Promoting Democratic Governance In The Middle East

Democratic Governance in a Tribal System

Project Objective:

The main objective of this project is to evaluate Yemen's democratic mechanisms and challenge their effectiveness in a heavily fragmented tribal system with diverse interests. The study will try to come up with an analysis of the main obstacles that hinder implementing the core concepts of democratic governance. The project will aim to tackle questions crucial to the democratization issues looking specifically at the question of civil identity, accountability and communication.

• The study will enhance understanding of the role that social structure play in Democratic Governance;
• The study will identify the key political actors and their role in promoting Democratic Governance;
• The study will identify the risks and opportunities that are presented in the government pursue of Democratic Governance in a tribal environment;
• The study will present an analysis of the key challenges to democratic governance in Yemen by focusing on analytical dimensions;
• The study will Analyze the Democratic Governance process in absence of an effective communication with the people;
• The study will investigate whether there are proper monitoring mechanisms in place for the collection and use of public funds

This Advocacy Plan has been developed from a local context after careful consideration and discussion of the topic and outcome with internal and external decision makers and beneficiaries. Some of the advocacy plans are now in progress.

Main Issues in Democratic Governance

• Citizens Participation: Channels available to citizens to organize their efforts collectivity stressing on voice and accountability including Civil Society.
• Media
• Role of Informal Systems: Tribal Influences- Weakening or Strengthening the Governance System
• Tribalism
• Local Governance

Internal Targets (Yemen & Regional)

Media

Media plays a crucial role in democracy; it has an ability to reach the broader public who might not have access to public policy documents.

Dissemination of the main policy concepts and findings on a regular basis are required and an example of some of the tools with which to do this are as follows:

Yemen Times

There has been an agreement with the Yemen Times Local English News Paper on the concept and importance of this study. The ideas that are elaborated on in the concept paper will be disseminated through a column that Yemen Times has specified for its audience under a heading called Policy Line.

The Arabia Regional Channel

A channel well known in the Middle East and distributes visual material. Some areas of collaborations have been identified and possible cooperation on democratic works will be covered in their progrmmes.

Civil Society Organizations

Voice and accountability are concepts struggling to see the light in the Middle Eastern environment. Types of voluntary organizations are unique. If CSOs focus their efforts strategically and with harmony their voices might be stronger. Dissemination of main policy concepts through CSO forums, encouraging harmonization and promoting a culture of volunteerism

Yemeni Political Forum:

A local Yemeni CSO with a growing influence, concerned with Democracy, Governance and Corruption. The wealth of the intellectual presence can be used as a main target of the policy paper. In addition, a certain amount of my time on a weekly basis will be allocated in the forum for performing and assisting in public lectures and democracy assessment, the latter is a project that the Forum is executing at the moment.

Girls Education World:

A local Yemeni CSO active in Human rights issues and has good linkages to other CSOs in Yemen. Linkages have been identified and time allocated to disseminate main policy paper concepts on a regular basis

Parliament

Parliament is merely an institution that has both the power and the leverage in serving the citizen and it can hold the various Ministers into account. They are supposed to pursue the public interest and advocate for pro-poor policy. Influencing the parliamentarians to identify ways of increasing transparency and accountability.

• After a series of meetings, the World Bank in Yemen along with a number of active parliamentarians have asked me to help them in setting up an agenda for the parliamentarians to work against Corruption. This also might result in establishing an Organization for Parliamentarians against Corruption that might link up with a Regional and a Global Network of Parliamentarians against corruption (GOPAC).
• Effective participation in a series of networks and dialogues with Yemeni and Regional parliamentarians through workshops and conferences. (The Regional Good Governance and Transparency workshop) held by NDI on the 22nd and 23rd of June.

Political Parties

There are active diverse political parties in Yemen but they have little influence in the current system. The politics of participation vary and the participation of women is weak. The coordination efforts between the parties are weak which has consequently led to strengthening other informal systems in Yemen.

Disseminating policy briefs to different political parties with an emphasis on the importance of harmonization. Participation in the establishing of the new coalition to increase women’s participation and I have participated in delivering two lectures on the visions and strategies of this coalition.

Ministries

The Ministry of Planning & International Cooperation MOPIC is one of the direct beneficiaries of this project, along with the Ministry of Local Administration.

Disseminating policy paper and policy briefs to the intended policy audience in the various concerned ministries an getting them involved in the project. Intensive discussions with the Deputy Minister of Research in MOPIC about the topic of the policy paper. Hosting a workshop to disseminate the outcome of this study with the attendance of government officials from the Ministry.

Tribes

The project is concerned in studying the tribal influences on the Yemeni state.

Action: Developing the paper with the help of the tribal leaders to find realistic outlets in policies that can help in defining the role of tribes in the state

Tools: Meetings, policy papers and field analysis that will map out the current tribal interests in democracy and governance.

Other

Donors in Yemen

The donors listed below have relied on external consultancies and developed a limited number of programs on Democracy or Governance. The ones with no program listed are the ones that are not active in the scene. The main advocacy plan is to distribute the policy outcomes in a form of Policy Briefs and a workshop discussion at the start of the project (Brainstorming workshop with all the stakeholders for this project conducted in May with the help of Fredriech Ebert Stuffing International Organization in Yemen) and a final presentation will be conducted at the end of this project

Through production of a Policy Paper and Policy Briefs in the field of democratic governance, civil society and strategic corruption control and to liase with the following departments in OSI and CEU

• Human Rights and Governance Program
• Local Government and Public Sector Reform Initiative

Central European University:

• Department of Political Science
• Department of Anthropology