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PROGRAM |
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The Heinrich Böll Foundation supports people and projects around the world who are working for meaningful participation, solidarity and peaceful change towards equality and justice in social and international relations. In the Middle East, our work is centered around four major axis of inquiry and intervention: Statehood and Participation, Power and Identity, War and Peace and Sustainable Development. Under these headlines, and in cooperation with our local and regional partners, we support long-term projects that aim at achieving an impact through intervention over a sustained period of time, and specific activities and events designed to improve capacities among forces of change and to create awareness for and debate over pressing issues. |
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Statehood and Participation
Throughout the countries of the Middle East, citizens view the state with suspicion. State institutions are often experienced as biased towards the powerful, corrupt and predatory, and as a sometimes violent means to safeguard the position of a ruling elite, or the domination of one part of the population over others. Participation, on the other hand, is mostly reduced to elections of questionable representational value, or relies on informal channels and structures and primordial relations, and thus reinforces existing patterns of subordination and power. The program Statehood and Participation supports initiatives that demand accountability and due process and encourage citizens to become aware, active and organized around issues of (gender-)democratic participation and sustainable development.
Current Projects:
Women's Right to Nationality
Collective Movements of Judges in the Arab World
Iraqi Civil Society – Pushing for Change |
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War and Peace
Conflict and crisis continue to be the double term most consistently associated with the region. A multitude of fault lines today run across the region, springing from unresolved grievances past and present. As flash points continue to erupt, such conflicts radiate out and reach those who once considered themselves safely away over the sea. Accordingly, international efforts and intervention are being stepped up to set things right - but all too often, they get it all wrong. The program War and Peace is designed to analyze the roots of conflict, encourage constructive engagement with the memory and repercussions of conflict, and inquire into avenues to peaceful and cooperative solutions.
Current Projects:
What is to be Done? |
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Power and Identity
National, political and religious identities remain subjects of contention around the region. People in the Middle East are called upon to rally around narrowly defined values that are deployed in struggles over markets, power and cultural hegemony, and often have little opportunity to choose and decide how to define themselves, where to look for sources of inspiration and pride. The program Power and Identity wants to widen understanding about the cultural, confessional and ethnic dimensions of conflict and their relation to globalization and inequality of power, and supports cultural expressions and perspectives of socio-political issues and cross-cultural exchange.
Current Projects:
Translation & Publication Project
Public Libraries as Social Spaces
Building Platforms for Intellectual and Cultural Practice |
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Sustainable Development
The Middle East is divided between high income economies relying on energy exports, and middle to low income economies struggling to provide for their populations. Both developmental models tend to neglect sustainability - but pollution, climate change and loss of natural resources will be back to haunt future generations anyway. Pushing for sustainable development is also a question of justice: between current and future generations, but also between those who have the means to isolate themselves from the negative repercussions of unsustainable practices, and those who have to bear the brunt of it.
The program Sustainable Development puts special emphasis on the issues of climate change and renewable energies, and supports sustainable agriculture through training for marketing and production skills.
Current Projects:
Bada'el Environmental Magazine
Sustainable Bedouin Livelihoods
in a Changing World: Surviving Droughts, Policies and Markets
High-Media Profile Activities on Climate Change
Right to Resources …Access to Rights
Promoting Sustainable Construction in Lebanese Universities |
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