Democracy and Good Governance
By Jennifer Ellis
In November of 2004, a tent city in Kiev began to form shortly after allegations of massive fraud and irregularities surfaced regarding Ukraine’s Central Election. The pro-Russian candidate, Viktor Yanukovych was declared the winner over Viktor Yushchenko the pro-Western candidate. Yushchenko supporters began demonstrations in the city’s historic Independence Square. These demonstrations signaled the beginning of the Orange Revolution, named for the official colour of Yushchenko’s campaign.
The Orange Revolution exists as a living example of democracy in action. People took to the streets in peaceful protests across the country. It was this citizen action that compelled Ukraine’s Supreme Court to review and then overturn the previous election results. A new round of elections were attended by approximately 12,000 observers from around the world. Their role was to ensure that no irregularities took place during the election process. Canada sent 500 observers to take part in the election oversight.
The Orange Revolution Project is a suite of resources that explores Human Rights, Good Governance and the role of Canadians and Canadian organizations during Ukraine's move toward democracy during 2004-2005. It is a project made possible by CIDA and is a working partnership between TEACH, York Region/ Advanced Broadband Enabled Learning (ABEL) and TakingITGlobal.
This project delivers advanced learning and teaching opportunities while embodying a tailor-made example of citizen engagement and active democracy. The world’s attention was focused on the election as it unfolded The media coverage was extensive and provides additional connections to the curriculum.
The project consists of three comprehensive bi-lingual lesson plans, assessment and evaluation tools and rubrics, curriculum links, a teacher’s guide and an online simulation.
Employing the simulation, s tudents will stand in the shoes of various characters who took part in the Orange Revolution and see the influence of their decisions on the outcome of the events . In addition, some students will have the opportunity to connect directly to student activists in the Ukraine so that they can work collaboratively.
The Orange Revolution Project is being beta-tested by teachers and schools in York Region and Toronto. It will also be subjected to a comprehensive evaluation conducted by professional researchers at York University. The project's intention is to provide bilingual, hands-on tools and resources for teachers in classrooms across the country. Beginning Fall 2007, teachers everywhere should look for this resource at the following Web sites:
www.takingitglobal.org and www.abelearn.ca.
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