MENA NEWSLETTER

New Year of Change

The first part of the year has been a time of change for ActionAid Denmark in MENA. The program ‘Building Bridges for Youth Action’ has expanded and now includes a mix of 31 staff members, trainers, ‘inspirators’, interns and advisors divided over Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon and Egypt.

To give room for the expanding program and Global Platform, the regional office in Amman has moved to new facilities. The office has only recently been taken into use, but is already full of life from the new volunteers, interns and staff.

A new agreement has been signed between the Danish ministry of foreign affairs and the MENA program. The agreement is signed for the next three years, starting February 2012, and focuses on promoting youth engagement and development in the MENA region.

In addition, the team is going to focus on bringing CSO’s together on joint campaigning, hoping that partners in MENA will mobilize large groups of people and youth around the same goal in order to create positive and social change in the region.

To enhance the development of youth skills and coaching processes within the programme, ActionAid has received three new trainers. One Danish trainer and two local trainers have joined the team in the beginning of the year and they are already working with training of MENA youth and Danish volunteers. The trainers hope that their work will inspire young people in the region and give them the capacity to influence decision-makers, do campaigning and get a stronger voice in building society.

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CSO's Working Together

ActionAid Denmark is taking a new direction for the next three years. They will focus on getting CSOs to work together on joint campaigning with the hope that strong alliances can establish social change and development in their communities.

Nana Sulger Büel, Regional Communication Assistant

The aim is to present CSO’s in the region with the tools and skills to make joint campaigns and the goal is to bring 8-12 organizations together in each of the countries where the programme is implemented. ActionAid Denmark (AADK) will work on development of capacity and provide specific knowledge and experience on joint campaigning.

When AADK started working on bringing organizations together they found that there is a culture of competition amongst most CSO’s in the region, especially when it comes to funding. The will against collaborations has been counter-productive for the work with youth engagement, and building bridges between CSO’s is an important first step.

Campaigning is an effective tool to create change when moving from raising awareness to mobilizing large numbers of young people. It is a tool to engage youth in civil society and has shown to be a fruitful way to demand rights, to stop harmful developments and to influence policies.

Greater cooperation will be a model for unity in local communities and create harmony and value sets amongst CSO’s. Joint campaigning is a way to show organizations that working on the same goal can lead to considerable impacts in the communities.

Training for Change in Palestine

In January, the International Leadership Training (ILTS) took place in Alabydia Bethlehem, Palestine. It focused on participatory processes and provided young people with the tools for active engagement in society. The five days training is considered a success with 39 participants, 22 male and 17 female, joining the workshops.

Alia Al Rosan, Global Platform Trainer

The ILTS took place after Palestinian partner organisations had requested ActionAid Denmark’s (AADK) MENA programme to provide leadership capacity for youth working with community issues. The participants were nominated by four local partners; Student Forum Institute (SFI), Pyalara, PCPD and Sharek.

Several Youth Workers, Youth Project Coordinators and Youth task forces, connected to ActionAid’s projects in the Hebron district, were invited in order to spread the tools and information to as many young people as possible. The participants found the ILTS refreshing and they expressed that it stood out from the other trainings they had attended in Palestine.

“Palestine is full of all different kinds of trainings and seminars. The majority of them are either poorly fitted to our needs, or they simply don’t understand us”, a young participant explained.

Young women and men are the core of AADK’s projects and the ILTS training is fitted to the surroundings and needs of local youth. Through the training they are encouraged, not only to be engaged citizens in their communities, but also to mobilize youth in their communities and support them in achieving their goals. The training gives them the tools within participatory decision-making, group dynamics, communication and facilitation of campaigns.

“I am surprised by my ability to take responsibility and to lead among my colleagues. I didn’t know that I could do that”, a participant said after the training.

The trainers agree that the most important thing that happened in the training was the level of enthusiasm the participants reached in their wish to use the tools and skills they had learned for further campaigning and advocacy. The young people have left the workshops with a stronger confidence to work actively and independently for change in their communities.

See http://training4change.org/jordan for more information on the training in MENA

'Youth Innovative Participation in Civic Engagement'

Youth in Zarqa is busy preparing for local campaigns about the public service sector. Through three intensive weeks, 125 young people are given a ‘toolbox’ of skills and resources to prepare them for greater engagement in their communities.

Nana Sulger Büel, Regional Communication Assistant

The young men and women have participated in different workshops focusing on capacity building and advocacy. The youth are prepared for the task of influencing decision makers and to do campaigning on community issues. The goal for the young people is to develop a joint concept of campaigns, advocacy and media materials touching upon issues concerning them in the public sphere. 

The workshops are part of the project ‘Youth Innovative Participation in Civic Engagement’ run by ActionAid Denmark’s (AADK) partner organization ‘Community Development Committee’ (CDC). In corporation with five other CSO’s, CDC provides training and coaching support for the participants.

The project is run in a Jordanian refugee camp inside the city Zarqa and the participants are young Jordanian citizens of Zarqa governorate and refugees from Palestine and Iraq. The youth here are marginalized and are not used to have a voice in society.

The main objective of the project is to provide the young people with the necessary skills, coaching and mentoring in order to promote civic engagement and participatory development. The project stresses the importance of having a voice and taking active roles in civic and public issues in order to change their own situation.

To make this possible the participants are coached in how to communicate with the community and decision-makers. The training includes skills within media production, research, mapping and issue analysis, debating, advocacy and leadership development.

AADK hope that the project will empower the young people to keep working for change in their communities.  The organisation will work closely with the youth to mentor and support their action in order to make sure that they are putting their new skills in to practice.

Go to http://www.actionaid.dk/sw9740.asp to read more about ActionAid Denmark's work with youth in MENA

Youth Efforts to Face Drug Issues in Beqaa

A summer camp, in the Beqaa area, in Lebanon has led young participants to make a project on drug problems in their local communities. The youth has expressed their excitement over the project and has found it very helpful in daily life.

Hadia Ghadban, Program Coordinator, Lebanon

The project started last summer after a youth summer camp was organized in Beqaa in cooperation with the Union of Lebanese Democratic Youth “ULDY” and the organisation Masar. The camp was in the frame of ActionAid Denmark’s program in Lebanon and 60 young people participated.

As a part of ActionAid’s work on civic engagement the camp aimed at gathering young people in Lebanon to help transform a public garden and football playground in the area. The camp activities included several discussion sessions on citizenship practices and youth participation in the public life, the sectarian system in Lebanon and its implications on youth, and drug abuse among youth.  

Following the session on drugs, several young people wanted to shed further light on the topic as it directly affects their lives. With the help of an expert they prepared a reader friendly leaflet on drugs including information on different types of drugs, phases of addiction to drugs, economic and social implications of drug use, health implications on the drug addict, and how to seek help for recovery. A total number of 1000 leaflets were distributed in the streets with the cooperation of the above organizations and the municipality.

The project also included an awareness day, prepared by Masar, entitled “Aware Young People”. The awareness day took place in Ras Baalback and started with an interactive presentation on the definition of addiction, targeting 75 youth aged 14- 19 from the scouts and schools. In addition the youth split into 7 groups for a rally that took place across the whole village. Informative questions were asked about addiction, which lead to the involvement of the whole village and spread awareness among inhabitants.

Youth participants and the organizers evaluated the project. The youth expressed their excitement, as the event was very informative and entertaining, providing important information that is helpful in daily life and the organizers said it created further interaction between inhabitants and the municipal council.

MaRajel: Call for Ideas from Partners

The gender initiative MaRajel needs help from partners to develop new and creative ideas. The initiative has failed to reach its original objectives and is now in the phase of developing a new concept.

Nana Sulger Büel, Regional Communication Assistant

The overall goals have been to raise awareness about gender issues and engage youth in Jordan in advocacy and active campaigning. The idea is that MaRajel should offer something different from the many CSO’s in Jordan working on gender who focus solely on providing knowledge.

MaRajel started in cooperation with ActionAid, in January 2011 in Zarqa, Jordan after a discussion on gender issues among a group of young people. The project has so far focussed on citizenship education through discussion sessions and lectures.

ActionAid and MaRajel feel that it is time to take the discussions to the next level by motivating young people and giving them the skills to make campaigns and advocacy. One idea that MaRajel has discussed with ActionAid is sustainable networks of ‘Gender Ambassadors’ working in CSO's in order to put gender issues on the table in every aspect of their work.

The region still needs to go a long way in order to reach gender equality and the need to approach this question is urgent. MaRajel could be an important initiative but it is still a long way from having a clear concept. That is why ActionAid Denmark in MENA is now calling for ideas from partners.

Some of the questions that have been raised are:
How can MaRajel in alternative ways mobilize young people on gender issues? How can the concept of Gender Ambassadors best be developed, and do partners have any creative ideas on how to create gender awareness in the broader public?

If you have anyideas for the MaRajel project please write:         com-mena@ms.dk

Raising Awareness in Lebanon

ActionAid Denmark has just finalised a project in Lebanon in cooperation with the ‘Lebanese Democratic Women Gathering’ (LDWG). The project has reached noteworthy results within awareness raising and capacity building of youth, CSO’s and NGO’s.

Zehra Aras, Programme Assistant, Beirut.

The project is called “Building on capacities of civil society in the area of Baalback - Hermel” and has focused on several main themes. The themes include awareness-raising on the importance of inclusion of youth in decision-making, capacity building of NGO’s to work with youth in a more inclusive way, promoting a more rights-based approach in organisations and facilitating cooperation and a cooperative mentality among CSOs.

The project was implemented with 10 organisations over three phases. A research phase for gathering data from young people in order to create a database of information. This was conducted through focus groups and was followed by an action phase, which consisted of a 4-day workshop. The workshop was designed according to the outcome of the focus groups. The final phase was for compiling the collected information and feedback in a report.

During the workshop, participants highlighted several issues that they wanted to address in their communities. Some of the issues included early marriage, drugs, violence against children in schools, create awareness on children’s school dropout, marginalization of women and their absence from decision-making processes and greater involvement of young people in political life, by for example lowering the voting age from 21 to 18 years.

A noteworthy result of the project is a detailed report that the LDWG published, based on the notes and observations from the trainings and the focus groups. The report, called Challenges and Potentials, is the first of its kind, and is seeking to demonstrate the approach of the civil society organizations and nongovernmental organizations in the Baalback and Hermel area.

Three main issues, which were common among the majority of the organizations, are emphasized in the report. They thematized how to engage youth in decision-making processes within the organizations. How to support organizations to adopt a right based approach and how to enhance the formations of networks among organizations to complete each other and not to compete.

Short Updates from MENA

‘Building Bridges for Youth Action II’
A new agreement has been signed between the Danish ministry of foreign affairs and ActionAid Denmark in MENA. The agreement is signed for the next three years, starting February 2012, and is focusing on the youth in the MENA region to become engaged in social change.

New office in Amman
On the first of January ActionAid Denmark moved their regional office in Amman, Jordan to bigger facilities in order to give room for an expanding MENA programme and global platform. The office is already full of life, with four new trainers, ten global volunteers and four new interns functioning as programme assistants.

New employee in Jordan
ActionAid Denmark has received a new administrative and project assistant, Amani Ziad Darwish. She will be assisting on the projects and manage the administrative tasks on the Jordan programme.

Youth groups move forward on campaigns
With support from ActionAid and PYALARA (Palestinian Youth Association for Leadership And Rights Activation), youth groups from Arroub Refugee Camp and Surif Village are now launching their first awareness-raising campaigns about discrimination in schools and smoking amongst Palestinian youth.

10 new volunteers to the West Bank                                           Eight young global volunteers and two nurses arrived in Hebron last week. They will spend the coming months volunteering with CBOs and NGOs all over the West Bank, such as the Palestinian Circus School in Ramallah and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society in Hebron.

Youth task force in Hebron
Two youth task forces in Hebron, supported by the PCPD, are about to finalize their Action Plan and Negotiation Plan in March. The negotiation process with the municipalities will take place in April.

Exchange of Knowledge
From 12-14 of March, 4 municipal councillors from Zarqa in Jordan and one member of Al Thoria will be visiting municipal councils in Bekaa and attend meetings with CSO’s. The visit is part of an exchange of learning, organized by ActionAid Denmark in Lebanon in cooperation with the organisation Masar.

Arrival of the Global Volunteers
4 new volunteers have arrived in Amman in February. After a one-month preparation at the global platform three volunteers are going to Lebanon to work in Shatila refugee camp. One is staying in Jordan.

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ToT moves from Egypt
February 25 – March 14, Amman Jordan
The Training of Trainers course (ToT) should originally have taken place in Cairo, Egypt. Because of the fragile situation in the country the training is moved to Amman, Jordan. The participants are youth from the MENA countries.

ToT Nano in Palestine
March 16-17 and March 23-24, Palestine.
A compiled version of the ToT in Jordan is being prepared in the occupied Palestinian territories. The training will among other things focus on practical skills within facilitation, planning and communication.

THE DANISH-ARAB URBAN ARTS FESTIVAL
February 25, at 16:00 AT Solea 5
An art event funded by the Demena pool is taking place in Lebanon. The idea is to provide an opportunity and a platform for progressive underground artists and cultural activists in the Levant region for exchanges and free artistic expressions.
http://www.facebook.com/events/345020045521215/

ActionAid International Team in MENA
March 19 – 30, Jordan, Lebanon, oPt
ActionAid International is launching an appraisal in the Middle East/oPt programme. The appraisal is conducted by a team, comprising Mr. Chris Kinyanjui, Ms. Ayesha Iman, Mr. David Clarke, Mr. Richard Miller.

Arrival of a new Advisor
March 2, Amman Jordan
Signe Plange will be joining the MENA team as an advisor for the programme component Capacity Building of Civil Society Organisation. For the time being she will be based in Amman.