Addis Ababa city Administration Education Bureau

“Education at Home” Program Unit summary Note

SUBJECT: Civics and Ethics Education
GRADE: 9th
UNIT TEN: ACTIVE COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION
• Family: a group of couple or people living together related or linked by ties of blood, marriage
and common residence (single house) including parents and children
• Society: is an organized, distinctive coherent group or collection of people living together for a
considerable period of time in a given territory with in some degree of proximity.
• State is a body of politically organized group of people living in a defined territory under one
government with sovereign character.
• Participation: is the involvement of responsible and competent citizen in a certain
activities of the country.
• Community: is a group of people who live in the same geographical area by
sharing a common ideology, believe, way of thinking & goal.
Every community has common elements
• Shared interest and concern
• Common symbolic (physical) border
• Extended beyond family
• Recruited through blood and marriage
• Seeing its self as distinct in some way from others
• community is a large number of family
Civic participation is the role of responsible informed, employment and involved
citizens in political &socio-economical and also governance of social and political
group, community & public (nation) at large
Levels of community participation
• At a minimum level: people simply use a service
• At a middle level: people get involved in delivering service
• The full level: it is a high level of participation and characteristics of democratic
system. In these level communities:
Identify their own problems
Assess their options /alternatives
Making decision
Carry them out / implement
Forms of community participation
• Political participation: The most important aspects of political participation are
participating in electoral process (voting). Political participation includes:
• attending public meetings
• joining political parties
• discuss public issue
• taking part in peaceful demonstration

1 | As a citizen you have many responsibilities to fulfilled.

• Social participation: refer taking part in public life of the community to improve the
living condition, health education and promoting the common good to solve problem
Cooperation: is the habit of working together for common good
Volunteering: means good will of volunteers. Volunteers: are people who offer their
service (knowledge, labor & material) free of charge.
• Civil society: is a group of people or a volunteer (interested) group organized by the
interest of their member for the sack of helping others without benefit (motivation) to
promote the common good.
Civil society serves as
• Mouth pieces in pinpointing and addressing basic needs
• Prevent and control misuse of resource
• Leading sustainable development
• Instrument in curbing poverty
• Instrument in curbing violation of human & democratic right
• Enforcing law &order
• Promoting to good governance
Civil societies are
• auxiliary /free from government or politics and military
• not motivated by money
• governed or limited by law of the state
• are not profit seeking group
N: B the community based organizations are
Iddir ………. funeral association
Debbo/ Jiggee………farmers’ labor association
Afarasata………. Community court
Iqub ………………Saving association
Associations and organizations help citizens to participate in policy making.

2 | As a citizen you have many responsibilities to fulfilled.