Local Grants Answering the Call for Change

At the local level, the demand for democratic change in the Arab world continues to grow.

As evidence, MEPI was able to double the number of projects and the amount of funding it distributed this year under its Local Grants program, providing more than $3 million to nearly 100 civil society organizations (CSOs) in the Middle East and North Africa working to advance political, economic, and educational reforms, while improving the role of women and youth in society.

“The Local Grants program has proven to be an excellent vehicle for supporting democratic reforms emanating from the grassroots level,” said Peter Mulrean, Director of the MEPI Regional Office (RO) in Tunis, which provided $1.5 million in grants to 45 CSOs working in seven countries.  The RO in Abu Dhabi had similar success in the eight countries it covers.

Working through its two Regional Offices and with US Embassies across the region, MEPI offered additional local grants totaling more than $1 million to groups sustaining momentum in the Forum for the Future process.  These specialized grants are helping non-governmental organizations (NGOs) undertake democracy reform projects around the themes of the Forum, including freedom of the press, enhancing the political role of women, and strengthening the legal environment for civil society.

Since the Local Grants program began in 2004, MEPI has partnered with more than 200 groups in the region, offering financial awards ranging from $10,000 to $25,000 or more.  These grants are given to NGOs, universities, media outlets, and others committed to seeing their countries embrace the fundamentals of democracy – truly representative governments, freedom of expression and association, legitimate opposition parties, and equal rights for all citizens.

“We were delighted to see a local organization such as ours receive a US Government grant from MEPI, given the sociopolitical context in Gaza at this time,” said Ibrahim Natil, director of a Palestinian NGO called Society Voice Foundation (SVF), which used its grant last year to support a project on “Enhancing Women’s Leadership and Civic Democratic Participation” in a campaign to stop honor killings.

“SVF’s collaboration with MEPI and the US Consulate in Jerusalem could be considered as one of the most successful experiences since the establishment of the foundation,” Natil said.

Some of the projects MEPI funded this year include the following:

• In Egypt the Sons of the Land Association for Human Rights (SLAHR) is implementing a project to increase democratic practices within Egyptian labor unions and to advocate for workers’ rights and fair wages.
  
• In Israel and the Palestinian Territories the “Media, Activism and Democracy” project of Barefoot Workshops is giving civil society activists a stronger voice to affect public opinion by training them to produce Public Service Announcements.
  
• In Morocco a project called “Training the Trainers on E-journalism and New Media,” led by MIT Media, is teaching 200 media practitioners citizen journalism techniuques to help the press play an more active role encrouraging good governance practices, such as exposing government corruption.
  
• In Tunisia the Tunisian Development Law Association (ATDD) is using a MEPI Local Grant to conduct workshops and public education campaigns to raise awareness about intellectual property rights (IPR) and help enforce IPR laws in the country. 
  

For a brief description of all the Local Grants (formerly called Small Grants) provided since 2004, please see the Local Grants Abstracts on the RO Tunis website.