Conceptualizing the Child-Author Development Programme (CADP) as the Missing Element in African Civic Education Programmes

Abstract

Civic Education programmes in Africa primarily focus on citizenship, governance, democracy, and social responsibility. However, these programmes often overlook critical elements necessary for shaping future-ready citizens, particularly in the domains of scientific leadership, technological innovation, and knowledge production. This paper conceptuates the Child-Author Development Programme (CADP) as a missing but essential component of African Civic Education. It argues that CADP extends the Civic Education agenda by integrating African Technological Nationalism, African Scientism, and the Science-Technology-Society (STS) discourse. We argue here that these novel Civic/Citizenship Education elements are capable of producing a generation of young thinkers capable of shaping Africa’s future through scientific storytelling. The paper situates CADP within broader Civic Education or Citizenship Education frameworks, examines its role in creating African Technological Citizenship, and presents a case for its institutionalization within African education policies. By positioning CADP as both a pedagogical intervention and a civic awakening tool, the discourse pushes beyond conventional educational thinking, advocating for a civic model in which technology and science are not peripheral luxuries but intrinsic rights and duties of the citizen. Our re-imagination of civic literacy asserts that an African citizen’s preparedness for the 21st century must not be measured by mere political consciousness or patriotic sentiment, but by the readiness to defend, advance, and co-create indigenous scientific and technological capacities as part of their social obligations. CADP therefore redefines “public responsibility” to encompass technological patriotism, “civic rights” to include the right to technological alternatives, and “social causes” to elevate the quest for a national technological identity to the level of the most fundamental civic mission.