About

The MENA Partnership for Democracy and Development is a groundbreaking public-private partnership that will function as an international clearinghouse of service providers, experts, and experienced practitioners which civil society organizations and government institutions can draw upon to meet their specific needs in the newly democratic environment of the transformed Arab world. Working across the full range of democratic reform, the MENA Partnership will focus particularly on women’s empowerment, democratic advocacy, and economic reform. 

A project of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, the MENA Partnership will draw on the experience of GMF’s existing trusts, the award-winning Balkan Trust for Democracy (BTD) and the successful Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation (BST).

Mission

The mission of the MENA Partnership for Democracy & Development is to promote regional cooperation and good governance in MENA countries by providing support to local indigenous organizations in order to improve their capacity for addressing local and regional challenges.

Goals

Civil society organizations are playing an increasing role in shaping local, national, and international policies in the MENA region. They deliver services and hold local and national governments accountable.

The broad goals of the MENA Partnership for Democracy & Development are four-fold:

• To Affirm the value of citizen participation in the democratic process, build enthusiasm and skills for participation in public life, and rebuild trust in public institutions
• To Strengthen the appeal of free markets and an understanding of the principles that govern them
• To Develop the capacity of civic organizations and think tanks that lie at the nexus of state and society
• To Foster cross-border ties and regional affinities and cooperation in the public, private, and non-profit sectors.

The MENA Partnership for Democracy & Development will play an important role in seeding the development of thriving civil societies and market-based economies. It will nurture a cohesive regional understanding that bonds the countries of the MENA region to each other and to the countries of the transatlantic community.

The MENA Partnership will invest its funds in individuals, institutions, and processes to assist these countries in their efforts to join the community of democracies and free markets and to create strong bonds with the United States and Europe. Given the diversity of needs and enormous challenges in this region, the MENA Partnership for Democracy & Development can be one important transatlantic effort to provide quick, efficient, and flexible funding to support the region’s evolution in a positive direction.

How We Work

The MENA Partnership for Democracy and Development will launch its activities in early 2013. A call for support requests will be featured on this website and will be sent through our Facebook and Twitter accounts when it is ready.  In the meantime, if you are interested in support or have any questions, please contact us. You can share your ideas and needs with us on Facebook, Twitter or directly at info@menapartnership.org.

Leadership

Advisory Board

The MENA Partnership for Democracy & Development will be guided by an advisory board of prominent intellectuals  and civil society and business leaders from inside and outside the MENA region. The advisory board will be announced once it is formed.

Staff

Ghazi Ben Ahmed	Lamis Khalilova Bartuskova	Ariel Shaker-Brown
Director, German Marshall Fund, Tunis Read Bio	Senior Program Officer, MENA Partnership for Democracy & Development, GMF Tunis Read Bio	Program Coordinator, MENA Partnership for Democracy & Development, GMF Tunis Read Bio

Support

To learn more about supporting the MENA Partnership for Democracy and Development, contact us.

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