New Center Transfers Knowledge on Democracy Transition

With the launch of a new Chair for Democracy Transition, which has garnered interest from several universities, the Kawakibi Democracy Transition Center (KADEM) continues to strengthen Arab civil society on a regional basis.

Created in 2006, KADEM pools the experience and expertise of more than 100 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, as it develops a new generation of civic activists with the most effective skills in communications, democracy building, transitional justice, and non-violent change. 

Through a MEPI small grant, KADEM has been able to launch its operations, develop a strategy and a set of materials for its first year, and create the Kawakibi Chair for Democracy Transition Studies, the first of its kind in the Arab world.

“We are helping to build a democratic future for the Arab world,” said KADEM’s coordinator, Mohsen Marzouk, following a meeting of key civil society actors held in Jordan in June, which focused on planning strategies for the next Forum for the Future, as well as project finalization for the Kawakibi Chair for Democracy Transition.

Based at the University of Marrakech in Morocco, and in conjunction with four other Arab universities and several prominent Arab NGOs, the Chair is developing curriculum and training on building democratic societies that will lead to a Masters Program in Democratic Transition.

At a March preparatory in Rabat, Morocco, participants defined the aim of the Chair as “institutionalizing the transfer and learning processes of the knowledge of democracy transition in the MENA region, facilitating partnership and cooperation between civil society and universities, and developing the professional skills necessary for civil society to enter into effective interaction with state structures,” according to a press release issued by the NGO No Peace without Justice.

Through the development of this new Chair, the release stated, “regional actors (will) be provided with the necessary concepts and methodology (to) enable them to diagnose the democratic change issues in their countries and suggest alternative solutions adapted to their own contexts.”