MENA Forum Report

[Raphael Shepard]

Dear all,

Please find below the draft report of the MENA Action Learning - Voices Against Corruption event that took place in Beirut, Lebanon, on April 26-27, 2012. More to come on the materials and follow-ups!

Best,

GYAC CU

___________________________________

Global Youth Anti-Corruption Network

MENA Action Learning - Voices Against Corruption Forum.

April 26^th – April 27^th, 2012

Location: Le Crillon Hotel, Broumana – Lebanon.

Participants:

1. Nisreen Abulebda – Palestine
2. Abou Abdullah Jafara – KSA
3. Amina Boumaaza - Algeria
4. Ahad Abdulatef Ghanem - Yemen
5. Youssef Salouane - Moroco
6. Ibrahim Al-Hayeck - Jordan
7. Khaled Batarseh - Jordan
8. Khalid Al-Naqshbandy - Iraq
9. Gawaher  Ibrahim - Egypt
10. Mohamed Abdel Aziz - Egypt
11. Elhosein Elsaghier Mahmoud  Abdelsied Mohamed - Egypt
12. Emna Ouji - Tunis
13. Rana Duzan - Libya
14. Marlon Cornelio - Philippines Global Coordinating Body (GCB) Member
15. Emanuel Callejas - Guatemala GCB Member
16. Laurent  Wambo - Cameroon GCB Member
17. Dona Kosturanova – Macedonia GCB Member
18. Raghda Alouche - Lebanon GCB Member
19. Fatima Karaki - Lebanon
20. Samer Haydar - Lebanon

 

Day one:

On Thursday April 26, 2012, the “Voices against Corruption” Forum was launched. LTA’s board member, Mr. Yahya El-Hakim started introductions with a few words, followed by Ms. Raghda Allouche, GYAC MENA Regional Coordinator, and finally, Mr. Borris Weber, Senior Governance Specialist for the World Bank Institute. 

Following the opening, the participants briefly presented themselves and introduced the attendees to their organizations, which they were representing at the event. The session that followed was led by Ms. Dona Kosturanova (GYAC ECA Regional Coordinator) and Mr. Laurent Gabi Wambo (GYAC AFR Regional Coordinator), who introduced the GYAC Network, its mission, vision, and objectives, also welcoming the participants on behalf of the Network and wishing them a pleasant and fruitful stay.

First Session: Definition of corruption and tools of combat against corruption.

Presenter:  Dany Haddad - LTA Senior Researcher

During this session, Mr. Dany Haddad delivered a presentation on the following:

1-    Identification of corruption’ forms taking places in the MENA region;

2-    Application of Good Governance approaches mainly through the means of accountability;

3-     Identification of the different parties, tools, and mechanisms of implementation needed to curb corruption in the        MENA region:

1. United Nations Convention against Corruption
2. Access to Information Act
3. Whistleblower protection
4. Anti-corruption agencies
5. Regulatory authorities

4-    Anti-corruption indicators and statistics:

1. Corruption Perception Index
2. Governance Indicators
3. Open Budget Index
4. Global Integrity Report
5. Corruption Barometer
6. The National Integrity System

Following the presentation, several questions were raised and covered the subsequent subjects:

1-    What are the main reasons of corruption in the MENA region?

1. To which Mr. Haddad responded that is due mainly to the absence of Access to Information (ATI) and the inapplicability of the by-laws[RS1] . Because of these factors, four (4) Arab countries have encountered a revolutionary turnover in their political systems.
2. Mr. Haddad explained that the Access to Information law, especially in Jordan, and more recently in Tunisia, provides for the establishment of such commissions[RS2] , though they have proven inefficient to date.

2-    What role did civil society play with regards to ATI in the MENA region?

1. LTA’s senior researcher clarified that only in Lebanon did civil society play an important role for ATI through the establishment of the Access to Information Network, while in Jordan and Tunisia, ATI was introduced by government initiative.

3-    Closing the session, the participants raised several issues pertaining to the following subjects:

       - Corruption in the private sector;

       - Corruption in the procurement sector;

       - E- government;

       - Truth meters and similar accountability tools.

Second Session: Role of Youth in the fight against corruption.

Presenters and Moderators:  Dr. Said Issa - LTA Grassroots Manager, and Mr. Emanuel Callejas - GYAC LAC Regional Coordinator.

Dr. Issa gave an overview on the role of youth in the fight against corruption in the Arab World and discussed this issue with the participants who were active in giving concrete examples from their on experience.

Dr. Issa mentioned that corruption has a strong relation with politics, where the role of youth is essential in curbing corruption. In some Arab Countries like Lebanon, Yemen, and Palestine, experience has shown a leading role of the youth. Following that, an intervention from the participants from Jordan and Saudi Arabia explained that the role of youth is limited in their countries, highlighting the space for improvement in the MENA region. Nevertheless, the Jordanian participants explained that young people in their country started to play a greater role a year ago, while in Saudi Arabia there isn’t any clear presence of young leaders yet.

Dr. Issa followed on these points by asking all the participants to share their point of view on how youth can contribute more in the fight against corruption. Their suggestions were the following:

1)    Egypt: through knowledge, via Youth organizations specialized in fighting corruption and increased awareness of the mechanisms adopted in the implementation of transparency and accountability measures.

2)    Jordan: through media campaigns to raise general awareness.

3)    Yemen: raising awareness of citizens about their right and obligations.

4)    Libya: raising awareness of the younger generations through media and activism (i.e. youth NGOs).

5)    Tunisia: raising awareness about governance issues by starting with raising education levels, and through the Media.

6)    KSA: We should benefit from citizens who have professional experience and positions abroad the country[RS4] .

7)    Palestine: We are raised surrounded by corrupt practices. Therefore we should work on tackling corruption at its source in the first place.

8)    Iraq: We should not limit our focus on raising awareness but also on follow-through and engaging youth beyond that.

9)    Lebanon: Youth should be made aware of corruption issues at an early age so we build a generation that is aware of its rights. This should be done through a variety of means that includes the arts.

 

Upon concluding this discussion, Said suggested that the points raised could be the first step toward an action plan that would help engage the youth in fighting corruption.

Mr. Callejas, GCB representative, followed on the talk given by Said and gave the participants an overview of the GYAC Network, its prominent achievements, and the work of the GCB representatives. He finished by asking the other youth participants about their perception of governance issues in the MENA region, the region youths’ contribution to reform, and finished by asking their thoughts on the basic steps to engage and address youth more. Thoughts on the role of youth and next steps included the notions that,

-       Youth are change-makers;

-       Youth are reformers;

-       Youth are the “starters;”

-       As first steps we should collect, package, and share information on governance issues and engage social participation;

-       It is important to have an institutional framework for reform that includes young people;

-       Before empowering youth, a structure for engaging them should be in place.

Dr. Issa concluded the session by asking the participants about their readiness to develop the GYAC Network and others like it in the MENA region, between themselves, and with local counterparts at the national and level. The common answer was that in the Arab region youth are usually fearful of the international institutions (i.e. United Nations and the World Bank) so the GYAC network, which relies on local organizations, should be expanded and bridge the gap with the broader institutional entities, using them support the work of NGOs and activists on the ground.     

Third Session: Presentation of the ANSA Conference in Morocco

Presenter:  Aiman Dandash - LTA Project Coordinator.

Mr. Dandash gave a brief presentation on the MENA Regional Forum that took place in Rabat, Morocco, on the following topic: “Fostering state-citizen engagement in the Arab World.” The reason behind this presentation was to introduce the work currently being done in MENA on governance reform, to make sure complementarities are drawn with GYAC so there is continuity within the scope of developing the Network’s activities in the region. Furthermore, he also emphasized that the presence of GYAC members in the region facilitates the work currently being accomplished on governance Reform, as their combined experiences helps reinforce the overall capacities of the region to improve on itself in those areas. Following his presentation, an open discussion took place with regard to the benefits that the GYAC network can reap ANSA specific activities in the MENA region, considering both initiatives (GYAC and ANSA) fall under the umbrella of the World Bank Institute. As a whole, the participants agreed to create a wider and unified network, integrating both GYAC and ANSA and serving their common goals in order to increase their impact.

Fourth Session: GYAC experience on the ground from GCB.

Presenters: Emanuel Callejas (GYAC LAC Regional Coordinator) – Laurent Gabi Wambo (GYAC AFR Regional Coordinator) - Dona Kosturanova (GYAC ECA Regional Coordinator) - Raghda Allouche (GYAC MENA Regional Coordinator) - Marlon Cornelio (GYAC Information Communications Technology [ICT] Thematic Coordinator).

The GCB members presented the notable work executed on the ground by GYAC members globally at the local, national, regional, and global levels. In addition, they were able to showcase the use of the various components that give the Network its unique approach to fighting corruption by connecting activists, ICT experts, musicians and journalists for the sake of tackling governance issues from all sides.

Fifth Session:  Group work on anti-corruption activities held in the MENA region.

All participants

During this session the participants were divided into 5 groups, where each group included a GCB member, and covered a previously chosen topic for the two- day workshop. The topics were:

1. Promoting gender equality in the anti-corruption initiatives in the MENA - an added value for success.
2. Using global networks to increase regional collaboration on governance work in MENA, but also systematically engage in inter-regional knowledge exchange to refine governance tools and approaches globally.
3. Using ICT to gather, simplify and disseminate governance related information, and the special role youth can play to enhance Monitoring elections in the MENA region.
4. Election monitoring to enhance youth participation in democratic processes.
5.  Open data, Open Government - Ways to access data, understand it better, and use it for increased civil society engagement on transparency and accountability for better governance.

To ensure the completeness of the group work, participants also developed tools and approaches to help with the improvement of good governance in that area.

1. Promoting gender equality in the anti-corruption initiatives in the MENA - an added value for success:

Two main ideas were discussed:

1. Taking action to promote women’s role in fighting corruption:

-    Empowering women to be in positions of power.

-       Sensitizing and educating women to provide them with the appropriate tools and knowledge to fight corruption.

-       Promoting women’s involvement in Civil Society work, through community-based organizations and networks in the MENA region.

 

-    2. Why women should be considered as a value-added in reform work?

-    Women can pilot peaceful anti-corruption movements;

-    Women’s voices are mostly heard;

-     Women are mother figures; as such, they are models of education and should play an essential role in bringing up the next generations of upstanding citizens.

2. Using global networks to increase regional collaboration on governance work in MENA, but also systematically engage in inter-regional knowledge exchange to refine governance tools and approaches globally.

The main idea is based on the lack of effective networks and the lack of cooperation of stakeholders that seek reform with governments. The solutions the participants came up with for the issue were the following:

-  Engaging government representatives in international community events.

-   Stimulating and encouraging coalitions among NGOs, to coordinate actions taken    based on their collective experiences.

-    Developing and strengthening regional networks and bringing stakeholders together for collective fundraising

-   Increasing cooperation with governments by including international institutions that can help bridge the civil society/ government gap in the planning processes.

-  Engaging partners in global networks and establishing new partnerships.

-  Achieving stronger regional impact.

-  Reducing chances of discreditation through joint, inclusive, and realistic approaches.

3. Using ICT to gather, simplify, and disseminate governance related information and highlighting the special role youth can play to enhance monitoring elections in the MENA region.

At first, the group began with an integrated definition of ICT and then presented its roles in social communication as the following:

-       It eases the flow of ideas and information between users; also it facilitates the means of communication, and assists in announcing events and programs.

-       The usage of Short Message Service (SMS) as an ICT tool allows a wider engagement of a larger number of users.

-       Holding online workshops between youth from different countries helps to share experience and ideas on the fight against corruption.

It is worth noting that increasing the users of ICT and maintaining the credibility of the transmitted information will allow us to reach our goals exponentially faster and more effectively.

4. Election monitoring to enhance youth participation in democratic processes

According to the group, monitoring elections is related to 5 parties:

1- People: People are the pillar of democracy and the ones who are most willing to help and act.[RS7] 

2- NGOs: NGOs have a significant role in monitoring elections, as they are the most common tool of communication between citizens and policy.

3- Government: By helping to support and encourage civil societies monitor elections.

4- Laws: The amendment of national laws related to elections in order to include transparency and good governance.[RS8] 

5- Candidates: Raising awareness for candidates to reach [RS9] a democratic election.

These 5 components should cooperate in order to ensure democratic electoral processes.

5. Open data, Open Government - Ways to access data, understand it better, and use it for increased civil society engagement on transparency and accountability issuesfor better governance.

In order to guarantee societal reform, it is important that the government and private sector institutions cooperate with civil society. It is worth noting that the private institutions’ roles are not only limited to generating profits, but also to helping CSOs promote transparency and raise awareness.

Moreover, governmental decision makers should facilitate the implementation of laws drafted by the CSOs, or at least cooperate with them in the process.

All this can be achieved by opening channels of communication between governments, the private sector, and CSOs.

 

 

Day Two:

The second day of the workshop started with a roundup of the first day and its outcomes, followed by the first session entitled “MENA collaboration and strengthening sessions,” which were divided into 5 presentations.

First Session: Lebanese Advocacy and Legal Advice Center (LALAC) and TI’s Time to Wake up Campaign

Presenters: Renee Lise Habchi - Lebanese Advocacy and Legal Advise Center, LALAC’s project coordinator and Hazar Assi – LTA’s communication and social media officer.

Following the presentation several questions were raised and covered the following subjects:

1-    What are the consultation processes? How can citizens approach the center? Is it free of charge?

 

Ms. Habchi explained the role of the legal advisor who deals with the victims of corruption when responding to their calls, and when meeting with them in person.  She informed the participants that the legal advisor provides them with free of charge legal consultancy to direct them to the appropriate actors.  

 

2-    What are the funding sources of the center?

 

The foundation for the Future is the current funder.

 

3-    What are some success stories of the center

 

Ms. Habchi presented the participants a video by LALAC that included two success stories.

 

4-    Why are Lebanese citizens not afraid of consulting the center, considering that in the case of Iraq, for example, they wouldn’t dare to?

 

Lebanon is a democratic country where the freedom of expression is respected. As such the center can reassure callers that their identity will remain confidential.

 

5-    What are the five steps that lead to the implementation of the time to wake up initiative?

 

1. Online;
2. Offline;
3. Outreach;
4. Sit in;
5. Press conference.

In addition, the participant from Iraq explained the whistleblower mechanism in his country, as well as the reward given by the government to public servants who disclose corruption cases. 

Second Session: Role of civil society in monitoring elections.

Presenter: Mrs. Zeina Awar - Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections LADE.

Mrs. Awar gave a presentation on LADE and its achievement in monitoring elections and stated that she is willing to lend help based on her experience.

Third Session: Role of youth in municipal councils.

Presenter: Mr. Aiman Dandash.

Using the experience of the Development for people and Nature Association DPNA, Mr. Dandash explained the role of youth in municipalities. The presentation focused on the fact that youth in municipal councils are trained on several topics that enhance their leadership and governance skills, to be more effective in their fight against corruption.

Fourth Session: National Network for the Right to Access to Information

Presenter: Hani Imad - Arab Regional Parliamentarians Against Corruption, ARPAC- Legal Consultant.

During this session Hani Imad delivered a presentation on the National Network, mainly highlighting the following:

1-    The Network’s composition includes several stakeholders, such as representatives of the government, parliamentarians, Civil Society organizations, the Media, the Private sector, and more

 

2-    The Network’s achievements in developing two draft laws:

1. The access to information draft law in 2009
2. The whistleblower draft law in 2010

 

3-    The draft laws and the role of the Access to Information commission once established

 

4-    The political, legal, and administrative difficulties hindering the implementation of the access to information right in Lebanon.

 

Following the presentation, several questions were raised on the following subjects:

 

1-  Is there any plan to pass the draft laws? And what are the next steps?

 

Hani Imad informed participants that there is a personal initiative by the parliamentarian, Mr. Ghassan Moukheiber, as well as a common initiative lead by the Lebanese Transparency Association, to re-launch the implementation process.

 

2-  Does the UNCAC require state parties to implement the access to information right?

 

Yes. After Lebanon joined the convention in 2008, the government was asked to implement the access to information and the whistleblowers’ rights, according to articles 10 and 33 of the convention.

 

3-  What were the essential steps taken after 2008 and what is the aim of fighting corruption in Lebanon?

 

1. Nothing important and essential has happened since 2008 when Lebanon joined the convention, and starting efforts were put into developing it
2. The access to information and whistleblower protection draft laws in 2009 and 2010.

 

Fifth Session:  Journalism and the role of blogging in fighting corruption.

Presenters:  Mr. Atallah Al Salim - Daily Star Writer, and Blogger (Lebanon), Al –Houssein Mahmoud - Blogger (Egypt).

In his presentation, Mr. Al- Salim gave percentages and numbers on social media users:

In 2010, the number of Facebook users in the MENA region stood at 19 million, whereas in 2012, there were 36 million people on Facebook. The increase in the number of Facebook users indicates that people became more active digitally, most likely to be more connected, and as a result, they were also most likely more informed and involved in policy making processes.

In the Arab World, the percentage of Facebook users is about 26%, with some of the main reasons being that,

- It’s an easy tool to get to information

- It has a high capacity for mobilization

- It is a platform widely used by youth

Another widely used tool for engagement, blogs and their bloggers, increased widely from 1999 and 2003. (Mainly after the Iraq war)

Mr. Al-Salim drew up a grid consisting of the percentage of Facebook users in the Arab countries relative to age: 

Country	Age	Percentage
Egypt	13-44 years old	95% Youth
Tunisia		93% Youth
Yemen	16-30 years old	96% Youth
Lybia		93% Youth
Bahrein		93% Youth
Iraq	18-28 years old	94% Youth
Palestine		96% Youth

 

Mr. Al-Salim talked about the two Lebanese online “activists” who were arrested for expressing their opinion through artistic painting on the wall "Graffiti" at a Lebanese avenue 2 weeks ago. Both activists were released due to the pressure caused by the social blogs and other activists. This was to signify both the effectiveness of New Media usage in governance reform and the fight against corruption, but also the dangers that come with whistleblowing and finger pointing.

Atallah also raised the issue of corruption in the education sector in Yemen (specifically in Ta’az). He asked about ways to advocate in order reaching a solution to these problems.

 

On the other hand, Mr. Al Houssein explained the case of Egypt and the restriction of blogs. Moreover, he gave a detailed presentation about www.elsyasi.com .

 

Sixth Session: On the use of ICT

Presenters: David Munir Nabti – Mayor, Chief Entrepreneur and Organizer of AltCity, Marlon Cornelio - GYAC ICT Thematic Coordinator.

 

Mr. Nabti talked about the current use of ICT in the MENA region and his organization’s mission to expand access to the tools, resources, and spaces that enable innovation, creative impact, and socially relevant media and entrepreneurial initiatives. Mr. Nabti focused on the key areas of use of social networks to spark and support citizen engagement

 

• Wikileaks as a revolutionary tool for information access in critical and matters that need more representation
• Popular networking sites, Twitter and Facebook as triggers and discourse platforms for organizing social movements
• Twitter as it can be used for organizing social movement, and sharing information (logistics, locations, planning and adapting in real time in ongoing actions) in censored environments
• Facebook as a mechanism for extended outreach of initiatives and general coordination
• Youtube as a platform supporting the visual documentation by citizens and sharing perspectives of actions  

 

Encouraging people through various key tools:

 

-  Saas + cloud: Software services - free tools online to collaborate with people, such as Google docs and other Google apps which are free

- Open Source: all the info are shared and for free as Wikipedia / Wordpress.com. Content Management Center. Many developers are adding modifications and updates on these functionalities.

- Creative Commons

- Mapping, such as http://www.sharek961.org/

- Mobile Smartphone use: 30% globally / 46% US+ Canada / 46% MENA

- Social Media

- Citizen Media: it’s not about the tools it’s about the Community

- The crowd

Challenges:

People couldn’t write, couldn’t argue and couldn’t clearly analyze a situation.

People couldn’t think of stories to write about.

Ethics/ stealing copy rights and then re-write it by own names.

Reasons:

Curiosity

Self-learning

Collaboration

Problem-solving

Desire

Passion

Community

Mrs. Dona Kosturanova talked about Global Voices online, which is a global media platform that users can submit blogs to concerning issues in their own countries, such as has been used regarding issues in Macedonia that needed to be broadcast more broadly.

Mr. Marlon Cornelio talked about good governance and how technology can be helpful to improve it, after which he went on to give an example on Taopo from Philippines. Taopo is a platform where citizens can reach the government and have their queries responded to on a public platform. The problem lies in access to information and not in the tool. The problem is not limited to technical issues.

Seventh Session: On the use of ICT and the way forward

Presenter: Boris Weber- Senior Governance Specialist- WBI

Mr. Weber focused on:

- Prioritizing and voting on budget decisions from citizens themselves, not just elected and        appointed officials

- Promoting transparency

- Using Social Media to have open budget and citizen’s participation

- Using SMS and more traditional ways to make people choose projects to prioritize for

- Identifying urgent needs of citizens

Eighth Session:  Group work and plenary session- Strategy and Design planning.

Moderated by Dr. Said Issa and Mr. Utpal Misra.

During this session the participants were divided into the same groups as the prior day and they brainstormed about possible action plans and follow up mechanisms for improving governance reform in the MENA region. At the end they shared the fruit of their work to develop a common and realistic commitment for the whole.

1. Concerning the first topic: Promoting Gender Equality in the anti-corruption initiatives in the MENA: an added value for success. The steps are the following:

a)           Figuring out women reality: study, researchers, reports.

b)    Online Blogging: Knowledge base for research, articles on raising awareness to fight corruption, give them a space to report and tell their stories through audio-videos-text.

c)     Peer to peer: through public (school, college...) and individual awareness (journalist, teachers)

d)          Traditional Media (Radio- Television)

 

2. Using global networks to increase regional collaboration on governance work in MENA, but also systematically engage in inter-regional knowledge exchange to refine governance tools and approaches globally.

a)     Built a coalition between NGOs and the government.

b)    Establish a regional network and submitting proposals in order to get funds.

c)     Cooperate with partners from the global network.

d)    Reinforcement of the present networks (GYAC- ANSA)

 

3. Using ICT to gather, simplify and disseminate governance related information, and the special role youth can play to enhance that:

a)     Create a website linked to Facebook, Twitter, Youtube. In case we were not able to create it we can use elsyasi.com

b)    Collect data and information related to the members (Bio, Organization, projects..) and share it online.

a)     Use social media tools in order to promote this information.

b)    We have to work on problems that civil societies are facing in the MENA region.

c)     Delegate a responsible from each country to manage the project.

d)    Planning a regional workshop to guide the participants on the use of technology and telecommunications.

e)     The Website should be efficient and up to dated.

 

4. Election monitoring to enhance youth participation in democratic processes

 

a)     Creating a group of experts in law and political sciences its mission to study internal laws, it aims to edit and draft laws that support democracy, freedom, transparency and access to information in the MENA region.

b)    Networking between NGOs that work in the field (elections, monitoring, democracy, transparency, good governance)

c)     Organizing a campaign with youth stressing on the right of people and the importance of well representation.

d)    Good candidates who will support us by engaging the rules and principles of transparency.

e)     Reaching the aim for good governance.

f)     Organizing a media campaign at an international level in order to influence the government.

5. Open data, Open Government - Ways to access data, understand it better, and use it for increased civil society engagement on transparency and accountability for better governance. Several activities should be done to engage the society:

a)     Holding meetings with primary groups from civil society organizations.

b)    Forming relations with supporting decision makers (Members of Parliaments and people in the government)

c)     Holding workshops and presentations and spreading pictures and movies with the collaboration of the primary civil society groups. In addition to inviting the decision makers to participate in these events that target the youth and minority groups.

d)    Focusing on spreading awareness and building the capabilities to enhance social electronic communication.

e)     Forming a network for the civil society organizations, and making sure that decision makers are members of this network.

f)     Initiating a website for the open network between: Members of Parliament, people in government, civil society organizations, and the youth targeted by this program.

g)     Initiating an Arabic Youth Parliament to monitory the efficiency of governance.

At the end of the forum, LTA’s and GYAC’s representatives gave a quick wrap up of the sessions to the attendees, and praised their work and efforts. In return, all the participants were thankful and showed a great interest in being part of this network; they also stated that the sessions were highly beneficial and fruitful since this experience has added further knowledge to their personal background. Finally, they all agreed to stay in touch in order to coordinate and enlarge the network for the sake of reaching reform.