[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 147 (Tuesday, October 26, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2185]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


        CIVITAS PROGRAM RESTORING HOPE IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BRAD SHERMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, October 26, 1999

  Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, in recent weeks a delegation of educators 
and education officials from Bosnia and Herzegovina traveled to my 
district to continue their work with the Center for Civic Education in 
implementing a successful civic education initiative called Civitas @ 
Bosnia and Herzegovina which is restoring hope to that divided nation.
  The Civitas initiative consists of an education for democracy program 
for elementary and secondary students in Bosnia and Herzegovina with 
the goal of promoting the development of a political culture supportive 
of democratic values, principles, and institutions.
  The distinguished members of the delegation include: Rahela Dzidic, 
Executive Director, Civitas @ Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo, Mile 
Ilic, Professor of Pedagogy and Psychology, University of Banja Luke, 
Banja Luka, Sanja Kantar, Philosophy Professor, Prijedor, Dejan Krunic, 
Counselor for Physics and Astronomy, Pedagogical Institute of the 
Republika Srpska, Civitas Regional Coordinator, Banja Luka, Anton 
Milos, Elementary School Principal, Civitas Municipal Coordinator for 
Kiseljak, Brestovsko, Ismet Salihbegovic, Deputy Minister of Education, 
Sarajevo Canton, Sarajevo, Halil Spago, Counselor for Education, Mostar 
Canton, Ministry of Education, Mostar, Esad Toromanovic, Sociology 
Professor, Civitas Cantonal Coordinator, Una Sana Canton, Bihac, Karlo 
Zelenika, Psychology and Pedagogy Professor, Civitas Cantonal 
Coordinator, Sikoki Brijeg, Masa Miskin, Translator, student, 
University of Sarajevo, Philosophy Faculty, Sarajevo, Aida Skaljic, 
Civitas Translator/Assistant, Sarajevo.
  The Civitas initiative in Bosnia has produced impressive results. 
More than 2,500 teachers in all parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina have 
been using Project Citizen, a program translated and adapted from a 
successful civic education middle school program used in the United 
States. The teachers also are using translated and adapted versions of 
selected lessons on basic concepts of democracy. In all of Bosnia and 
Herzegovina, the program has reached more than 100,000 elementary and 
secondary students since its inception in 1996.
  The initiative in Bosnia and Herzegovina is part of the broader 
Civitas: An International Civic Education Exchange program administered 
by the Center for Civic Education. The program provides for a series of 
exchanges among leaders and educators in civic education in the United 
States and emerging and established democracies worldwide.
  I applaud the promising results the Civitas initiative has already 
achieved and look forward to the continued success of the program.

                          ____________________