 more countries in the future.

Democracy challenges in Europe

“The democratic challenges that citizens face in their everyday lives are multifaceted and there were many topics we could have addressed. As the programme has progressed in different companies, several topics became more prevalent,” notes Kirbach. These topics were sustainability, inclusion, diversity, communication, volunteerism, ethics and mental health.

“It was important for us to develop these topics with the employees themselves, so we listened to them to understand the challenges they faced and what would benefit them the most. I believe this was a crucial aspect of our programme, as both companies and employees truly benefited from having a programme that was flexible and tailored to their needs,” he continues.

The employees involved in the project worked on topics such as sustainability, inclusion, diversity, communication, volunteerism, ethics and mental health. Photo: Anton Filonenko.

The collaboration between the realm of civic learning and companies is therefore crucial in helping adult learners – and people in general – develop their civic skills. According to Slavkova, involving private companies was a strategic move.

“On one hand, companies are increasingly expected to contribute to society and respond to European political and policy changes; on the other, we realised that the workplace is the ideal setting to reach adults from diverse backgrounds,” she says.

Coping with political landscapes

According to Kirbach, the project primarily focused on small and medium enterprises (SMEs), but it was implemented in countries with vastly different political landscapes and workplace conditions.

“For example, while people, especially managers and HR departments, in Germany were quite familiar with terms such as CSR or ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance), terms such as civic education were buzzwords we had to avoid and rephrase in post-communist countries like Hungary,” he explains.

In recent years, both countries have experienced a significant shift to the right and a rise in political populism, with movements such as the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in eastern Germany and Viktor Orbán’s right-wing Fidesz party in Hungary.

“It was important for us to see how programmes like Civic Scouts could impact the strengthening of democracy amid autocratic and democratic backsliding across the continent by tapping into the private sector,” says Kirbach. But it wasn’t as easy as one might think.

“In Hungary, for example, companies operating at a national level are particularly dependent on the support of the ruling party, so any activity that might challenge the system was viewed negatively. Therefore, we had to turn to larger companies that traded internationally and were less reliant on government support,” explains Kirbach.

Hungarian sociologist Kinga Kánya facilitated the Civic Scouts programme at two Hungarian IT companies.

“In Hungarian companies, professionalism often equates to neutrality, to a lack of values and ideology in the workplace. This is why it was crucial to foster an attitude that could genuinely impact corporate culture and responsibility. Companies often don’t understand why they should engage with social issues or why it’s important to see themselves as active communities,” she says.

According to Kirbach, private companies and civic educators in Europe are not well connected, either practically or theoretically.

“We simply don’t speak the same language. This project was the first step towards bridging that gap and integrating democracy into corporate education,” he says, reflecting on the outcomes of this initial pilot project and drawing some early conclusions on what worked and what could be improved.

What are the benefits?

“I think one of the main takeaways from this first phase of the project is the importance of raising awareness about why this matters so much. We really tried to convey the message that you’re not just an employee, but a citizen too. This means you have responsibilities on an individual level, within the company and in society as a whole,” says Kirbach. This might not seem like much, but it’s the very foundation of civic education.

Engagement, connection and communication were also key goals of the project, and the promoters are relatively satisfied with the outcomes.

“In discussions with civic educators and participants, we realised that this was one of the first opportunities they had to come together as a group across departments. They recognised that horizontal communication within the companies would definitely benefit from implementation,” continues Kirbach.

You’re not just an employee, but a citizen too.

According to Kánya, the project benefits both companies and employees. “For companies, the establishment of working groups comprising members from various areas has significantly strengthened cross-departmental relationships. This ultimately led to the development of comprehensive solutions, ideas and innovative problem-solving methods across multiple areas.”

Similarly, staff have also benefited from the programme. “What I have noticed is that many of them have gained a sense of self-worth through the internal implementation of social issues, as they realised their power and ability to act on their values and address social concerns within their own sphere of competence. They came to understand that their roles as employees and citizens are unified,” continues Kánya.

“Many employees have gained a sense of self-worth through the internal implementation of social issues, as they realised their power and ability to act on their values and address social concerns within their own sphere of competence,” explains Kinga Kánya.

This empowerment was one of the main goals of the overall project, as Slavkova explains. “We were pleasantly surprised by the fact that many participants found this project powerful for their personal journey, particularly because it helped the team grow together. I believe one of the main benefits of this project was the opportunity for people to give back to their company and community, thereby increasing the energy of engagement,” says Kánya.

Companies in democracy-building

Although the results of this pilot project were encouraging, there is still a long way to go to effectively and successfully involve companies in the democracy-building process in Europe.

The next phase of the project aims to extend these training programmes to up to 15 countries, including Nordic states like Sweden, “where the far right is gaining traction and civic education organisations see companies as natural allies in promoting democratic values,” continues Slavkova.

“Going forward, we need to make slight adjustments to our programmes to enhance its impact,” says Kirbach, who recently took part in a study trip with all the employees involved in this pilot phase and gathered insightful feedback on how to proceed with the project.

“First, we need to place even greater emphasis on the needs-based aspect of our curriculum. Our proposals were sometimes too broad, so we need to further coordinate with local facilitators and companies to understand the specific issues they want to address, rather than adopting a top-down approach,” he explains.

Achieving the right balance between providing a structured curriculum and allowing flexibility will be one of the main challenges, but Kirbach suggests focusing more on digital and shorter activities, as well as reflection and feedback groups, which were essential not just for the facilitators and coordinating team but for the participants too.

Despite these difficulties, the premises seem promising, says Kánya.

“I could really see how the employees were enthusiastic and motivated. They saw a vision for themselves and gained skills that will enable them to create platforms and forums through which their colleagues can join initiatives. These platforms become part of the culture and practice. In some cases, the employees genuinely became informal initiators of internal innovation. They were able to mobilise their colleagues very effectively by engaging with the group as someone who had gone through an empowerment process that allowed them to spread their impact,” she concludes.

Looking for more articles on the relationship between policy and practice?

This article is part of the theme 'Policy and Practice 2024'.

Read related articles here