Regional

American Center for International Labor Solidarity
$211,920
To facilitate worker organizations in Jordan and Bahrain in advocating for workers rights through an efficient monitoring and reporting system. The Solidarity Center will work with the International Trade Union Confederation and the International Transport Federation to build the awareness and skills of transportation sector union leaders in the Middle East to deal with the impact of restructuring in the aviation and ports sectors on the labor force.

American Center for International Labor Solidarity
$637,347
To assist worker advocates the Maghreb region. The Solidarity Center will continue to support and expand the Maghreb Women’s Regional Empowerment Network; work with Global Union Federations to provide education and technical assistance to strategic industries such as textiles and railroads, as well as to public sector workers; enhance achievement of freedom of association and expression for journalists by supporting a nascent journalists network; and broaden dialogue on key social issues affecting workers through art and cultural activities.

Arab Penal Reform Organization (APRO)
$35,000
To monitor, document, and report publicly on violations of prisoners’ rights in the Arab world. APRO will hold a regional meeting for leading Arab organizations working on prisoners’ rights and penal reform, and produce its third annual report on prison conditions and the status of penal reform in the Arab world.

Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE)
$308,802
To enhance the quality and reach of CIPE print and online platforms. These platforms link political and economic reforms and enable stakeholders in the region through knowledge-sharing on know-how, lessons learned, and success stories that contribute to moving reforms forward. CIPE will improve its Middle East information programs by integrating its various communication platforms— print, online, and face-to-face— and managing the program to ensure its regional scope and centrality to CIPE’s other programmatic activities.

Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID)
$230,000*
To provide a platform for democrats, both Islamist and secularist, to address mutual concerns about democracy and Islam. CSID will work with a network of democrats in the region to publish and distribute ten issues of the monthly newsletter Democracy Monitor in Arabic and English on reform in the region, conduct democracy workshops in Saudi Arabia and Syria, and develop and maintain its website in Arabic and English.

Human Rights Information and Training Center (HRITC)
$92,000
To strengthen the capacity and foster the development of human rights activists and NGOs in the Gulf and Arabian Peninsula to play an active role in civil society. HRITC will conduct twoworkshops in Manama, Bahrain on human rights and democracy for two groups of 25 participants from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, and Kuwait, and facilitate the development of a regional activists’ network.

International Center for Journalists (ICFJ)
$120,000*
To provide journalists in the region with the resources necessary to further their skills and develop more independent and credible media organizations. ICFJ will continue enhancing its news coverage of media assistance developments, expand Arabic-language coverage of media developments, and offer two online training courses for journalists on in-depth reporting and online reporting techniques.

International Center for Journalists (ICFJ)
$65,000
To provide journalists in the Middle East and North Africa with the resources necessary for professional development. ICFJ will continue to provide its daily web-based services in Arabic and to reach out to a wider audience of Arab journalists who await access to opportunities that ICFJ can bring to them. The website covers media assistance developments in more than 100 countries in Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe, former Soviet Union, and since 2003, the Middle East.

International Forum for Islamic Dialogue (IFID)
$99,000*
To support a forum encouraging discussion and debate among modernist Islamic thinkers, intellectuals, and scholars. IFID will continue to develop the Muslim Civic Participation project —a generic civic curriculum which conceptualizes and articulates a reformist, pluralist, humanist and modernist Islamic discourse on public life—and conduct training-of-trainers in Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, and the United Kingdom to implement its use.

KARAMAH: Muslim Women Lawyers for Human Rights
$110,000*
To support the emergence of a culture of awareness and institutionalization of women’s rights, specifically among teenage girls so that they have the capacity to advocate for their rights. KARAMAH will hold workshops in Bahrain and Morocco to develop jurisprudential studies related to women’s rights, and proposals and strategies for legal change. It will also expand its public outreach throughout the Muslim world, primarily through use of its website.

National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI)
$198,627
To provide a platform for political leaders from Arab countries to discuss social policies and platforms in consultation with regional partners and democracy practitioners. NDI will host a roundtable discussion in Washington, D.C., and convene an international working session in Brussels for European and Arab political leaders.

National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI)
$210,725
To strengthen the ability of young women to engage in politics; expand opportunities for women to gain practical experience in parliament, political parties and civil society organizations; and create and promote an active network of young women engaged in politics. NDI will launch the Young Women’s Political Leadership program as three-week intensive training academy that is complemented by a six-month mentored internship in her home country.

National Democratic Institute (NDI)
$375,000
To promote the establishment of a permanent vehicle through which Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) legislators can organize and advocate collectively. NDI will conduct training seminars on leadership skills, communication and message development, negotiation and conflict resolution, and strategic planning for 36 GCC senior municipal council and executive leaders, and assist them in developing a draft action plan for inaugurating a municipal association for councilors and administrators at the 2008 Gulf Municipalities Conference in Doha, Qatar.

Network of Democrats in the Arab World (NDAW)
$60,000*
To raise awareness of human rights as an integral aspect of democracy among young activists in the Arab world. NDAW will spread awareness of human rights in seven Arab countries and plan and conduct seven three-day workshops targeted at young activists.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
$45,000
To conduct a one-year program to defend journalists and encourage press law reforms. RSF will monitor press freedom violations in the region, post the information weekly on its website, compile a four-language annual report, and support imprisoned and threatened journalists.

Search for Common Ground (SFCG)
$63,000
To support and strengthen voices of democrats and reformers in the Middle East and North Africa. SFCG will expand its website and facilitate exchange of ideas through the publication of 40 articles on its online newsletter “ The Common Ground News Service (CGNews)” and subsequent publication of these articles in reputable regional newspapers.