Twenty-six liberal youth leaders from the Arab world came together in Tunis from April 26 to 29, 2010 for a workshop entitled “Strategies to Empower and to Strengthen liberal youth organizations in the Arab world”. Organized by the Regional Office of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty (FNF) in cooperation with the Foundation’s office in Tunis and co-sponsored by the Parti Social Liberal (PSL) of Tunisia, the three-day activity brought together young liberal activists from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Palestine, Jordan and Lebanon.

“Strengthening liberal political organizations is a strategic priority of our programs in the Arab world”, said FNF’s Regional Director Dr. Ronald Meinardus in his welcoming remarks. “We are particularly fond of our strong relations with the liberal youth organizations as they will play an important role in the future of their countries”, he said. Speaking on behalf of the Tunisian co-hosts, PSL Secretary General Monder Thabet called the youth “a leading force for progress that needs to be taken seriously”. Thabet also said that his party is keen on building the capacities of the young party-members and, therefore, welcomes the opportunities provided by the Foundation. 

Photo on right: Puzzle Exercise: Defining Liberalism

The Tunis workshop is part of a series of FNF sponsored educative programs aimed at strengthening the network of liberal Arab youth organizations associated with liberal political parties. Typically, FNF also cooperates with these groups on the respective country level. Discussing liberal values and principles in an Arab context was an important issue in Tunis, where – after intensive debates – the group agreed on a set of definitions for the most important liberal principles. As a spin-off of these discussions, FNF will support the publication of a book featuring and documenting the liberal values as perceived (and shared) by the liberal youth leaders in Tunis. Organizational issues and the relationship between youth wings and mother parties were also given much time for discussion: Here, the delegates were particularly interested in the legal and organizational framework successful youth groups work in: case studies from Morocco, Egypt and Lebanon served as a point of departure for engaged debates.

 Photo on left: Making friends, or: Who’s got My Shoe?

Bonds for the Future

Board members of the Union of Arab Liberal Youth (UALY), which was set up last year in Cairo, attended the Tunis event and benefited from the opportunity to promote the network and discuss future plans and activities. On day three, the delegates engaged in strategic planning and discussed weaknesses and strengths and developed plans aimed at empowering their groups. Judging from the evaluation at the end, the program was a big success: “The atmosphere was simply excellent, all participants were eager and committed to learn and we established bonds that will carry on into the future” wrote one participant from Palestine.

One key to the success, the participants agreed, were the modern facilitation methods applied by the moderators, Mrs. Amira Hussein, FNF’s Regional Coordinator and Mr. Abdallah Hendawy, Program Officer of the Network of Arab Liberals (NAL) in Cairo. “We were really thrilled by the enthusiasm and passion of this group", said Amira Hussein who is looking forward to be part of a follow-up activity with the same target-group planned for later in the year in Jordan.