Commissioned by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) regional office in Beirut, the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies organized a regional seminar on the impact of civil society organizations on public policies in the Arab region. The seminar was held at the UNESCO offices in Beirut, from March 22-24, 2004.

The purpose of the seminar was to share analysis and experiences about the current capacity of Arab civil society organizations to influence public policy and the conditions needed to empower them in their relationship with the state, public actors and other national stake holders.  The debate included issues such as the ability to build on lessons learned from projects and programs, the development of participative methods in programs and relationships, the building up of research and advocacy resources and skills, the capacity to formulate and promote policies and legislative ideas and alternatives, the need to develop associative or federative structures on a sectoral or national basis for pooling resources and expanding influence, and the possible supportive role of regional and international NGO networks.

The seminar focused on the experiences of Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco and Yemen and the influence that civil society organizations in these countries might have developed on the formulation and implementation of public policies aiming at poverty eradication and balanced development.

The seminar built on previous activities and outputs of the project on Governance and Poverty Reduction in the Arab Region, which UNESCO have been sponsoring since 2002.

The seminar brought together researchers and experts from the four countries and leading civil society organizations interested in participating in the formulation of public strategies, policies and alternatives affecting poverty and social development in their countries.

The seminar included presentations and reviews of previous activities and material produced by the UNESCO project, presentations and discussion of the four national experiences of Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco and Yemen, discussions about how to increase the impact of civil society organizations on public policies, and recommendations on possible actions that UNESCO could take to support Arab NGO’s, democratic governance and public policies to eradicate poverty in the Arab region.

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