AFED

Organized by:
Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED)

In co-operation with:
United Nations Environment Programme – Regional Office for West Asia (UNEP-ROWA)

An investigation carried out by AFED found that NGOs in the Arab region, in general, are particularly lacking in the skills of selecting campaign topics, fund raising, proposal writing and lobbying.

The main purpose of the one day workshop is to familiarize participants with those techniques, in a practical manner. It will be held in Manama on 14 November, one day after the Civil Society Regional Consultation organized by ROWA. All participants in the Regional Consultation are invited by UNEP and AFED to attend the workshop.

The workshop will be action-oriented, carried out by practitioners with international, regional and local experience, at the grassroots and global levels.

It aims at familiarizing Arab environmental NGOs with international standards of operations. This will boost their capabilities to operate more efficiently in their countries, cooperate at the regional level, and contribute in an effective manner to international endeavours.

This will also result in more meaningful and successful participation in global meetings.

The workshop will cover the following themes:

Writing project proposals

Fund raising

Selection of campaign themes

Campaign organization

Understanding international processes

Lobbying

Provisional Agenda

09:00 – 09:30 Opening

09:30 – 10:00
lecture 1 Understanding our arena
What does the world of the UN, intergovernmental processes and civil society look like?
Jan-Gustav Strandenaes

10:00 – 10:15 Q&A

10:15 – 10:45
lecture 2 Working the arenas
How do we plan and conduct an effective and influential campaign? What will our strategies be? What are basic lobbying techniques?
Jan-Gustav Strandenaes

10:45 – 11:00 Q&A

11:00 – 11:30 coffee / tea break with cookies

11:30 – 12:00
lecture 3 What are the priorities for the Arab countries and for Arab civil society?
An outline of which subject matters are of importance for the countries, and for the participating organisations?
Najib Saab

12:00 – 12:15 Q&A

12:15 – 12:45
lecture 4 How to fundraise for our subject
Which are the likely funders, and where are they located?
Mohammad Sairafi and Jan-Gustav

12:45 – 13:00 Q&A

13:00 – 14:00 Lunch

14:00 – 14:30 Plenary, short discussion and start with group work

14:30 – 16:30 Group Work

16:30 – 17:00 Final coffee / tea break, and the groups finalise their work

17:00 – 18:00 Final plenary, group presentation, discussion

20:00 – Dinner