News Letter Summer (1)

7/27/2019 News Letter Summer (1)

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Respectfully yours,Nabila Hamza, President

1- CIVIL SOCIETY IN THE BMENA REGION2- ACTIVISTS3- FOUNDATION HIGHLIGHTS4- FFF ANNUAL REPORT LAUNCH5- AGENDA

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INDEX

Strengthening Links between

Research and Policy

Advocacy Among Grantees

The Foundation for the Future strongly believes

that our grantees have an important role to playin the creation of a knowledge society in the Arabregion. As a Foundation, we conducted severalfield missions, mapping surveys and action-ori-ented research studies to identify the characteris-tics of a new Civil Society in a region in transitionand better understand how to effectively make animpact in these new settings. On the other hand,we also sup ported many of our grantees in t heproducti on of research documents and publi-cations fo r th eir beneficiaries, totaling over 50major publications since our launch 6 years

ago.

We have long counseled our grantees on the im-portance of policy-oriented research, as it pro-vides policy-makers with proof of the severity ofa given problem, as well as providing a startingpoint upon which to build policy that inspires eco-nomic and social transformation. In this issue,we celebrate their contribution to the body of Arabknowledge in the fields of freedom of press, wom-ens participation, local governance, and manyother topics.

The Arab Human Development Report paints a

grim picture of a growing knowledge gap be-tween the Arab region and the rest of t he world,citing statistics that the Arab region publishes only1.1 percent of the worlds books, translates fewerbooks annually than Spain, hosts high rates ofilliteracy, and suffers from low national internetpenetration rates from roughly 10 to 40 percentin 2009. Knowledge is necessary to achievingsustainable human development, which can beacquired by adapting the information availableelsewhere, absorbing learning through univer-sal education, and communicating findings using

new technology.

But how can this knowledge be transmittedwhen the freedom of press is muzzled in theArab World, as our grantee, MADA, shows withits legal study of the Palestinian Territories presslaws? How can knowledge be effectively imple-mented when over half of society is voiceless, asAttanweer and Development Dimensions Societyshows of Yemeni and Pakistani women and theLebanese Foundation for Permanent Civil Peaceshows of local communities in Lebanon?

EDITORIAL


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www.foundationforfuture.org 2

CIVIL SOCIETY IN BMENA REGION

Womens Political Partic ipation, Legitimacy and VisionDevelopment , Attanweer, Yemen

The Second Legal Monitor Report for the Situation of J ustice inPalestine, Musawa, Palestine

Political Empowerment of Marginalized Yemeni Youth at theLocal Government Level in Taiz, Al-Wadi al-J adid, Yemen

Freedom of Expression and Information between Theoryand Practice , Palestinian Center for Development & MediaFreedom, Palestine

Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Migrant Workers CaughtBetween Employers Abuse and Poor Implementation of the Law,

Tamkeen for Legal Aid and Human Rights, J ordan

Breaking the Silence!! Irregular Migrant Workers in J ordan:Between Marginalization and Integration, Tamkeen for Legal Aidand Human Rights, J ordan

Promoting the Culture of Democracy within Lebanese Families,National Committee for the Follow up on Womens Issues,Lebanon

Case Studies on Inclusion of Women Victims of Violence, CivilSociety Human and Institutional Development Programme,

Pakistan

Expenditure Control in the Electoral Campaigns in the ArabWorld, FFF and Al-Badeel Studies and Research Center, J ordan

The Role of CSOs in the Political Reform in J ordan, FFF, AECIDand Center for Strategic Studies, J ordan

Integrity, Transparency and Accountability in the Work of CivilSociety Organizations, Coalition for Accountability and Integrity(AMAN), Palestine

Public Concern at Local Level in Lebanon , LebaneseFoundation for Permanent Civil Peace, Lebanon

Prisons in Lebanon: Legislation, Rights and Recommendations,Lebanese Foundation for Permanent Civil Peace, Lebanon

Tolerance Values in Arab School Curriculums, Ramallah Centerfor Human Rights Studies, Palestine

Living Together, booklet by AFAK, combining differentexperiences and thoughts on how to live with each othersdifferences, Algeria

Human Rights Training Manual, SHAMS, Palestine

Womens Awareness of Her Right of Inheritance, Zakher,Palestine

Press and Cultural Freedom In Lebanon, Syria, J ordan and Pal-estine: Annual Report 2012, Samir Kassir Foundation

CELEBRATING GRANTEE

RESEARCH PUBLISHED IN 2012


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Reporters Without Borders Free-dom of Media Index from 2011 to2012 ranks Palestine 153 out of179 countries in terms of mediafreedom, considering it a non-free state. Though the Pales-tinian government has commit-

ted itself to democratization and the promot ion ofhuman rig hts as a UN non-member observer stateand a member of the Euro-Mediterranean partner-ship, it often violates the freedom of expressionguaranteed in Arti cles 19 of the Universal Declara-tion of Human Rights and the International Cove-nant on Civil and Political Rights. Freedom of pressand expression is primarily limited by the Penal Codeof 1960, the Press and Publications Law of 1995, andthe Palestinian Basic Law, which is comparable to the

J ordanian Constitution of 1952. Essentially, article19 of the Palestinian Basic Law grants freedom ofthought, conscience and expression and publication

of his opinionsubject to observance of restrictionsby law, without including the conditions for legal re-strictions allowed by international law, namely, that the1) restrictions be specified by law, 2) aim to achievea legitimate and urgent interest, 3) be necessary toachieve this, and 4) be proportionate to the interest tobe achieved.

After a brief review of international legal norms govern-ing freedom of expression, the report continues witha discussion of the philosophical basis for freedomof expression. According to philosopher J ohn Stuart

Mill, freedom of expression is necessary to discover-ing the truth, arguing that open public debate willdiscredit inco rrect ideas. American founding father,

J ames Madison, and professor Frederick Schauer ar-gue that the freedom is speech is necessary to keepthe government in check.

Next, the report moves on to a comparative study oflegal jurisprudence in democratic and non-democraticcountries, comparing the Palestinian system to rulingsfrom Egypt, the US, and the EU. Topics reviewedinclude the governments responsibility regardingfacilitating access to information, the protectionof information sources, coverage of legal trials,speech that incites violence, slander and libel, if

public institutions can be subject to slander,the right t o silence, and the necessity of cl ari-fying vague laws that inv ite arbitrary interpre-tation.

In the case of Palestine, the government licens-ing of new news outlets is limited by a high capi-tal requirement and restrictions on editor-in-chiefeligibility. Though prior censorship is theoreticallyabolished, Article 41 of the Press and PublicationsLaw requires 4 copies of any non-periodical befiled with the Press and Publications Departmentbefore distribution. In terms of prohibited con-tent, Article 7 prohibits the publication of materialwhich may contradict the principles of freedom,national responsibility, human rights and the re-spect of truth and Article 37 prohibits material thatharms national unity, which shakes belief in thenational currency, secret information about thepolice, armed forces, Palestinian National Council

or Council of Ministers, or which is inconsistentwith morals. In addition, Article 278 of the PenalCode of 1960 limits the publication or the expres-sion of anything that would insult anothers reli-gion. Though publishers are only required to re-veal their sources by order of the court, in slanderand libel cases, the burden falls on the publisherto prove their claims true, essentially requiring thedivulgence of sources for evidence. Several ofthese prohibitions prescribe corresponding pun-ishments, including fines and imprisonment of upto three years, although at least Article 15 of the

Basic Law defines punishment as personal, mak-ing only the writer criminally responsible and notthe publisher, editor-in-chief, or owner of the pub-lication.

The report c oncludes by g iving r ecommenda-tions t o improve freedom of expression in Pal-estine. These include reviewing the legal systemto ensure the separation of powers and judicialindependence, educating judges on human rightsprecedents, eliminating corporal punishment forlibel and slander cases and media licensing re-quirements, clarifying vague legal phrasing, guar-

anteeing the right to information, and protectingjournalists legally.

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND

INFORMATION BETWEEN THEORY ANDPRACTICESummary of a comparative legal study published by our Palestinian grantee MADA in 2012

STUDY SUMMARY

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PUBLIC CONCERN AT LOCAL LEVEL IN

LEBANON: INITIATIVE, PARTICIPATIONAND CITIZENSHIP

Summary of local governance projectfindings published by grantee Lebanese Foundation for

Permanent Civil Peace in (2012)

In Lebanon, all is politicized. Even municipal im-provements become stalled in an atmosphere ofparty and family rivalry, blinding residents to themutual benefi ts of projects like water, sewage, andbeautification. Municipal problems can be seen astrivial in comparison to national problems like povertyand corruption, but in fact, corruption is best tackledfrom the bottom, in neighborhood schools, buildings,and streets. In addition, municipal governments areseen as formal institutions whose only function is toimpose penalties and taxes on citizens, rather than asan organizer of community life, with families equally af-fected by the municipalities successes and failures.

Today the Lebanese Foundatin for Permanent CivilPeace (LFPCP) has turned to local governance proj-ects to unite Lebanese communities and hold local

public institutions to account. With its project entitledStrengthening Unity and Participation at Local Level:Initiatives for Participation and Citizenship in 8 Select-ed Lebanese Localities, the organization conductedneeds assessment polls among 100 citizens and heldfour town hall meetings in each of the 8 target villages.

The town hall meetings consisted of women, youth,civilians, activists, local officials, and religious lead-ers, and were deliberately kept to a small number ofaround 50 participants to encourage active participa-tion and dialogue.

During these meetings, attendees discussed variouscommunity needs and proposed projects to address

those needs, and in the end, each village chosetwo projects to carry out with the technical andfinancial assistance of LFPCP. Selected proj-ects included, among others, writing a citytourist guide, raising bees for honey, under-taking recycling and environmental protectioninitiatives, holding a youth summer camp, andtraining local journalists. In partnership withother funders, LFPCP followed up on their suc-cessful project by publishing a resource guide forlocal government and citizen committees and bydisseminating legal and technical information onmunicipal laws to interested public and privatesector actors.

For a program like this to be successful, projectsmust be of a small enough scale to be accom-

plished by the citizens themselves rather thanthe public sector. The citizens benefitting fromthe project must be involved in its implementa-tion, rather than serving private or exclusive inter-ests. Finally, sustainability must be ensured withprojects that will change behavior and will involveyouth. Municipalities themselves should take theinitiative to call town hall meetings to open chan-nels of communication between public officialsand citizens and raise awareness on both sides ofcommunity needs. All must be understood as anintegral member of the community, with an equal

voice in its development.

STUDY SUMMARY


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1) Tell us about your Smart Vote Project

Project Smart Vote II is an awareness and civic educa-tional program for voting rights, targeted to young womenbetween the ages of 18-35 in Lahore and Kasur districtsof Punjab Province, Pakistan. Local community leaders,women-led organizations, women rights groups, wom-

en unions, school teachers, parents, media, caregiversand members of the local government employees willbe engaged in the project activities through Smart YouthGroups (SYG).

During previous interventions in the targeted districts,young women were engaged in the similar activities buttheir level of participation was very low. This projectprovides young women with trainings and advocacytools on leadership, community mobilization, andsustaining the Smart Youth Groups so that they canshare their knowledge of the democratic processand voting with their peers.

The Smart Vote II project conducted research on1,500 young women to identify the causes for low fe-male voter turnout and to create linkages among civilsociety, political parties, and other stakeholders thatcan engage with elected representatives and relevantpublic bodies to work for higher female voter turnout.

They will be encouraged to properly implement existinglaws and to make new ones when needed to increasethe low female voter turnout in electoral process.

2) Why is research such an importantpart of the project?

Even though most of the reasons identified in the re-port are somehow already known, to address the is-sues, it was necessary to have credible data forstakeholders to have better impact and a startingpoint to address the issues in the pre-election pe-riod. Post-election, Development Dimensions Society(DDS) will utilize its Smart Youth Groups to strengthen

advocacy and awareness around the research find-ings and recommendations.

CREDIBLE DATA FOR BETTER

POLICY IMPACT

Interview with Mr. Tahir Mahmood, Director of Planning Research & Development,

at our Pakistani grantee, Development Dimensions Society. The organization is cur-

rently researching the reasons for low young female voter turnout in the country and

advocating for policies to encourage participation.

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3) Is much research being done in a simi-larfield to yours that you can use for refer-ence and collaborate with, or are you thefirst ones?

General elections in Pakistan were held in Pakistan on11th of May 2013, so a number of national and interna-tional government and non-government organizationswere conducting research and survey to back theirpoint of view within their own context and target audi-ence. DDS has instead focused its research on youngwomen (18-35) from the urban Lahore and rural Ka-

sur districts, regardless of their income and educationlevel.

4) How is the research conducted? Havesteps been taken to include marginalizedportions of the population, such as illiterateor impoverished respondents?

Research had been conducted through the followingsteps:

1. Two survey forms were developed.a. Survey form for young women both inEnglish and Urdub. Survey tool for gathering recommendations

from political partys representatives andcivil society representatives.

2. Data collections was mainly done by the researchassociates from two districts by the following:

a. Reaching university and college studentsin their institutes

b. Door-to-door data collection to cater tomarginalized, rural communities

c. Engaging local women groups, women laborgroups, and youth groups for their members

participation3. 500 forms from Kasur district and 1,000 forms fromLahore district were collected.4. Results of the data analysis were shared by theSmart Youth Groups with different political party rep-resentatives and civil society representatives during 3consultative workshops and the resulting recommen-dations were incorporated in the final report

5) What have been some of the most im-portant/ surprising findings of the researchthus far? Are the reasons for not voting sub-

stantially different from one respondent toanother or from one village to another?

There are surprisingfindings, though the issues werethe same across the survey sample:

Educated young women are more willing totake part in electoral process than those who are lesseducated or illiterate. Though women mentioned verbally that theyoften voted as their fathers or husbands dictitated,when filling out the survey, this was not mentioned. The biggest reason for not voting is thelack of National Identification Cards. Even though

it is national law that everyone should get their gov-ernment CNIC cards at the age of 18, common per-ception is that this is unnecessary for women beyondadmission or settlement of property. Many women had difficulty registering them-selves as voters with the election commissions ofPakistan. For those who were registered, either be-cause of voting previously or being entered auto-matically upon receiving their computerized NationalIdentity Card, it was hard for them to access informa-tion about their polling station locations.


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6) Do you think your research can af-fect policy? If so, how? Do policy-makersput much importance on the research ordo they think it is somewhat useless?

During Consultative workshops, the research reportwas shared with elected representatives. Electedrepresentatives showed their full support to imple-ment the findings of the research report on the as-sembly floors. For sustainability, SYG memberswill be linked with female provincial assembly

members, who will than take up matters on theassembly floor. During the first meeting of SYGheld in the Lahore district, one of the newly elected


female Provincial Assembly members, Mrs.Kawal Noman, was invited as a guest speaker.She shared her experience as a first-time electedrepresentative and showed her full support forpresenting the recommendations of the researchreport to the floor.

A National Assembly member, Mrs ShaistaPervaiz, was also invited to present her partysperspective and recommendations based onresearch data findings and present the issue toher party at the national and provincial levels.


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FOUNDATION HIGHLIGHTS

NEWLY BOOMING TUNISIAN CIVIL SOCIETY FOCUS

OF RECENT MAPPING STUDY

On March 25th, the Foundation for the Future launched its civil society mapping study at an event heldin Tunis, Tunisia. To add to the recent research conducted since the revolution by organizations like theEuro-Mediterranean Human Rights, UNDP, the Commission of the European Union in Tunisia and theAfrican Development Bank, the Foundation surveyed a representative sample of nascent Tunisian

NGOs about their strengths, weaknesses, focus, and relationship wi th the government. This infor-mation will serve useful for future funding efforts that are beginning to pour into the country, particularly theFoundation for the Future as it formulates future capacity-building and grant-making strategies.

The event welcomed 50 representatives of local CSOs, donors, INGOs, and consultants and was coveredby three newspapers and one radio station.

ARAB WOMEN

MUST BE INCLUDED

IN PLANS FOR IN-

CLUSIVE GROWTH

AND DEVELOPMENT

From April 3rd-5th, the OECDs head-

quarters in Paris hosted an expert work-shop on Defining and Measuring Inclu-sive Growth for Shared Prosperity and

a Global Forum on Development, featuring discussions by renowned experts and leading policy-makersfocusing on the global development agenda beyond 2015. Although the whole world is suffering from aneconomic crisis, some groups feel it more acutely than others as the gap between rich and poor increases,both in OECD countries and in developing economies.

Speaking of the importance of including women in development schemes, Ms. Hamza said in her in-tervention: Inclusive growth is also about raising womens economic participationThere is aparadox in gender equality in the MENA region: while, for the most part, MENA countries have made ad-mirable progress in closing gender gaps in education and health outcomes, these investments in humandevelopment have not yet translated into commensurately higher rates of female participation in

economic and political life.


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BRAINSTORMING WAYS DONORS CAN FORWARD DE-

MOCRACY IN MENA AT THE ANNA LINDH

FOUNDATIONS SUMMIT

From April 4th to 7th in the French city of Marseille, 1500 citizens from the Euro-Mediterraneanregion, representing youth leaders, civil society, non-state actors, parliamentarians, and elected of-ficials gathered to debate the top issues facing the Euro-Med region today and build the foundationfor further regional partnerships. Ms. Hamza was asked to comment in the session titled Partnershipswith Civil Society: From Policies to Practice on the extent of civil society and donors participation in nationaland regional decision-making processes in the wake of the Arab Spring, and what steps might be taken toimprove that dialogue. This is the time to force cooperation between governments and civil society, shesaid.

FFF SUPPORTS NEW CIVICUS STUDY ON THE STATE

OF CIVIL SOCIETY

On Tuesday, April 9th, Foundation President Ms. Nabila Hamza joined other CIVICUS Board Members atthe United Nations headquarters in New York to discuss the launch of the 2013 State of Civil Society Report,particularly the link between an enabling environment for civ il society and the successful implemen-tation and integration of key global development agendas. In the days prior to this panel discussion,Ms. Hamza joined the CIVICUS Board of Directors in a regular meeting to finalize the CIVICUS 2013-2017Annual Strategy.


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LIBYA AND TUNISIA OFFICES

TACKLE POLITICAL VIOLENCE,

SUPPORT NASCENT CSOS

FOUNDATION HIGHLIGHTS

On April 1st, the Foundation for the Future held a meeting on political violence in Tunisia and how civilsociety can combat it. The meeting welcomed 50 participants from a variety of civil society groups and politi-cal ideologies, including the Tunisian League for the Defense of Human Rights and the Center for the Study ofIslam and Democracy, and was an opportunity for the representatives to meet their counterparts. Ms. NabilaHamza opened the session with a speech on Tunisias failure to achieve pluralism, a failure that threatens thecountrys post-revolutionary unity and encourages violence. She warned that Islamic discourse was not the

only one calling for further fanaticism and violence, and pointed to dialogue between civil society and politiciansas well as within civil society itself as the only means to combat social violence.

In the month of May, the Tunis office held two leadership trainings for the womens conventions of twomajor trade unions in the country, UGTT and UTICA. The trainings were held in Northwestern El Kef andSouthwestern Tozeur and welcomed 40 women in total. 8 workshops and 2 conferences will inspire womenspolitical leadership within the union and later to public office. In addition, 20 CSOs from throughout southern

Tunisia were invited to the islands of Djerba to take part in a training on human rights violations reporting. Thetraining covered international human rights agreements, data collection, reporting at a national and internationallevel, and the difference between monitoring and reporting. Finally, 24 CSOs specializing in local governancein addition to local and national public authorities will be trained in the participatory budgeting process by re-nowned Senegalese trainer Mr. Bachir Kanoute.

The Foundations grantees have also seen a number of successes in the past few months.

1) Association Tunisienne des Urbanistes held 2 townhalls for citizens, civil society, and public authoritiesto brainstorm a new strategic development plan for the town of Siliana.2) Ingenieurs Sans Frontieres held 3 days of workshops in Tarbake for 30 youth activists on ethics andanti-corruption.3) La Ruche de la Citoyennete Active held 2 townhalls that brought together public authorities and civilsociety to open channels of communication on good local governance

In early J une, the Foundation for the Future sponsoreda mission to Libya to sign the fi rst three of its seedgrantee agreements with organizations working onconstitutional and human rights awareness as wellas the eradication of racial discrimination. Theseorganizations were based in Tripoli, Mirzeq, and Zawiyaand have already benefitted from FFFs training onproject management and proposal writing. Given that theregulations governing civil society in Libya are still in flux,the delegation visited the Ministry of Cultural Affairs andCivil Society to speak with Mr. Abdel Salam Sabri Sharif,Undersecretary of Civil Society, on the Foundationsplans.

In the next month, the Foundation will be holding a trainingon internal governance for 15 nascent CSOs.


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www.foundationforfuture.org12

Find the PDF Reports on our Website

FFF ANNUAL REPORT LAUNCH

How has Civil Society changedover the past two years? Readour2012 Annual Report andfind out!

Features:

* Country Summaries* 2012 in numbers* Interactive timeline* Report on Foundation Supportof Debate, Dialogue, Networking, Grant-making, Capacity-building, and Advocacy

* Challenges Ahead

Press and Cultural Freedom InLebanon, Syria, J ordan and

PalestineAnnual Report 2012

Samir Kassir Foundation

(EN/ FR/ AR)


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S TA Y C O N N E C T E D

Reform-oriented KnowledgeAmid Political Transitions:

The Role of Think Tanks in

Supporting Policy Dialogue

and Consensus Building

J uly 2-4, Amman

More details:[email protected]

Release of Libyan CSOs Mapping

Project

Coming Soon!

More details: [email protected]

13

Al Badeel Study Launch

Jordanian Youth Movement

J une 18, Amman

More details:[email protected]

AGENDA

News Letter Summer (1)

Documents

Transcript of News Letter Summer (1)