International Civic Education Summit 2026
One year after the first International Civic Education Summit, we are once again inviting guests to Berlin — on 4 November 2026, with a new theme and guests from around the world. This year, the Summit is dedicated to the theme of Participation: How does civic education empower people to engage, and what can we learn from one another internationally?
What is the International Civic Education Summit?
The International Civic Education Summit is an annual expert forum for civic education in an international context, organised by Arolsen Archives, the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, and the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. It brings together researchers, educational and memorial institutions, and civil society actors from around the world. It creates a space for exchanging concrete methods and projects, and for discussing the questions that concern us all: How do we strengthen democracy through education? What can we learn from history or the present — and from one another, across borders? And how does civic education respond to the challenges of our time?
Retrospective: Summit 2025
The first International Civic Education Summit 2025 brought around 170 experts from six continents to Berlin. In panels, keynotes, and table talks, practitioners from 16 countries presented their work — from digital memory work to youth dialogues to grassroots initiatives. The Summit demonstrated that the challenges of civic education are globally interconnected, and that the responses to them are more diverse than one might expect.
Theme 2026: Participation
Participation is a central promise of democracy — and it is under pressure. Around the world, participation is increasingly being restricted, whether through authoritarian developments, growing social inequalities, or far-reaching changes in the public sphere. Engagement risks becoming a mere formality rather than opening up genuine power to shape outcomes.
In civic education, participation is both a goal and a method. Democratic action cannot simply be taught — it must be experienced and practised. That requires the right conditions: in schools and memorial sites, in digital spaces, and in institutions seeking to make their own structures more participatory.
The Summit 2026 examines participation from three perspectives: as a question of power and access, as a process of learning and empowerment, and as an organisational challenge. Central to this is the task of designing participation in ways that allow it to achieve its real potential.
