2004 Levant and Egypt Programs

Egypt:

Egyptian Cognitive Center and Creative Child (ECC): Awareness Campaign Against Private Lessons - This grant will increase grassroots awareness of the nature and scope of the problem of private lessons in Egyptian schools, better informing the media of this problem, while providing parents with alternative methods to help their children study on their own. In addition to holding a media conference, ECC will produce and widely distribute brochures and posters explaining the issue, among other activities. Participants in these activities will experience a concrete example of democracy at the local level, including the skills needed for effective political participation.

Sustainable Development Association (SDA): Decentralization of Educational Tools Towards The Youth Participation in Decision Making Process - This grant will help increase understanding of decision-making and problem solving in a democratic process by youth in the Alexandria area. Some 600 youth will participate in model UN activities and, through this participation, will learn about key international issues, as well as how their country and community fit into the international scene.

Future Businesswomen's Association: Generating Women Leaders and Revitalizing their Role in Society - This grant is designed to help 25 women in Kafr El Shiekh area develop skills to become community leaders. A broad range of women, including students and rural women, will be exposed to information about women's political and social rights, both through meetings and through media and public outreach campaigns. In addition, some 2,800 women who currently have no national identity cards will apply for and be issued them (as well as voting cards), while committees will be created with other community stakeholders (such as mosques and local councils) to discuss women's rights.

Jordan:

LHAP: Democracy in Action in North Badia - LHAP is adding 3 additional schools to a human rights and democracy project in the Northern Badia of Jordan in Mafraq Governorate. The project is comprised of forming a school parliament for each semester in each school, training both teachers and elected school parliamentarians, furnishing school libraries each with 50 books about human rights and democracy, convening as one school parliament, visiting the Jordanian parliament in Amman, and issuing a human rights newsletter after electing an editorial committee twice per academic year. The activities are designed to foster students' awareness of democratic issues and enhance critical thinking.

Mother's Advocates: A Women's Empowerment Project - The project goal is to create a framework where mothers will learn how to advocate for their children, enabling them to advocate for themselves and help others to do the same. This project works in conjunction with mothers to provide information and develop the skills necessary in order to negotiate effectively with school administrations and other educational institutions.

Israel:

Al Awna Fund, Empowering Bedouin Women Through Education - The Al Awna Fund will offer intensive English courses and mentoring to 30-36 eleventh grade female Bedouin students to prepare them to enroll in University studies and to eventually become qualified as English teachers in their home villages.

The Social Development Committee - will increase the participation of residents in Haifa's Arab community in urban planning issues and create a model for increasing the Arab community's participation in other political processes.

Tel Aviv University, Unit for Science Oriented Youth - will provide an opportunity for 300-400 Israeli Arab youth, ages 14-16, to take science courses, participate in science related events, and gain exposure to the University experience.

Lebanon:

Statistics Lebanon - Statistics Lebanon will perform 12 opinion poll surveys regarding topics surrounding parliamentary elections and the overall political climate. It will disseminate the information to major media outlets to improve voter education and the quality of public debate in the pre-election and post-election period.

The Lebanese Transparency Association (LTA) and The Lebanese Center for Political Studies (LCPS) - The project aims to improve transparency and accountability in the electoral process. LTA & LCPS have organized three roundtables: election monitoring, transparency in the campaigning process, and elections as an accountability mechanism. A national workshop attended by major stakeholders in the process will debate the conclusions of the workshops and develop recommendations for electoral reform in Lebanon.

Lebanese Foundation for Permanent Civil Peace: Magistracy Monitoring - This grant will enable the Foundation to provide reporting on daily judicial activities as published in the Lebanese press, on sentences published in specialized judicial bulletins, and especially on direct recourses to courts. The implementer will work in cooperation with lawyers and jurists, leading to a new generation of young researchers, and together they will publish reports in the media intended to spur on public dialogue and debate.

American University College of Technology (AUT): Anti-Corruption Education Workshop - This grant will help AUT, in collaboration with Michigan State University, assist high school anti-corruption educational programs and curriculum development. In addition, a manual will be developed during the workshop for use by secondary education teachers, serving as a guide toward integrating anti-corruption education in school curriculums and activities. The educational programs are intended to inspire similar workshops and curriculum development tools throughout Lebanese high schools.

Institute for Women's Studies in the Arab World: Empowering Arab Women through Literacy - This grant is intended as an extension of the Basic Living Skills Program (BLSP), a non-formal integrated education kit in Arabic geared towards illiterate and semi-literate women in the Arab World. Funding will support the publication of a series of simple booklets based on 11 topics addressed in the BLSP, including civic education, legal rights, and women's empowerment.

Palestinian Territories:

Center for Jewish-Arab Economic Development - The Center will run an entrepreneurship program that provides 60 Israeli-Arab women with the training, support, and guidance necessary to successfully set up and run their own small businesses.

The Commission for Human Development, Public Initiative "Your Rights" - The Commission for Human Development in Gaza will protect citizens' rights in Gaza by offering free of charge legal assistance (through volunteers, a website, a phone hotline, and organized events that bring together representatives and constituents) relating to contact with state and local authorities. CHD will also draft an action agenda of issues and recommendations for the improvement of laws and the elimination of state and local authorities' violations.

Enhancing Women's Participation in Elections - The Association of Women Committees for Social Work in Ramallah followed up a previous project that trained women candidates in preparation for Palestinian elections. This follow increased voter-education activities among rural women in and around Ramallah and Nablus. Pre-municipal and presidential election workshops and lectures in women only environments stressed civic participation. Voter guides were distributed to increase women's knowledge of the voting process and the fundamental principles of democracy. To date, 8 participants in these workshops and activities were elected to municipal councils.

Islamic University in Gaza - Islamic University in Gaza will offer leadership training to 20 female NGO administrators/professionals from South Gaza. Candidates will be nominated by their NGOs and will participate in an alumni network following the program.

The Al-Mawrid Teacher Development Center - Al-Mawrid will train public school principals to better manage teachers and pupils and to encourage an open, democratic school culture. Al-Mawrid will produce an in-service teacher guide on techniques and methodologies for teaching civic and human rights education and a guide for principals on managing educational change (defined as effective educational leadership, democratizing school culture, team leadership, and encouraging innovation). They will run workshops to implement their findings and to distribute these guides within the PA and UNRWA school systems.

Palestinian Economic Legislative Road Map - Husseini and Husseini, Attorneys and Counsellors at Law will develop an economic reform legislative roadmap that reflects a legal and regulatory framework to enable economic development and promote private sector activity in the Palestinian areas. The roadmap with recommendations will be presented to the Palestinian Legislative Council.

Citizen Participation in Democratic Local Government - This grant funds the development of a citizen's committee in Gaza to carry out a civic improvement project in cooperation with municipal officials, and partially defray cost of the project. The project will consist of selection, training municipal officials, holding workshops and meetings for participants in the project.

Shu'fat Women's Center - This project will increase education/awareness of civil rights and encourage greater political participation on the part of women NGO leaders in the Shu'fat camp and in the villages of Hizma and Anata. The Shu'fat Women's Center will organize lectures in secondary schools and youth and women's clubs on general topics and a series of workshops on more specific issues, i.e. UN declarations/resolutions on women's rights.