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As the Syrian civil war heads into its fourth year, formal government institutions are no longer present across much of the country. The responsibility for community services, such as health care, education and humanitarian assistance, has fallen upon newly-elected local councils or other decision makers not affiliated with the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
The regime’s decades-long stifling of political participation has left Syrians unfamiliar with community organizing and advocacy techniques. But citizens at the grassroots level are making efforts to play a more active role in governance by identifying common concerns and priorities and sharing these with local decision makers to improve living conditions.
While Syrians are eager to learn about democratic practices, few resources are readily available on topics such as elections, citizen participation and local governance. To aid homegrown civic participation efforts that are cropping up across the country, NDI has developed an online portal, in cooperation with the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), that provides easy access to democracy training materials on a broad range of topics.
Launched in September, the site has publications in English, Arabic and Kurdish on such topics as citizen participation, rule of law, local governance, the roles and responsibilities of citizens in democracies, democratic elections, community needs assessments, advocacy campaign development, and youth engagement and outreach.
Advertising on Facebook and Twitter aimed at Syrian activists across the Middle East and North Africa has helped generate knowledge about the site, and thousands of visitors from Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and other places across the region have downloaded its publications and resources.
The site is part of a larger Citizen Syria civic engagement and education program organized by NDI to educate Syrian citizens about democratic principles and local-level governance. Over the past year, 15 NDI-trained facilitators have conducted more than 100 civic discussion groups throughout six Syrian provinces, convening more than 1,000 participants, including more than 350 women.
Even though security inside Syria has deteriorated, Citizen Syria facilitators have been able to use the website to access resources, including NDI publications on elections and electoral law, rule of law, local governance and advocacy campaigns, to help organize civic discussion groups, guide implementation of local projects and produce advocacy plans.
One Syrian user of the site, who requested anonymity because of ongoing security concerns, said, “This website offers all Syrians the chance to access materials and use them as tools to become more involved in local community decision-making.”
Over the next several months, NDI will continue to expand the site and enlarge its database of resources. The site’s development and support for the broader Citizen Syria program comes from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Published Jan. 15, 2015
