Call for participants: online pan-Arab advocacy workshops for rights activists

Background & Objectives

Sharq.Org is a pan-Arab non-profit organisation focused on promoting and nurturing pluralism across the Arab region. Our initiatives centre around community development and media production.

Together with Minority Rights Group, Sharq.Org will in 2022 be running an initiative aimed at:

• enhancing the capacity of minority rights groups to represent themselves and their beneficiaries and advocate publicly and strategically;
• promoting an understanding of the value of grassroots activism of the kind that engages and pushes individuals to the fore and engages communities;
• promoting and facilitating collaborative efforts by different minority rights groups to demand for more pluralistic systems of governance.

Over the coming months we will:

• produce a guidebook in multiple languages that presents concepts and strategies for the development of advocacy campaigns in a manner that engages individuals and places communities at the fore.
• publish and promote the guidebook for the benefit of all rights groups
• run a series of three capacity building workshops through which 10 minority rights activists from different countries and ethnicities of the Arab region can enhance their skills in grassroots advocacy and cross-border collaborative action 
• collaborate with and mentor three of the workshop attendees in the development of a rights’ based advocacy campaign that incorporates individual and inclusive voices

Workshop Participation

Three workshops of two hours each will be held ONLINE over ZOOM over three consecutive weeks in September, 7-9pm (Damascus time); :

• Wednesday 28^th September
• Wednesday 5^th October
• Wednesday 12^th October

Eligibility

This call aims to identify ten activists who will participate in three two-hour workshops on the development of minority rights advocacy campaigns. Those eligible are:

• Based in the Arab region
• Have demonstrable experience in rights activism
• Fluent in spoken Arabic
• Able to attend the workshops on the dates specified above

How to apply:

Should you wish to attend the workshop, please fill out the application form before 31 August 2022. The 10 candidates successful in securing a place in the workshops will be informed by no later than 5 September.