Arab Forum for Alternatives Studies (AFA)

Ongoing projects:
• Towards establishing a think tank to support the Iraqi Parliament (2009-2011)
• Regional organizations and freedom of association project:
• The Third Sector in the Mediterranean:
• The privatization of Essential services and its effects, and how to deal with this effects through international network:
• Public participation through local councils and communities:
Previous projects :
• Study project: :" The protest movements in the Arab Region" (2009-2010)
• EU security policies and their implication on the Mediterranean (June 2010):
• "A new context for Islamic movement" experts' meeting (May 2010):
• Media between professionalism and Politics - The aftermath of Egypt Algeria games ( February 2010):
• Critical Dialogue Between Different Political Forces (2009-2010):
• Joint workshop with CIDOB " Reform in Egypt: political, economical and social challenges": Barcelona- ( November 2009):
• Report about: "Anti- terrorism law in Egypt", (August 2009):
• Discourse analysis for President's Obama Speech in Cairo, 4th of (June 2009):
• Training a pool of University Lecturers from Iraq on Parliamentary Systems (March 2009):
• Project: Training for Iraqi University Professors on Human Rights and Democratic Values (June 2008):
• Workshop: "The Laws of Civil Society: Experiences and Expertise" (May 2008):
• Seminar: The future of the reform process in Egypt (April 2008):
• Conference: "The right of free associations and the laws governing CSO" (December 2007):
• Seminar: "Civil Society, Human Rights and Democracy" in the Mashrek region (April 2007):
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Ongoing projects:
• Towards establishing a think tank to support the Iraqi Parliament (2009-2011)
Arab Forum for Alternatives (AFA) in cooperation with Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) and Association for University Lecturers in Iraq (AUL) The Iraqi institutions and people are at cross-roads and will be thinking about the political System they need to restore. There is a need for a comprehensive political strategy to ensure that the state is built on legitimate institutions capable of ensuring stability and the rule of law. Parliaments play a fundamental role in establishing the rule of law and overseeing transparent governance processes. Hence, the effectiveness of the Iraqi Parliament (here after referred to as the Council of Representatives) in representing the people's needs and interests will be one of the main emerging issues in the future of Iraq. However, the complexity of the operational, political and sectarian environment in Iraq affects the Parliament's ability to perform and to fulfil its main functions: legislative, representative and oversight.
The main demands of the Iraqi parliament in the period following the current legislative elections are:
-Enhancing the institutional capacities of the parliament, and providing the necessary experience and resources.
- building the capacities of the Iraqi parliamentarians themselves, on the political and the legislative aspects.
Therefore, the general objective of the project is to enhance the capacities of the Iraqi Council of Representatives and its specialized committees in the fields of: education, public health, gender, transparency and accountability.
This objective can be met through the establishment of a think tank specialized in parliamentary affairs, providing consultancy, lobbying and providing the parliament with the necessary studies and policy recommendations in the fields mentioned, through university professors specialized in Parliamentary Affairs and public policies.
• Regional organizations and freedom of association project:
In cooperation with the International Centre for Non - Profit Law, the Arab Forum for Alternatives is preparing a monthly report about the ongoing developments through 2010 in the Organization of the Islamic Conference and league of Arab States about the freedom of Association and the partnership with Civil Society organizations.
• The Third Sector in the Mediterranean:
In partnership with "Fondazione Roma Terzo Settore "and the" Institute Jacques Maritain", The forum is conducting a research about Civil society organizations in Egypt as part of a research project called: "The Third Sector in the Mediterranean" a comparative analysis of social contexts, strategies and aims connected to the Third Sector in some countries of the Mediterranean (Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Turkey).
• The privatization of Essential services and its effects, and how to deal with this effects through international network:
In partnership with "Development Support Centre" & "Oxfam/Novib", The Forum is conducting a research about the "Privatization of essential services" The study aims to present a general view of the neo-liberal policies and its development concerning the privatization process (in particular water and health sectors) in addition to the workers' measures, its impacts on the Arab region and procedures made to resist the process and its local, regional and international mechanism.
• Public participation through local councils and communities:
A study in Collaboration with Danish Egyptian Dialogue institution, AFA is conducting a research about the public participation through local councils and communities. The study aims to enhance this participation through 2 main parts the first part concerns the Egyptian situation, the second part will be the responsibility of DEDI and will be tackling the Danish experience in this field. Also AFA will be in charge to add a chapter at the end of the study comparing both experiences and what are the lesson learned from the Danish experience that can be adopted in the Egyptian context.
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Previous projects :
• Study project: :" The protest movements in the Arab Region" (2009-2010)
Since the 90s, it is noticeable that the social movements have been playing a growing role in various fields, for instance: the democratization in Eastern Europe, facing the imperialistic policies in Latin America, and the anti- globalization movements created internationally to face the neo-liberal policies of the globalization.
It is difficult to describe the mobility witnessed lately in the Arab World as social movements, according to its scientific definition. However, the traces or beginnings of such movements are remarkable in many Arab countries, such as: Anti- globalization movements, movements seeking democratic change, labour movements, anti- inflation movements… These movements were all created for several reasons, such as: the socio-economic crisis in the region, the waves of democratization rising around the world, and also the different crises witnessed in the Arab World (such as the second Intifada 2000, and the war on Iraq 2003…).
Hence, we can consider those aspects of mobility in the Arab society as protest movements, using tools to express their rejection of the pressure of these crises, but often taking inefficient , or not organized ways of action, taking course, most of the times, outside the syndical or partisan framework.
Therefore, this study is conducted to figure out whether these protest movements are an embryo of real social movements, who might induce a positive change in the Arab region, or if they are simply a part of the situation of chaos the region is living currently. For many reasons, on top of which are the relatively mature civil society, diversity and density, this study chose four countries representing different parts of the Arab World as models: Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco and Bahrain.
This study is conducted in cooperation with Centre for Arab Unity Studies (based in Beirut, Lebanon) the Book is currently printing..
• EU security policies and their implication on the Mediterranean (June 2010):
INEX project in cooperation with CIDOB, The project is concerned with the implications of EU security policy-making in the Mediterranean. The implications to be considered are those on human security and to what extent the EU does to secure itself is consistent with its own commitment to security in the Mediterranean—not only in terms of state security, but also human security (on both shores of the Mediterranean).
The Arab Forum for Alternatives is conducting the part of this project related to the implications of the EU security policies on Egypt.
• "A new context for Islamic movement" experts' meeting (May 2010):
The first experts' Egyptian-German in Cairo to discuss condition of the Islamic movements after the 9/11 attack and how it affected the American policies towards the "new" middle east.
The meeting was held on the 10th may in cooperation with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung to exchange opinions about the recent events in the Arab region (Lebanese elections, Hamas and Fatah conflict, the recent Egyptian political mobility and the Sudanese issue).
• Media between professionalism and Politics - The aftermath of Egypt Algeria games ( February 2010):
The football game between the Egyptian and the Algerian football teams last November raised a bunch of profound psychological and political repercussions, which led to a growing tension in their mutual relations; and the altercation, and the "name- calling" between the media of both countries reached an unprecedented level of insults and offences. These events raised the following question: what made a football game, no matter how important it is or the amount of sensitivity accompanying it, raise all these crises? And how did the media mobilization succeed, so easily, in piling up and mobilizing millions of spectators in both Egypt and Algeria, turning being a football fan, or the right of cheering the national football team into a war scene between the two people. This Seminar was organised jointly with the Danish Egyptian Dialogue Institute.
• Critical Dialogue Between Different Political Forces (2009-2010):
AFA is organizing a research project headed by the Arab Reform Initiative in France. The project deals with the experience of collective work between the different political forces. Those experiences were announced in different parts of the Arab World, or have been already held on the ground. The study objective is to analyze the circumstances that pushed these forces to make those alliances, and the issues that are discussed by those ideologically different forces, and the determination of the reasons for their failure in other places. The project takes the form of a research study spanning on a period of one year and which is conducted through periodical discussion meetings for those involved in the project, ending with a conference. At the end of the project the papers discussed during its period will be published in a Book. For More Information: http://arab-reform.net/spip.php?page=rubrique&id_rubrique=34
Also a workshop was hed on the margin of this project supported by IDRC under the title (traditional societies and Modern politics)
• Joint workshop with CIDOB " Reform in Egypt: political, economical and social challenges": Barcelona- ( November 2009):
During the seminar held in CIDOB venue - Barcelona the 23rd and 24th of November Experts and researchers from Egypt, Syria, Spain and other European countries discussed the reform process in Egypt, through three main topics:
The first topic was related to the nature of the political system, and was entitled "Where is Egypt heading?"
1. The features of the Egyptian political system.
2. The possibility of building genuine democratic Islamist movements, believing in secularism.
3. The crisis of the secular movements.
As for the second, it was about the" Economic and social dynamics: which present and which future for Egypt?"
1. The economic reform: the limits of success:
2. New political protest and socio- economic realities:
3. Al- Mahala Al- Kobra industrial city: Can the social protest movements transform into a political reality?
The third topic involved the impact of external factors on the domestic politics:
1. The Change of the regional environment:
2. The Egyptian role in a new Arab environment:
3. How did the external factor affect the reform process?
• Report about: "Anti- terrorism law in Egypt", (August 2009):
After the 9/11 incidents, a series of anti- terrorist laws have been issued in many countries of the world, even in democratic countries such as: UK, and USA. As for Egypt, this issue has been very problematic, especially when some decision- making circles announced the possibility of replacing the existing emergency law by an anti- terrorist law. Therefore, this report will tackle three main questions: what are the main features of this anti- terrorist law? How can we understand the anti- terrorist law in the current social and political context? What will be its expected implications on the Egyptian political scene?
• Discourse analysis for President's Obama Speech in Cairo, 4th of (June 2009):
Obama made a visit, on the 4th of June 2009, described by many as "historic", to Cairo. During his visit, Obama gave a speech to the Islamic World from Cairo University. The speech discussed nine main points: violence and extremism, Afghanistan, Iraq, the Palestinian case, the Iranian nuclear program, democracy issues, religious freedom, women's rights and economic development. The AFA team published a report with the discourse analysis on the AFA website, and a briefing of it was published in both El Shorouk Egyptian newspaper, and As-Safir Lebanese newspaper.
• Training a pool of University Lecturers from Iraq on Parliamentary Systems (March 2009):
Considering the difficult situation Iraq is living currently, on both political and security levels. The Iraqi parliament members suffer from lack of information, studies and consultants, and at the same time, the Academics with their capacities and experiences cannot reach the decision making circles. This gap influences the development of democracy and human rights badly in Iraq. Therefore, the Arab Forum for Alternatives (based in Cairo), with the support of WFD (Westminster Foundation for Democracy- London), and in cooperation with the League of Academic Lecturers in Iraq, is conducting this project aiming to bridge the gap mentioned, by providing support to the Iraqi parliament through academic advisors. In order to achieve that, a training program will be held in Beirut, from the 7th till the 16th of March 2009, to develop a core group of experts ready to support the Iraqi Parliament with Papers and recommendations on bills and laws. The training will provide a group of university lecturers in Iraq with the main knowledge and skills to be able to play a role in advising, lobbying and providing policy recommendations to the parliament members.
• Project: Training for Iraqi University Professors on Human Rights and Democratic Values (June 2008):
In cooperation with Westminster Foundation for Democracy in Oxford U.K. and the University Professors Alliance in Iraq, AFA implemented, a-six month project, that ended in June 2008 by a workshop in Amman – Jordan to train 22 Iraqi academics on issues related to the field of democracy and human rights, protecting it and developing their skills in this field (advocacy and lobbying, good governance, gender and right based approach) The objective of this was to contribute to promoting democratic values in the country, the rule of law, collective work and respecting its values; hoping that this workshop would be a motivator for the trainees to exchange their concluded knowledge and their acquired experiences to the society of academics and to their university students in Iraq.
• Workshop: "The Laws of Civil Society: Experiences and Expertise" (May 2008):
In coordination with ICNL, "AFA" organized an advocacy skills training workshop for Egyptian NGOs. This workshop aimed to providing Egyptian NGOs with An analysis for the current NGO's law in Egypt and models of advanced laws in other countries, also skills for strategies and techniques to help them lobby for civil society law reform (and other issues) in the politically hostile environment of modern Egypt. An additional goal was differentiating between participants' draft for positive amendments to the Egyptian NGO law. Workshop was attended by 29 participants representing 20 CSO's in Egypt in addition to experts from Egypt, Moroco, Russia and USA.
• Seminar: The future of the reform process in Egypt (April 2008):
In participation of 20 academics, researchers and civil society activists "AFA" organized an Indoor seminar. The papers presented discussed the expected scenarios and ideas for the reform in Egypt and the role of Civil Society in this process.
• Conference: "The right of free associations and the laws governing CSO" (December 2007):
In partnership with the association of freedom of thoughts and Express Egypt and ICNL in Washington the centre organized in Cairo a two-day Conference. Papers presented the obstacles facing the right of freedom of associations imposed by current laws in Bahrain, Yemen, Jordan, Syria and Egypt.
• Seminar: "Civil Society, Human Rights and Democracy" in the Mashrek region (April 2007):
Organizing a two-day seminar in Alexandria. In cooperation with the EuroMeSCo network, the seminar focused on the topic of Fundamental Rights in the context of political reform process and its reflection on the experience of civil society actors in the Mashrek region. Around 70 participants of the civil society representatives, journalists, experts and practitioners attended. The seminar tackled issues such as Religion and Politics in the public sphere, Women's Rights and the Reform Process, Protection of Human Rights, Freedom of Expression, Civil Society Challenges. Recommendations regarding Human Rights in the Euro-Mediterranean Agenda where developed during the seminar.