Youth Coalition for Advocacy and Reform in Lebanon
The Lebanese Center for Policy Studies (LCPS) in cooperation with Partners for Democratic Change (Partners) launched an 18 month project entitled Building a Youth Coalition for Advocacy and Reform in Lebanon. This project aimed to provide 30 Lebanese youth aged between 18 and 35 with the practical experience and skills to form a coalition that undertakes a national advocacy campaign to promote meaningful youth participation in the political process in Lebanon. The program was divided into two main phases.
Phase 1 Capacity Building and Outreach Three five-day training workshops focused on developing important capacity building skills in order to implement a national advocacy campaign.
The first training workshop entitled Citizen Engagement and Leadership Skills was held from August 22nd till the 26th, 2005. This five-day training workshop consisted of two sections. The first workshop, built the participants capacity to create a common platform upon which to build an advocacy campaign. While, the second taught participants how to effectively engage their communities to take into account constituents opinions on priority issues.
The second five day training workshop entitled Advocacy Tools and Creating a Cooperative Advocacy Campaign was held on February 9th till the 13th, 2006. This five day training workshop was divided into three sections. The first section focused on how to engage government officials, the second reviewed advocacy tools and the third lead participants through a cooperative advocacy process to design action plans for their national advocacy campaign.
The third training workshop took place on the 15th, 16th, and 17th of December 2006, under the title of Youth Coalition for Electoral Reform during this workshop the participants came up with a shared project that focuses on advocating for national cause. The project focuses on promoting Electoral reform. This initiative is entitled: Youth for Electoral Reform or Cha'en(Chabab min Ajil Al-Islah Al-Intikhabi), noting that Cha'en is the Arabic meaning for Affairs, or Concern in English. (click here to see report)
Youth for Electoral Reform Cha'en During this phase, the youth coalition will utilize the tools garnered in phase 1 in order to implement the action plans created. There will be progress assessments as well as a forum to facilitate communication between government officials and the youth committees. At the conclusion of the 18 month project there will be a lessons learned conference to discuss the successes and challenges faced throughout the program.
Partners for Democratic Change, established in 1989, is a global non-governmental organization committed to building democratic institutions and strengthening civil society worldwide. In over 15 years of building local capacity in core democracy skills, Partners has provided negotiation, cooperative advocacy, and coalition building competency to thousands of civil, NGO, municipal, and national government leaders in over 50 countries. www.partnersglobal.org
The Lebanese Center for Policy Studies (LCPS) established in 1989, is a research center with an extensive record of work in public policy. A non-profit organization headquartered in Beirut, LCPS focuses on research with practical goals. Although research and publication are central to LCPS mission objectives; advocacy, training, and capacity building make up a significant part of the work of LCPS.
The Lebanese Center for Policy Studies deals with a considerable number of issues that affect Lebanon and the Middle East in general. The scope of these issues includes administrative and political reform, citizenship and civil society, constitutional reform, cultural policies, decentralization, electoral and parliamentary reform, environment, fiscal and budgetary reforms, governance, globalization, information and communication technology, judicial reform, privatization, social policies, and policy research.
LCPS hosts forums, workshops and conferences concerning these issues in an effort to contribute to the public policy debate in the MENA region. LCPS writes and publishes reports and books on its research and analysis to broaden awareness and inform the public about the state of public policy in the region.
LCPS is particularly interested in elections in Lebanon, organizing workshops and seminars on the election process and its potential impacts. LCPS produces reports and books on elections to educate interested parties on the results and other important factors including voter turnout and participation.
