• Project: Promotion of Mixed Elections Systems
  Project Partner: AMAN – The Coalition for Accountability and Integrity
  Date & Place: January 2005, Ramallah West Bank
  With its program AMAN aims to enhance the development of transparent and fair political decision-making structures. Lack of fair, free and transparent elections will provide a suitable environment for the spread of corruption as it leads to the absence of accountability in Palestinian society. In cooperation with the German election expert Dr. Dietmar Lutz AMAN conducts four workshops on the German Mixed Election System. Participants come from several political parties, civil society organizations and the Central Elections Committee, which is the independent body that is going to manage and supervise the electoral process. The aim of the workshops is the contribution to the development of an adequate and transparent Palestinian election system. 
  
  
• Project: Monitoring Impact of Globalization on People’s Lives and Identifying Themes for Democratizing the WTO Negotiation Processes
  Project Partner: Association for Health and Environmental Development (AHED)
  Date & Place: June-December 2005, Cairo/Egypt
  The project was initiated by the AHED facing the need for ‘democratization of global decisions’. Global policies of the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Found and the World Bank affect the people’s present and future life without being accountable. One of the most glaring examples for this phenomenon is the impact on the availability, accessibility and affordability of services, which represent a core facet of social justice. Accessibility to food of quality, health services, educational services, and control and ownership of natural resources, including biodiversity, are central questions which need to be addressed. The overall goal of this project is to identify and confront the harmful impacts of globalization on people‘s health and food security and their access to affordable quality health services in Egypt. 

The objectives of this project include:

1. To raise public awareness regarding these issues through generating evidence-based reliable information.
2. To help the activation of the role of Egyptian civil society organizations and networks in monitoring the impact of global changes on both local and national levels as well as in playing an active role in the formulation of alternative policies and legislation.  
3. To strengthen appropriate international networks, especially those working in the areas of health and agrobiodiversity, and to enhance the participation of Egyptian civil society organizations in these networks for the exchange of experience and provision of mutual support.

Outcomes of the research will be discussed in eight roundtables in at least five governorates. Roundtable discussions and focus group discussions will try to reach a good situational assessment, identify specific issues suitable for campaign, and foster more public involvement and democratization of the negotiation processes of the WTO. Outcomes of the research and discussions will be published and disseminated to all stakeholders in Egypt. Findings will be presented in different national and international forums. Such participation will facilitate exchange of experience with organizations working on relevant issues in Egypt and abroad. 

• Project: Voters’ Education in Civil Society Activities
  Project Partner: Appropriate Communication Techniques for Development (ACT)
  Date & Place: November – December 2005, Egypt
  ACT is aiming at disseminating concepts and issues of voters’ information and education amongst 20 civil society organizations in Egypt. ACT will train 600 of their cadres on these issues in order to include them inside their program and projects will be conveyed in turn to the target groups of the organizations.
  The project will have 4 main activities included:

1. Holding two meetings with the 20 organizations to explain the importance of voter education.
2. Holding a 4-days training course on concepts of civic education, voter education and voter information, and their relationship with the issues of citizenship and participation. In addition to how to create programs and activities that rotate around voter education, and producing media materials concerning these issues.
3. Holding a general meeting with the participating organizations in the training to monitor their work plans regarding issues of voter education.
   Visiting a number of organizations to monitor their actual work of voter education and support them in what they do.
   

• Project: Local Elections and Democratic Process in Palestine 
  Project Partner: MA Program in Democracy and Human Rights – Birzeit University
  Date & Place: October – December 2005, Ramallah/West Bank
  This project contains a series of workshops/seminars on local Palestinian elections, one to be held at Birzeit University targeting graduate students, the second and third to be held publicly in Ramallah. The aim of this project is to create public dialogue and discussion about the local election process and results. MA program students in Democracy and Human Rights (PHR) will be involved in the dialogue about and research on the importance of these elections and their effects on Palestinian democracy and public life. The workshops will be recorded and broadcasted on ten local TV stations covering the West Bank and Gaza.
  
  
• Project: Ramallah Citizens Debating Local and Parliamentary Elections 
  Project Partner: First Ramallah Group
  Date & Place: October 2005 – January 2006, Ramallah/West Bank
  Local elections in Ramallah city will be held in December. In this occasion, the First Ramallah Group will organize seven public meetings and hearing sessions in which the citizens of Ramallah will have a chance to debate with different candidates, researchers, political analysts and activists, to raise their concerns and demands, and to influence the candidates’ programs. The meeting will be a chance to debate elections in general and to discuss the Parliamentary elections which will be held in January 2006. The meeting will concentrate on local issues within the general political developments in the country.