Youth as Change Makers in the Middle East & North Africa Results and Achievements of ActionAid Denmark through The Arab Regional Initiative 2005-2015
Youth as Change Makers in the Middle East & North Africa
Editorial team: Ditte Wegeberg and Lene Vendelbo ActionAid Denmark Address: FĂŚlledvej 12 Copenhagen, Denmark Phone: +45 77310000 Mail: ms@ms.dk Arab Regional Initiative Adress: Al-Farazdaq st., Al-Weibdeh, Amman, Jordan Website: www.actionaid.org/arab-region Graphic design: Tina Schembecker, eye-on-you.com Photos: Front page: Bertel Henning Jensen/MS Haitham Abdullah Milia Eidmouni/ActionAid
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Youth as Change Makers in the Middle East & North Africa
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION Side 4
Preface: Peter Christiansen, Regional Director, Arab Regional Initiative, ActionAid Denmark
Side 5
Results in headlines: 10 years 5 key results – a qualitative summary
ACHIEVEMENTS Side 6
Result 1: Strengthened intercultural dialogue and solidarity
Side 10
Result 2: Engaged youth as active citizens
Side 14
Result 3: Creating a strong and vibrant civil society
Side 16
Result 4: Secured better public services
Side 18
Result 5: Increased youth participation in decentralization bodies and processes
BACKGROUND INFORMATION Side 20
Timeline: 10 years in the Arab region
Side 20
Overview: Presence in the Arab region and partner organisations
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Youth as Change Makers in the Middle East & North Africa
PREFACE
Young people all over the world are facing challenging times with high unemployment rates, exclusion from education opportunities and political marginalisation. Young people requesting social change and inclusion in society has led youth to protesting against governments and regimes failing their obligations to democratize societies. The Arab region is no exception. In early 2011, young people in the Middle East sparked revolts and held protests calling against corruption and for social and democratic change. Whilst the Arab Spring shook the foundations of many regimes in the region, most eluded their responsibilities and ignored the voice of the youth. Since 2005, ActionAid Denmark (AADK) has been active in the Arab region and since 2006, a grant recipient under the Danish Arab Partnership Programme (DAPP). The programme intervention has focused on increasing the capacities of youth activists and civil society organizations; mobilizing them to take sustained action to demand accountability from duty-bearers; and strengthening intercultural cooperation, solidarity and exchange of experiences between young people from Denmark. The latter formed the start of the initiative “Next Stop Middle-East� launched by AADK in late 2005. The aim of promoting inter-cultural exchange and crossborder dialogue with youth from Denmark and the Middle East rapidly became a huge success and laid the foundations for a long and continuous engagement in the region. In ten years of engagement, our collaboration with partners has developed and expanded, adding support to building up civil society
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organizations and promotion of civil engagement to the inter-cultural component. Since 2013, the programmatic focus has expanded to holding governments to account of their service delivery and increasing participation of youth in decentralization bodies and processes. Our programme portfolio has been leveraged in constant dialogue with involved partners and youth groups. With over 10 years of grassroots experience in the region, we have witnessed increased conflict, and political instability and security deteriorate significantly. Political space for civil society is under constant threat in most countries in the Arab region. Young men and women are seen as troublemakers rather than change makers and the perception of powerlessness is on the rise. Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Libya are undergoing civil wars and are on the verge of collapse and radicalization and extremism on the rise, infiltrating young people’s feeling of powerlessness. The long-standing occupation of Palestine has sparked continuous unrest with political ramifications felt across the Arab states. The region is also facing the worst refugee crisis since World War Two, as a result of atrocities carried out inside Syria and Iraq. Both in Lebanon and Jordan, the influx of Syrian refugees has had a severe impact on the local communities. In Lebanon 1,2 million registered Syrian refugees have entered the country and in Jordan 630,000 registered refugees. Governments on both sides have suggested the number of unregistered refugees could be double that of official figures. For both countries the refugees have been
Youth as Change Makers in the Middle East & North Africa
PREFACE
largely welcomed, but tensions have emerged as a result of scarce resources and rising prices of commodities such as rent and food.
youth on-board in building inclusive communities and paving the wave forward in the Arab region.
The community led approach developed by AADK has been highly successful and demonstrated our ability to build sustainable social cohesion between refugees and host communities. Targeting vulnerable youth through our community centers, addressing their needs and concerns, such as livelihoods and employment, has given AADK credibility amongst beneficiaries and partners, which has been key to achieving the successes that we will present in the following report. High participation of women is crucial to AADK and has been characterizing in all activities carried out in the region.
Peter Christiansen Regional Director, Arab Regional Initiative, ActionAid Denmark
Strengthening civil society through active involvement of the youth has been one of AADK’s key objectives and has proved to be an important factor amongst partners in supported MENA countries in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Egypt, Tunisia, and Morocco. The tens of thousands of young men and women who benefitted from our support and training in becoming change makers is a result of hard work and dedication from our partners and staff, but most of all a result of commitment and will from the young Arab men and women themselves. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the dedicated young men and women who invited us into their communities and believed in joining forces and building their own lives. It is my hope that their voices will be heard and social change will come with their efforts and that 2015 and beyond will bring even more
Visual: ActionAid Denmark and our approach in the Arab region ActionAid works according to the Human Rights Based Approach (HRBA) to fight injustice and promote social and economic equality. The three main components are: •
Empowerment to support people living in poverty to mobilize and make the decision-makers act responsively.
•
Solidarity to gather people in more common understanding and a strengthened sense of global citizenship.
•
Campaign and Policy to support the above mentioned.
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Youth as Change Makers in the Middle East & North Africa
Mobilizing more than 16.538 young people for political, economic and social change in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Yemen, Egypt, Tunesia and Morocco. Training 5.660 young people to become agents of change. Capacity building of 158 youth groups and 87 organizations. Breaking down stereotypes: 637 young people from the Arab region and Denmark have travelled between the regions.
RESULTS IN HEADLINES
10 years: 5 key results – a qualitative summary RESULT 1:
Strengthened intercultural dialogue and solidarity
•
Strengthened intercultural cooperation, dialogue, solidarity and exchange of experience between youth from Denmark and from the Arab region. AADK work on dialogue has created solidarity between Denmark and the Arab Region through exchange at both individual and organizational levels.
•
Facilitate interchange between Danish and Arab youth through internships, volunteer placements, Global Citizen Courses and Next Stop trips.
RESULT 2: Engaged youth as active citizens •
Youth have developed a political consciousness to lead change processes and have engaged in their local communities. They are taking action against poverty and injustice.
•
Youth are organizing themselves. They have established and been supported to set their own agenda and the programme has supported the establishment of a wide range of platforms and forums for action promoting civic engagement and where young people jointly can act to influence public services and policies and contributed to enhancing the capacities of these platforms.

RESULT 3: Creating a strong and vibrant civil society •
Creation of alliances and networks between CSOs, as well as between youth groups and the organisations.
•
Enhanced capacity to promote youth leadership and political participation.
RESULT 4: Secured better public services •
Enhanced responsiveness and service delivery of local governments
•
Government held accountable to provide equitable and transparent public services – achievement of real changes in local communities.
RESULT 5: Increased youth participation in decentralization
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bodies and processes
•
Authorities and local officials have changed attitudes towards youth participation in local governance.
•
Supported youth in developing democratic agendas to run for election, advocating and campaigning for political influence and the need to engage in democratic structures, and facilitated interface between youth and local authorities.
Youth as Change Makers in the Middle East
RESULT 1: STRENGTHENED INTERCULTURAL DIALOGUE AND SOLIDARITY Building bridges and intercultural dialogue between young people in Denmark and the Arab region is a long-standing and consolidated activity implemented by AADK that started prior to 2005. From a Youth Dialogue Centre in Amman, Jordan, AADK supported and facilitated a range of exchange and dialogue initiatives, including Next Stop Middle East and Next Stop Denmark. The programme has provided opportunities to create peer-to-peer dialogue and dynamic cross-border exchange of experiences between Danish and Arab youth from different countries, as well as practical exchange of approaches and methodologies of dialogue and intercultural cooperation. 2006 was a critical year between the relationship of Denmark and the Arab region caused by the so-called “Cartoon Crisis.” As a result, initiatives to ensure increased dialogue and mutual understanding were seen to be needed. By facilitating dialogue and cultural exchange, AADK’s programme has achieved the provision of opportunities for cross-cultural conversations and exchange of experiences by mobilising and supporting young activists to participate in trainings and seminars in Denmark and in the Arab region. More than 525 young Danes have travelled to the MENA region involved in cultural meetings
returning with new positive perspectives and enhanced cultural knowledge. Evaluations show that for several of the participants involved in the activities, the programme has undoubtedly strengthened mutual understanding, increased inter-cultural tolerance and promoted open dialogue. “More than 637 young Danes have travelled to the MENA region, all involved in cultural meetings and bringing back new positive perspectives and lessons learned.”
The sum of these initiatives laid the groundwork for developing today´s programme. In 2008, the Dialogue Centre transformed into a Regional Office and from 2009, the regional youth programme “Building Bridges for Youth Action” formed, initially with a strong focus on Zarqa Governorate in Jordan. Most of the volunteers are between 18-25 years old and volunteer for a period of 1 to 4 months engaging in social projects in local communities such as schools, orphanages, youth centers, or actively participate in teaching music, sport or English. Next stop trips are travels for 8-12 days in the Middle East where young people get behind the scenes and engage in workshops, visits and local activities in remote areas as refugee camps where talks on politics, religion or culture take place. Global Folk High School is
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Youth as Change Makers in the Middle East & North Africa
RESULT 1
FACT BOX: • Since 2008, 105 Danish volunteers have been placed in Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon and Morocco.
• Since 2008, 298 young people have participated in Next Stop trips
• Next Stop destinations: Iran, Israel/Palestine, Jordan/ Lebanon/Egypt, Syria/ Lebanon, Egypt, Syria/Jordan, Jordan/Syria/Lebanon, Jordan/Lebanon.
a 3 weeks stay in Jordan, where participants are taught Arabic and communication, and meet local youth to understand their lives in addition to visiting Israel-Palestine to gain an insight into the conflict. The global internship is for Danish students who take part as a part of their professional studies to go abroad to engage in relevant activities for 4-10 weeks. Via Global Health Study trips Danish students within the health sector, use their studies in a global perspective by visiting local hospitals and clinics, which gives an
insight of how other health systems work and active engagement in topics such as ethical choices and humanitarian perspectives are taught. The interns are qualified MA students and experienced in development issues that work with topics such as communication and country- or regional programs, where they support the ActionAid team in the best way possible whilst gaining knowledge and experience of the region.
• Since 2006, 55 volunteers have been placed in Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Egypt and Lebanon.
• Since 2012, 67 nurse students have participated in Global Health Study trips to Israel/Palestine
PALESTINE:
Volunteer: “A great way to learn more about the family culture in the region” From September 2013 and six months onwards, Simon Høgholm Hansen (25) worked in Palestine, Ramallah in the West Bank as a global volunteer, mainly with child care of the local children. Before volunteering, Simon participated in trainings at the Global Platform in Amman, focusing on social change, politics in the region, and Arabic culture and language. The training provided him with knowledge and understanding of how the local youths perceive life and their future dreams.
Why did you want to be a volunteer with ActionAid Denmark? “I have always been curious about MENA, its people and their culture. As a social worker in Denmark, I saw the opportunity as a great way to learn more about the family culture in the region. My hope was to help and give some of my experience from my education to the local organization I worked for.”
How would you describe the cultural exchange related to your work? “I think both parts benefitted from the partnership. For me it was really rewarding to increase my knowledge about the Arabic culture, including the family structure.
How did you apply the skills and knowledge you gained in your volunteer placement? “As a social worker in Denmark, working with Middle Eastern families in a day-care, I often apply most of my knowledge gained from volunteering in approaching the families in their cultural context.”
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Youth as Change Makers in the Middle East & North Africa
JORDAN:
‘Oh these people who made fun of our prophet?’ One volunteer who visited Denmark is Haitham Abdalla (21) who got involved with AADK youth network Activista in 2013, currently being a core volunteer. “I try to break down this stereotype of Danish people.” “When I talk to friends who are not involved in organizations and I tell them that I work with Danes they ask ‘oh these people who made fun of our prophet?’ I answer them; ‘Do you really believe that it was all 5 million people that made fun of our prophet? It was only one guy that drew something in a newspaper and he is representing himself’. I try to break down this stereotype of Danish people and make it acceptable whenever someone with another nationality or background is doing something that might be different from other people’s values. I believe we shouldn’t generalize too much.”
Haitham Abdalla (right) has visited Denmark and is now a core volunteer. Since 2006, ActionAid has mobilized thousands of Arab young men and women, out of which 60 youth have travelled to Denmark to participate in trainings and immerse into the cultural experience.
DENMARK AND THE ARAB REGION: The Middle East Expedition – three weeks of intercultural bus travelling By 2009 a group of young Jordanians and Danes gathered at a MENAct meeting and shared the appreciation of cultural exchange, dialogue activities and the unity of multiculturalism, which fostered the idea of the Middle East Expedition that came into reality in 2011. Two busses carrying 73 young men and women from Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Denmark spend three weeks travelling through six cities in the Middle East, actively engaging 1100 local youth they approached while travelling. Several creative ways of self-expression were exchanged between the involved, such as theatre, photography, cooking lessons, and musical engagement. The purpose to develop common understanding of the importance of intercultural meetings, reflect on civic engagement and questioning the meaning of everyday conditions were embraced and alternative values were discussed and developed.
Facilitating professional cooperation The programme has also provided
opportunities for facilitating professional cooperation between Danes and Arabs as well as between Arabs from different countries through the People4Change programme placing one Danish Advisor and four Danish Inspirators with strategic partners in Egypt, and an additional 4 international Advisors and 13 Inspirators. Moreover a total of 55 Danish interns have been placed at our Regional Office and Global Platform in Amman or with local civil society organisations in the Arab region. One achievement of the partner DSC with the support of the programme and the Danish Advisor is the establishment of a regional academy “Arab Academy for Development and Change”, with the aim to strengthen and promote civic engagement and democratic reforms in Egypt. Finally, trainings conducted by the Global Platform are carried out by a team of Danish and Arab trainers working closely together on planning and implementation of trainings, jointly bringing together ideas from both Denmark and the Arab region. In 2014, 10 Arab trainers attended a Training of Trainers course in Denmark.
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Youth as Change Makers in the Middle East & North Africa
RESULT 2: ENGAGED YOUTH AS ACTIVE CITIZENS Through comprehensive efforts to support youth and CSOs in promoting young people’s active participation in civil society AADK has provided trainings for youth and partner staff, mentorship programmes and facilitated peer-to-peer support. AADK has successfully engaged and organised young people to take action against poverty and injustice in the Arab region. 16.538 young men and women from student unions, youth initiatives and CSOs in Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Tunisia, Morocco, Palestine, and Syria have been mobilised and organized.
Training improves competences 5.660 young men and women from student unions, youth initiatives and CSOs have been trained. They have increased and improved their competences in leadership, campaigning, advocacy, coalition building, community resource mapping, decentralisation, gender analysis, creative activism, human rights, anti-radicalisation, electoral campaigning and social media and facilitation. 92% of the participants have applied the skills and knowledge acquired in the training. Kilde: Surveys conducted through ActionAids Global Platform, 2014
FACT BOX: • 25 voluntary camp leaders participated.
• 300 youth took part in the following summer camps in four regions of Syria.
• 4 Global Platform trainers took part in supporting implementation of the camps.
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SYRIA: Leadership Training in Syria – Developing Leadership Skills, Voluntarism and Voluntary Summer Camps In Syria in 2010, the National Union of Syrian Students (NUSS) worked to promote voluntarism and built the capacity and engagement of young volunteers. Up to 2010, NUSS conducted summer camps across Syria involving a large number of children, adolescents and young people. Voluntary camp leaders supported NUSS employees in running the camps. In 2010, voluntary camp leaders were trained on creative, non-hierarchical leadership and were supported in the implementation of new approaches and ideas generated through the training. A number of new initiatives were introduced at the camps. Volunteers were represented in camp management and in the planning committees; M&E mechanisms for the camps were developed where volunteers would take part in feedback sessions each evening to reflect on what worked and what did not work. The young volunteers were also encouraged to suggest new initiatives and activities. Furthermore, a growing focus on community engagement arose e.g. sports activities and joint cooking, in order to bring together the camp volunteers and the local community and to create a dialogue on voluntarism, the work of NUSS and the summer camps in particular. Since 2011 after the outbreak of war inside Syria AADK has continued involving young Syrian men and women, now as refugees in Lebanon and Jordan, through community mobilization and initiatives to build social cohesion.
Youth as Change Makers in the Middle East
RESULT 2
EGYPT: “I have only just realized that engaging in politics is a right”
FingerPrints: The biggest cleaning campaign in Jordan and supported by ActionAid.
The Fayoum Joint Campaign strives to ensure young people’s participation and influence in local governance. A 24 years-old male university student has participated in several campaign trainings as part of the campaign in Egypt since it was founded in 2012 with support from AADK. This made him realize how civic and political engagement can make a positive influence on society: “I have only just realized that engaging in politics is a right…the campaign has spread the awareness of how to engage with politics, without attaching itself to a political party”. Throughout his involvement, the young student has taken a lead in initiating various campaigns in his community, including initiating a campaign called “My Right”. “I feel our campaign is really effective. First I thought it would be a short term thing like other campaigns and then it would finish, but I feel that through the activities that we have done, there will be some concrete outcomes”. The student wishes to be anonymous due to the security situation in Egypt.
JORDAN: Civic education in Russifeh In Russifeh in Zarqa Governorate, Jordan, the programme supported partners through the Al Aman Center for Human Rights Studies to promote civic education and engagement through a youth ambassadors project. Overall, 330 marginalized youth have been mobilized and have gained knowledge and practical skills on how to advocate for community issues. The youth ambassadors have identified issues based on 904 community surveys. The youth ambassadors pointed out the lack of medical supplies and through communication with local officials related to the health attitudes of the staff at health centers has improved towards local patient. . In addition, a group of volunteers arranged a stand against extremism campaign in connection with the Jordanian pilot executed by ISIS in early 2015, in which 200 youth participated.
“Bigger insight of political issues” In 2012 Artiah Faraj (age 21) got involved in the ActionAid supported network Sketshow. He got introduced to ActionAid’s youth network Activista and has been a driving force as volunteer since 2014. Artiah Faraj participated in several trainings such as “Rebuilding Activista”, “Governance”, and sessions from “Training of Trainers” that made him able to gather friends to establish the company FingerPrint and thereby becoming role models in their local community.
In terms of knowledge and skills, what have you gained from the trainings? “The biggest benefit is about governance. It has provided me with a bigger insight of political issues and better understanding of the complicated terms. Even though I have always been politically active, it is through engagement with ActionAid that I now have more information and knowledge. I have also used the value and knowledge I have gained from the governance trainings about democracy to implement in other projects from my own initiative. It was my friends and I who established the company FingerPrint, which started the biggest cleaning campaign in Jordan, supported by ActionAid. We made awareness about social responsibility by talking in schools and universities and we collected around 1000 volunteers to clean up in the messiest places in Amman.”
“Overall, 330 marginalized youth have been mobilized and have gained knowledge and practical skills on how to advocate for community issues.”
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Youth as Change Makers in the Middle East & North Africa
RESULT 2
Fostering a Self-Organized Youth Successful establishment and support to a range of forums and platforms for action have promoted civic engagement where young people jointly act to influence political processes. These forums range from locally based youth groups to regional forums for youth. One such platform is the MENAct, established in 2009. The platform has conducted 11 MENAct meetings in Jordan and Palestine, where Arab youth have met with Danish youth to discuss various youth issues. Overall, 300 Arabs and 25 Danes have partaken in these meetings. The participating young men and women agreed on topics; planned and conducted the meetings based on responsibility, self-organization and empowerment. In 2011, the MENAct
expanded to Hebron in Palestine, where Danish Global Volunteers and volunteers from Palestinian Medical Relief Society succeeded in launching the concept and carried forward a number of meetings where 40 Arabs and 21 Danes got involved. Thematic issues such as volunteerism, globalization and responsibility of communities took up the time for the dedicated youth but equally controversial issues such as dating and gender roles were debated. Taking ownership and responsibility of carrying out the meetings, MENAct have empowered young people through building their self-confidence and teamwork skills to becoming change agents. Knowledge sharing has led to powerful joint action where The Middle East Expedition and Activista Jordan are good examples of specific outcomes emerging from the meetings. After completing the meetings, the participants were supported
Creative activism: Engaged youth in Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon Through music, theatre street performances, flash mobs, street arts, dancing, painting, video and photography, youth groups and CSOs have been trained, and have developed their capacities in innovative and creative approaches to social change. Adopting creative activism, the young men and women have found ways of communicating citizenship education and civic engagement for other youth.  JORDAN:
Video on discriminating rape victims Pushing for social change and mobilizing youth to fight injustice, Activista has applied creative ways to communicate and involve youth using filmmaking, music and flash mobs inspired by experiences from AADK. Since the establishment of Activista Arabia in 2013, more than 300 youth in the MENA region have addressed issues such as freedom of speech, human rights and education. Activista Jordan produced a video to address a national law, that discriminates rape victims, allowing the rapist to marry the rape victim for impunity. The video reached nearly 1000 views on YouTube and a related Facebook page had
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nearly 1400 likes. Activista Jordan took action to address freedom of speech through two flash mobs and raised awareness about the importance of tax through a twitter campaign in collaboration with Activista International, strengthening the international collaboration of youth. EGYPT:
Theatre performances Theatre performances were conducted in cooperation with We Lessa Theatre Troupe addressing the violations and obstacles that face youth and women in society which hinders their civic engagement. 419 community members attended the three performances.
LEBANON:
Buzz around public places A group of 30 young men and women from the organisation Nahnoo, led public campaigns and created a buzz around public spaces through spraying stencils across Beirut to raise awareness on the right to access public spaces in the city. They managed to access Beirut’s only park that had been closed down to the public since 1992 and advocate for it’s reopening. The park is now open to public. Nahnoo perceives this victory as a platform for engaging other youth in public life and political processes in Lebanon.
Youth as Change Makers in the Middle East & North Africa
RESULT 2
by AADK to take actions. Taking ownership and being responsible for implementation, the MENAct meetings have empowered participants and built self-confidence. Debating fosters exchange of visions and ideas, and develops young people’s capacity to express opinions and feelings. And, gathering at a MENAct meeting to share ideas has led to powerful joint action where The Middle East Expedition and Activista Jordan are good examples of how actions have emerged from the meetings.
Youth: Increased civil engagement through advocacy As a result of training, the young people have been able to apply the knowledge and skills acquired into practise by analysing social issues; including designing and implementing campaigns and initiatives to demand accountability from the government, and increasing political participation of youth in local councils. The training has empowered the activists to play an active role – not just in protesting – but in strategizing their work as movements, youth groups or CSOs to obtain influence at policy decision level.
The training of the young people has resulted in civic engagement through: • monitoring human rights and women’s rights violations • formulating joint youth visions • raising local issues with the authorities and media • campaigning and advocating for women’s rights, access to public spaces and for youth participation in local governance • developing information and communication technology tools to fight corruption • establishing local youth councils and networks
Palestinian and Lebanese Youth Solidarity Masar Association is another Lebanese youth focused partner of AADK, employing grassroots and policy approach to community development. Through its community youth development program (CYD), Masar aims to mobilize youth and empower them to become active leaders in their community and contributors to development processes. Masar have utilized their knowledge from grassroots programming to lead a national Youth Forum, who are actively advocating for the implementation of a national youth policy. The Youth Forum consists of 35 member organizations, including 23 youth wings from differing Lebanese political parties. In April 2012, the national youth policy document, prepared by the Youth Forum, was endorsed by the council of ministers, which was seen as a breakthrough in highlighting the collaborative work of youth at the national level. Over 420,000 Palestinian refugees reside in Lebanon. Lebanese authorities consider Palestinians a threat to the sensitive balance of religious and ethnic communities in the country and deny Palestinians basic social and economic rights. Masar also works with Palestinian youth in Lebanon; through the collaboration with the Lebanese Palestinian Dialogue Committee (LPDC) that is affiliated to the Presidency of the Lebanese Council of Ministers, and the Embassy of Palestine in Lebanon, they aim to influence policy change in favor of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon as well as bringing Lebanese and Palestinian youth together in residential workshops activities in Lebanese communities and Palestinian refugee camps. Building on Masar’s deep rooted collaborative work with Lebanese political parties and government officials on the Lebanese national youth policy and its advocacy efforts endorsing the rights of Palestinians, Masar has been able to gather opponent Lebanese and Palestinian groups over rights issues, and bring the Palestinians rights on the discussion table on the Lebanese political agenda.
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Youth as Change Makers in the Middle East & North Africa
RESULT 3: CREATED A STRONG AND VIBRANT CIVIL SOCIETY LEBANON AND JORDAN: Raising awareness amongst Syrian youth The Syrian Fellowship Programme comprises of a network of Syrian refugee and host community youth ‘fellows’ across different municipalities who form and lead community groups in Lebanon and Jordan. The aim of the network is to identify and analyze issues of concern and find means to respond to these concerns, influencing their present situation as well as in the future Syria. A total of 266 youth fellows, 70% of which were women, received training through the programme and are now actively engaged in community outreach and mobilizing people to become active citizens.
Training for young people to understand psychosocial support and protection (PSS), led to identification of 98 cases for referral and professional support in one month alone.
As part of creating a strong and vibrant civil society the programme has facilitated and supported alliances between local CSO’s. Most projects have therefore been implemented in cooperation between several local partners where the voice of the CSO has been strengthened in the local community. Through the programme, more than 158 youth groups and 87 civil society organizations have been supported and have taken tangible action to advocate for social change by lobbying with concerned stakeholders; facilitating dialogue meetings between youth and local authorities, monitoring and raising awareness about human rights and women’s rights violations, campaigning, and demonstrating and protesting in media. This has been possible through tailor-made trainings for staff, peer-to-peer support and facilitation of strategic reflections and alliance building.
EGYPT AND JORDAN: Creating alliances and networks. Demonstrating how ActionAid Denmark has facilitated alliance building and networking between CSOs, the alliance between civil society organizations and youth groups in Fayoum in Egypt and Zarqa in Jordan is an excellent example where combined skills and resources in joint campaigns with a common strategy and action plan is implemented to work for youth’s active participation in local decision making processes. The campaigns not only work for youth engagement within local governance, but also strives to harness youth leadership by having young people play a leading role in campaigning, thereby providing a space for youth to influence public life beyond joining established political parties. In a civil society culture where CSOs often compete for funding, usually charity based with little experience in advocacy or for voluntary work, it is a significant achievement in itself to bring these organizations together in one joint campaign.
EGYPTIAN SOCIAL FORUM FOR YOUTH: The majority of trainees report having a changed perception of poverty and vulnerability. Prior to the training they would tend to believe that each individual was responsible for their own life situation, but following the training they now relate poverty and vulnerability to unequal power structures. This has taught them to link solutions to social responsibility and value civic engagement. The impact of the Fellowship Programme in Jordan has resulted in awareness-raising activities and discussions. For example, raising awareness about early marriage led to almost 500 men and women being targeted in two flash mobs in Zarqa universities and 50 women participating in debates. 
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In December 2013, the Egyptian Social Forum for Youth was launched by the Development Support Center for Consultancy and Training (DSC) with support from AADK, The forum facilitated linkages between 271 young people from youth groups and movements, women’s groups and community committees; 226 coming from sixteen Governorates in Egypt, 30 from the Arab region, 15 from Europe as well as including representatives from the Ministry of Social Affairs. The forum opened possibilities of networking, joint cooperation and formulation of joint alternative youth visions for Egypt. Subsequent to the launch, a secretariat run by young people has been established and the forum is functioning as a political space for conducting joint political activities across a wide range of youth groups and linking youth with formal CSOs. Young people working with the Social Forum expressed that they have discovered a participatory, empowering and youth-friendly alternative to traditional way of discussing politics. Consequently, the young people have taken initiative to make use of the concept by creating a number of thematic forums, such as a youth forum on alternative media, which shall promote youth driven alternatives to commercial and government media in Egypt and the Arab region, as well as facilitate sharing of experiences by showcasing collected documentaries, radio reportages etc. produced by youth.
Youth as Change Makers in the Middle East & North Africa
RESULT 3
EGYPT: Network building on alternatives for development A seminar with 60 activists, development workers, and research centers from across Egypt, along with regional and international university academics, was held in March 2014 with the theme: “From the Arab Revolution to Occupy the Squares Movement: Towards New Alternatives for Development”. The seminar, hosted by the Development Support Center (DSC), aimed at building networks to achieve new solutions expressed by the vision of the Arab Spring revolution, Santagma Square and Occupy Wall Street, amongst others. The seminar discussed the impact of neo-liberal policies as well as mainstream development discourse and reflected on failures and successes of development policies. All contributions and conclusions from the seminar were collected and compiled into a joint report.
JORDAN: Partners spearheading capacity building of other CSOs From the beginning of the Building Bridges programme, the first phase covering 2009-2010 and the second phase covering 2011-2014, AADK has developed a close partnership and support to Community Development Center (CDC). CDC works in collaboration with local CSOs and youth on the civic engagement of young men and women. Through the partnership, CDC has reinforced their capacity and adopted new methods to approach young in the local community. They are now able to support other local CSOs, which has resulted in capacity building and collaboration of several smaller local CSOs in Zarqa, Jordan. In one project four out of the five involved CSOs are now able to sustain their projects independently including raising funds to continue their activities. “It is important for us that CDC gets to play a major role in the partnership with ActionAid since we can both influence the vision and the values. We highly value a strong partner like ActionAid to strengthen CDC, because at the end of the day we are representing the voice of the civil society, which is all of us and not just CDC. Through the support from ActionAid we have gained a bigger outreach to more partners and bigger influence at the policy level in Zarqa.”
Rahma Maine, director of CDC.
Developing a Dream Catalogue for youth involvement During November 2009, 80 young women and men from Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Denmark, Egypt, Palestine, Tunisia and Morocco met in Amman for the four-day conference “Youth Participation in the MENA region and Denmark”. During the conference, jointly organized by AADK, the Danish Youth Council, KVINFO and Sisterhood is Global Institute (SIGI), the young participants exchanged experiences and ideas and participated in a number of workshops focusing on how to strengthen youth participation in civil society. Following this, a Dream Catalogue summarizing ideas for concrete action was put together. The young participants, organizations and other actors dedicated to strengthening young people’s role in civil society and local development, can use this as inspiration for action.
Regional Academy The Development Support Centre (DSC) also established a regional academy “The Arab Academy for Development and Change”. The center provides support to strengthen civic engagement and promotion of democratic reforms. Steps are currently being undertaken to obtain accreditation of the courses, including an initial agreement with Brighton University and Amsterdam University to jointly provide certified courses. DSC visited several similar institutions in order to learn from their experiences. DSC also worked with several academics from several academic institutions in order to develop courses and discuss the possibility of providing joint accredited courses. In addition to Brighton University, DSC also made agreements with the American University in Beirut and the American University in Cairo. With the latter, DSC conducted an online training on research methodology and community needs assessment were organized for free participation. Around 59 applicants registered in the course from different governorates. The training covered a variety of related subjects such as the concepts of development and alternative developments initiatives; the concept and function of a community researcher and its relation to empowering community different target groups. The online course provided enrolled participants with a set of online interactive tasks and trainings on collection of information, designing a research plan.
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Youth as Change Makers in the Middle East & North Africa
RESULT 4: ENSURED BETTER PUBLIC SERVICES
JORDAN: Changing the stereotypes of young people and local organizations In the Zarqa Governorate, ten young leaders worked closely with their community groups, focusing on five issues; health services, schools activities, public places, wastewater, and garbage. Bridging the gab between the authorities and the youth, led to a change in the stereotypes of young people and local organizations perceived by government officials. The youth leaders put pressure on the local government to improve infrastructure such as changing the pipes in Hai Ma’assom, Zarqa and to reconstruct streets and put up containers. As another positive result from approaching the municipality, the youth leaders demanded that the municipality take responsibility of a public park used only for dumping of industrial waste causing high level of pollution in the surrounding community. Eventually, the activists managed to get the factory to reduce dumping waste and the park was reopened for the public. Today the park is still clean and is being used by the community.
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As a result of the number of young men and women mobilized and organized in different ways and through various forums, the programme has contributed to achieving a range of concrete change in the lives of individuals and communities of people in the Arab region. This has been possible through holding governments to account to provide equitable and transparent public services, which in many cases has led to enhanced responsiveness of local government.
Avoiding Tuition Fees One participant in the programme organized her fellow university students and stepped down from the university board after plans to increase tuition fees. By applying the skills and knowledge she gained from the program, the students protesting succeed in stopping the proposed rise in the tuition fees.
EGYPT: Young people from the slum bring issues to the political agenda AADK and partner CEWLA have been working with young people in the slum area of Bulaq-Al Dakrour in Greater Cairo, delivering training in civic engagement and political influence,. The youth group conducted community-based research to identify infrastructural and social problems and formed action groups around three major issues; unemployment, city planning and clean streets, as well as access to clean drinking water. The young people brought the issues forward on the political agenda and managed to hold the authorities accountable and achieved the following:
1. Clean drinking water The Youth Group made samples of drinking water in the slum and video-documented cases of local residents who had turned sick because of the polluted water. The collected material was sent to the local authorities, which at first would not listen. The youth then contacted the media and a wellknown national TV program took up the case. Following this, the Minister of Housing visited the area for the first time and the Egyptian Housing Ministry have now constructed a water system, which ensures separation of
Youth as Change Makers in the Middle East & North Africa
RESULT 4
Budget monitoring led to better hospital services
PALESTINE: Youth demands better public services
With support from the AADK programme, the Egyptian partner Development Support Center (DSC) developed a training curriculum and tools in budget monitoring, to respond to the increased interest amongst youth in ensuring transparency and accountability of national and local government. Trainings in budget monitoring were conducted with young people representing CSOs from seven Egyptian governorates, as well as holding a conference on public budget transparency resulting in an action plan for stakeholders to promote public budget reforms. DSC is one of the first organisations in Egypt to offer this kind of training and there has already been a wide interest and demand on replicating and expanding the training. Following the training, a group of young people from Fayoum Joint Campaign applied the acquired skills to campaign for better quality of health services, where they analysed the health budgets and used this in negotiations with the head of Fayoum Health Centre. As a result of the negotiations, the centre decided to buy new health devices and equipment for the centre.
After being supported with training and mentoring sessions, 9 youth-led and 7 womenled REFLECT-ACT groups from different communities of Hebron South Governorate in Palestine (160 members, 70 % of whom are women) have managed to engage in advocacy initiatives with their local authorities to improve essential services in their communities: Distribution of Water; 2 youth groups are in dialogue with the Water Authority and the Sikka and Al Kom village council in addressing the inequitable distribution among the villages of Dura. Access to Health Services; 2 youth groups are lobbying the Ministry of Health to recruit qualified nursing staff to increase the general doctors’ working hours and to increase the medications supply in Karma and Al Ramadeen. This will address the needs of the most vulnerable and will enable health clinics to function better for women, children and elderly. Increase the high school pupils’ awareness of the vocational training opportunities and the need for diversifications of specializations; 2 youth groups in Sufeed and Kharas have in coordination with Palestine Polytechnic University conducting 4 awareness raising sessions in 4 governmental schools where a total of 120 pupils participated. Improve conditions for people with disabilities: 1 youth group in Al Fawwar is working to improve accountability of duty bearers and to utilize a neglected center for people with disabilities. Activation of Sports club: 2 youth groups in Beit Ommar and Shyoukh are working to activate a sports club in Shyoukh town, to ensure that youth are represented at the management board and make sure assets and resources are available. This includes a collected meeting of CBO’s, dialogue with Ministry of Interior and relevant ministers that will be held accountable.
drinking and sanitation water. The youth group is still monitoring the development closely and is working on advocating the government to expand the water system to cover a larger part of the slum area.
of the slum, provide alternative places for street vendors who occupied the public space and implement tree planting and a garbage collection system.
2. Clean streets and city planning
The youth group raised the challenge of unemployment amongst youth in the slum and decided to address this by linking up with a governmental vocational training center. They reached out to youth to use the services of the center; assisted by CEWLA, they started developing the capacity of the center through coaching, legal
The youth group managed to address problems with regard to city planning and garbage in the slum and put this issue on the political agenda. Through dialogue with between the youth group and head of district, the government decided to pave the main streets
3. Challenging unemployment
“The achievements of the youth groups have fostered an optimistic perception on the role of youth in creating social change.” consultancies, and provision of equipment. The center is now working actively to link youth with companies who need employees.
positive impact on the political attitude of the youth who participated. Many of the youth in BulaqAl-Dakrour had never been politically engaged before, mostly due to a widespread distrust in the political system and a lack of awareness of their rights and the opportunities of civic engagement. However, the achievements of the youth groups have fostered an optimistic perception on the role of youth in creating social change.
4. Attitude change Apart from the concrete political outcomes, the achievements of the groups have also had a
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Youth as Change Makers in the Middle East & North Africa
RESULT 5: INCREASED YOUTH PARTICIPATION IN DECENTRALIZATION BODIES AND PROCESSES In addition to holding the government to account for more responsive public services, the programme has also managed to influence government authorities, enhancing the role of youth in local governance and decisionmaking processes. Four countries: Long term change In Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and Palestine, the direct cooperation with municipality members has resulted in long term change in municipality structures, where 150 local officials in the region have been trained or participated in youth programmes. Through the programme the officials and municipality members have engaged with young people and adopted new communication methods that promote youth participation. Grounded in years of experience with participatory approaches to local governance, combined with a strong field presence and multiple partnerships throughout the country, ActionAid is currently engaging in a process with the government of Jordan, to guide the first national strategy for participatory local governance that responds to the new law on decentralization and municipalities. In technical alliance with other international actors, such as the United Nations, agencies in Jordan, as well as national and local partners, the objective is for ActionAid to develop and support the implementation of a model that includes participation of civil society, especially youth and women, in the process of participatory local development planning and monitoring.
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Projects implemented in 27 municipalities In 2009, partner Al Thoria developed a project to work on decentralization, and according to Dr. Mohammad Al – Jribia (General Manager of Al Thoria) the project developed with AADK was one of the first projects addressing youth in local governance in Jordan. After the project was implemented in Zarqa, Al Thoria decided to continue the project which has been ongoing for the last six years. Similar projects have been implemented in 27 municipalities in Jordan’s poverty pockets.
Take the youth more seriously The programme has succeeded in establishing cooperation between Jordanian and Lebanese organizations, expanding projects at a national and regional level. In 2009, Masar and AADK implemented a two-year project on decentralization in Lebanon, to involve youth in local governance inspired by the project AADK and Al Thoria implemented in Zarqa, Jordan. The project made a big impact on the dialogue between targeted municipalities and the youth groups who participated in the project. The youth groups are still cooperating, and in several of the municipalities, communication channels between the youth groups and the municipality have been firmly established. Subsequently, young people have gained the respect of the community and municipality. Organizing as youth groups also meant that young people gained self-confidence in addressing taboo issues such as health education and HIV with support from the local governance.
Youth as Change Makers in the Middle East & North Africa
RESULT 5
EGYPT: Youth run for local election
TUNISIA: Young IT experts fight corruption with IT products AADK cooperated with partner ‘I WATCH’ who arranged the competition ‘Impunithon’ aiming at involving young IT experts in the fight against corruption and achieving democracy. Throughout the competition, 25 youth groups from different IT schools were involved in developing IT products and platforms to contribute in the fight against corruption and to promote civic engagement in political decision-making. This resulted in the development of several progressive and innovative products; including the platform “Tabba3 Flousek” that helps to track governmental services to “I WATCH has decided to make use of the best products in future anti-corruption and democratic campaigns.”
monitor if service provision is implemented and to trace decentralized funds. Another youth group developed the platform “Vote 218” with the aim to provide the population with a vote in parliament and to make it possible to watch various political actors’ promises through “Parliament Watch”, “Government Watch”, and “President Watch”. Several of the products were so helpful that I WATCH has decided to make use of the best products in future anti-corruption and democratic campaigns.
EGYPT: Influence of youth at district level decision-making Youth groups have gained vital influence at district level decision-making. For instance, partners in Fayoum have made an agreement with the Governorate to appoint a youth assistant to each of the four head of districts to provide opportunities for youth participation at district level governance, to showcase the potential of having youth in leadership positions. This is a result of a changed attitude towards
young people in local politics between local officials in Fayoum. On several occasions, Fayoum Governorate has acknowledged the positive contribution of the increase in involvement of young people in community development. For instance, after dialogue meetings between young people, the Governor and the Head of City and the local authorities expressed that the youth participating in the meeting were more informed and aware about local issues and youth engagement than other youth from Fayoum.
The Fayoum Joint Campaign also resulted in youth engaging directly in policy-making processes. 25 out of 90 young people that participated in training in local democratic and political decision process, decided to run for Fayoum’s local council. One of the young people, a 23-year-old woman explains: “I decided to run for the local election because I believe that the way forward to create the change we want to see in our society, starts with improvement of the local councils, and I have never seen a woman in the local councils in Fayoum before. If I succeed getting elected it will give other women the courage to do the same”. (She requests to be anonymous due to the security situation in Egypt). She tells that the training and experience that she received in the campaign and coalition between civil society organizations made a huge impression and eventually made her decide to run for the local election. “My decision was not taken out of the blue. Before I joined the coalition I didn’t know much about politics but now I realize what it is all about and what my role in it is. The training has given me the courage to speak in public and take part in discussions”. The 25 young people will receive support with training under the elections, including follow-up mentoring.
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Youth as Change Makers in the Middle East & North Africa
TIMELINE
2009-2011: 2006:
2005: Intercultural exchange between Danish and MENA youth, work camps and study trips.
2005: Opening ‘Partnership for Dialogue and Reform’ program. In Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Palestine
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Opening of the Dialogue Centre in Amman, Jordan. Initiating dialogues, exchange visits and debates between young people from Denmark and the Arab region.
2008: Under the framework “Building Bridges for Youth” AADK established a number of projects and programs focusing on capacity development to support youth movements in the region.
Implementation of civil society and youth programme
2009: Gender strategy for MENA developed by AADK
Youth as Change Makers in the Middle East & North Africa
TIMELINE
2014-2015:
2012: AAI 2011: Arab Spring spreads from Tunisia to rest of the region – paradigm shift in how to view youth and political protest.
2011: Programme activities expanded to Egypt.
approves an ActionAid Arab Regional Initiative (AA ARI) for five years.
Increased focus on youth led organizations, regional network, youth empowerment and emancipation.
2013: AADK becomes Danish Arab Partnership Programme strategic partner.
2013: Regional strategy
2014:
‘Arab People’s Action to End Injustice and Poverty’ 2013-2017.
Programme initiated in Morocco and Tunisia on youth and participation and women rights.
2014-2015: Policy work on lessons learned from Arab spring and shrinking political space.
2012-2014: Increased focus on youth capacities and participation in society through the program Building Bridges II.
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Youth as Change Makers in the Middle East & North Africa
PARTNER AADK AND PARTNER ORGANISATIONS IN THE ARAB REGION Partnerships and alliances are a key element in AADK’s success in the region. AADK has entered and build long-term partnerships with civil society organizations and social movements, strengthened CSO capacities, and supported CSOs to establish networks and platforms. Through the latter the involved organizations have share leanings and contributed to the building of strong social movements. Since 2006, AADK worked with 91 partners in the region including partners from Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, occupied Palestinian territoried (oPt), Tunisia, and Morocco. AADK has selected partners based on careful assessment and analysis of each country’s civil society body.
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Jordan: Community Development Committee
Lebanon: Massar, The Union
(CDC-Zarqa), East & West Center for Human Development (WE center), IDare for Sustainable Development, Leaders of Tomorrow, Al-Aman consultancy & Rehabilitations for Human Rights, Al Hayat Centre for Civil Society Development, Finger print (Youth group), Royal Health Awareness Society, ACTIVISTA, Anwar Al Rahman and Qefeen Associations, Al Thoria Centre, Queen Rania Centre (QRC) /Madrassati, Women Working Association, Higher Council of Youth, Social Support Centre, King Abdullah Fund for Development (KAFD), Sketshow, Prince Talal Eskan Association, Zarqa Private University, Qoudorat Association, Shoa’a Association, Khawla Bent al Azwar, Community Development Committee (CDC-Heten Camp), Community Development Committee (CDC-Sokhneh Camp), Family guidance Association, Amman Center for Human rights consultation, Nismet Amal, Relief for Poor Families Association, Al Taqat Al Mowajaha Association, Al Ghad Al Moshreq Association for Young Men and Women, Self Development Association for Youth, Local Development Unit in Zarqa Municipality, Aswar Mecca Association, Al Qadeseyah Associaiton, Abu Sayyah Ladies Associaiton, Ruwaad Al Tanmiya (Leaders of Development), Collateral Repair Project, Naya for training and community development, Tech Tribes, Jordan Organization For Modern Day Slavery and Anti Human trafficking, Future Pioneers.
of Lebanese Democratic Youth, Lebanese Women’s Democratic Gathering, Ajyal, Nahnoo, ABAAD, CitiAct, the Lebanese Organization of Studies and Training (LOST), CREADEL, SADA al Beqaa, Jossour el Nour, Fe-Male, Justice Without Frontiers, Children of Al Jalil Center, The Union of Lebanese Democratic Youth, Palestinian Women Humanitarian Organization.
Egypt: The New Woman Research Center Company for Training and Consultations, Lawyers for Justice and Peace/ Center for Egyptian Women’s Legal Assistance (CEWLA), Appropriate Communication Technique for Development Center, Development Support Center for Consultancy and Training (DSC) , Danish Egyptian Dialogue Institute, Danish Institute for Parties and Democracy, Netherlands Institute for Multi-party Democracy, Mesaha for Community Development, the Arab Forum for development, Egyptian Organization for Enhance Social Participation, Egyptian Organization for Justice and Development, Family and Environment Association for development, The Organization for Development Revival, Takatof Association, The United Organization for Development, El Masriya Organization for Conference Supplies, Darb1718
Youth as Change Makers in the Middle East & North Africa
TUNISIA JORDAN PALESTINE MAROCCO
SYRIA JORDAN
EGYPT
Syria: Jafra Youth Center,
Tunisia: IWATCH, Tunisian
Capoeira, The Youth Commission, NGO Platform, Massar, National Union of Syrian Students (NUSS), The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNWRA), The Danish Refugee Council.
Observatory of Economy, WE Youth (Sfax), My art inspite of meself, Tunisian Center for Social Entrepreneurship and Political Academy.
Palestine: Sharek Youth Forum, Tamer Institute for Community Education, Fekra Arts Institute, Women’s Affairs Centre, ASALA, Palestinian Medical Relief Society, ActionAid Palestine, Madrasati Palestine, Palestinian Centre for Peace and Democracy (PCPD), Student Forum Institute, Yes Theatre, Palestinian Youth Association for Leadership And Rights Activation (PYALARA), International Palestinian Youth League (IPYL
Morocco: Youth Shadow Government, Citizens of Streets, Scientific Arab Center and International Foundation for Training and development.
Regionally: Arab Education Fund (AEF), Arab Resource Collective (ARC), ActionAid Australia, Development Support Center (DSC), UNFPA, Toile des associations pour le civisme et le développement (TUCID)
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