Madaniya’s Monthly Newsletter - June 2024

Madaniya’s Monthly Bulletin

Dear colleagues, representatives of Civil society organisations, 

We hope this message finds you well. 

This month, we celebrate one full year since the launch of Madaniya through our Inaugural Conference. As we mark this milestone, we take a moment to appreciate our achievements, mourn our losses, and learn from the challenges we have faced together. We celebrate the diligent efforts of our member organisations and value their dedication to our country and its citizens. 

Below is our bulletin for June 2024, sharing with you the latest developments in Madaniya and the Syrian civic space.  

Best wishes, 

Madaniya’s Team      

Updates on Madaniya’s Work

As we mark one year since the launch of Madaniya, we feel deep gratitude for the continued support that remains critical to our success. The support from the Asfari Foundation and its funding has laid the groundwork for our initiative, allowing us to steadily grow and develop over the past year. We are equally grateful to visionary business leaders like Samer Chamsi Pasha and Senator Mohamed Al-Zaibak, whose generous contributions have been pivotal in ensuring our financial stability. We extend our congratulations to Senator Al-Zaibak on his appointment to the Canadian Senate and share with you here a video of the ceremony. 

We also wish to express our deep gratitude to the member organisations of Madaniya that generously supported us financially over the past year, whether directly through membership contributions or by covering some of the expenses of our inaugural conference, enabling the attendance of as many representatives of Syrian institutions as possible. We extend special thanks to the Syrian Civil Defence (the White Helmets), the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression, Bahar Organisation, Baytna, and the Local Councils Unit (LACU). 

As we look to the future, the sustainability of Madaniya will increasingly rely on the continued support from our members. The contributions of our member organisations will be the cornerstone of our ongoing work, ensuring our ability to continue our efforts with independence and integrity.  

Launching the Madaniya Experts Hub 

Madaniya is working on establishing an Experts Hub that includes a group of individuals and organisations with technical expertise in various topics to enhance the institutional, programmatic, and operational capacities of our member organisations. Experts will provide their services to Madaniya members through this hub at subsidised and affordable costs, with contractual terms specifically designed to meet the needs and capabilities of Madaniya members.  

We aim to develop this initiative to establish the Expertise Hub in consultation with our members, in the context of leveraging our collective resources and capacities to build a symbiotic work system that supports our collective access to opportunities and supported services and enhances the exchange of expertise in a way that serves the common interest of our civil work. The hub will include experts, both individuals and organisations, from Madaniya members and a group of partners.  

Madaniya is launching the first partnerships in the Expertise Fund with Aljumhuriya Collective and its editorial arm, DocStream, who have offered to provide their linguistic services in all content writing, editing, translation, and design at a 20% discount for Madaniya members. In the same context, Madaniya is in contact with the Syria Report to find a mechanism that allows our member organisations to access its digital archive, data sets, reports, and research produced, as well as its research services, through subsidised fees or collective access accounts.  

Among individual experts, Madaniya is in contact with Rama Chakaki, an entrepreneur and investor in the technology field, and the founder and director of several non-profit organisations in the field of educational technology.

Programmatic Updates 

Advancing National Dialogue on the Political Process in Syria in Accordance with UNSC Resolution 2254 

In 2024, we launched the project " Advancing National Dialogue on the Political Process in Syria in Accordance with UNSC Resolution 2254," an initiative by Madaniya, in coordination with several Syrian civil society organisations inside and outside Syria. This project aims to develop a general vision reflecting the views of a wide range of Syrians regarding UNSC Resolution 2254 as an entry point for a political solution in Syria, based on political, governance, and security changes on the national and international stages. 

The project is overseen by a specialised steering committee, which includes active participants in both the civil and political spaces, consisting of Syrians with diverse practical experience, geographic distribution, and ideological affiliations. The steering committee works closely with Madaniya’s executive team and a consulting team led by a Syrian researcher and expert, who supervises the implementation of the dialogues with a group of experienced facilitators and field coordinators to develop the project framework and methodology and to support the dialogues and discussions resulting from it. 

So far, nine dialogue groups have been held inside Syria, in As-Suwayda, Damascus, Rural Damascus, Hama, Latakia, Idlib, Azaz, Deir ez-Zor, and Qamishli, with more dialogues planned for Aleppo, Afrin, and Raqqa. Two virtual dialogue groups have also been held, including Syrian civil activists in neighbouring countries and the diaspora, with one or two additional virtual sessions scheduled. Each dialogue group meets for two intensive days, discussing four topics: the political process, the transitional governing body, constitutional reform, and national elections, based on the core components of the Geneva Communiqué and UNSC Resolution 2254.  

Madaniya’s Engagement with Ongoing Events 

"The Political Agency of the Civic Space" in the Regional Context 

At the beginning of this month, the Arab Reform Initiative organised a workshop titled "Civic Engagement in the MENA Region Post Arab Uprisings: What lessons? What paths forward? " The workshop aimed to discuss the role of civil actors in driving socio-political transformation in the region, with participants including civic actors and representatives of civic institutions from Lebanon, Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, and Palestine, with Madaniya participating as a Syrian civil society initiative. The workshop particularly examined the experiences of Tunisia, Egypt, and Morocco following the Arab Spring revolutions and compared the work contexts in Lebanon, Syria, Algeria, and Palestine in an attempt to answer the workshop’s question and propose an analytical framework that could help develop strategies to address the challenges posed by authoritarian regimes and the shrinking civic spaces, aiming to chart a roadmap for civil work that can influence the political reality of the region.  

Madaniya’s participation in this workshop is part of our efforts to reflect on the broader questions regarding the political agency of civic spaces in the context of the overall impasse in the region, not just Syria, although in different forms. These legitimate questions require concerted efforts at various levels and call for building trans-geographic solidarities within the same country and across the region. They necessitate critical thinking and self-reflection regarding the roles played by civic actors today and the roles imposed on them within failing and collapsing authoritarian governments and within a global political system that limits their role, with the rise of the far-right and the role of non-governmental forces becoming de facto authorities, and the brazen politicisation of identities. All of this calls for creative thinking about how to link civic actors' interventions and initiatives within civil spaces in shaping the political future of the region. 

Violations Against Syrian Refugees in Lebanon 

In light of the ongoing violations faced by Syrian refugees in Lebanon, including forced deportation, arrests, intimidation, and torture, and in our ongoing efforts to find avenues for action to address this reality, Madaniya coordinated a meeting with Syrian organisations interested in this issue, including those working in Lebanon, to discuss possible steps for intervention. Participants in the meeting highlighted the necessity of seeking practical approaches to communicate with relevant decision-makers and stakeholders in Lebanon, not merely relying on international community discourse and urging its support for the issue, although these efforts are important. 

After several consultations, Madaniya reached out to the Lebanese organisation Kulluna Irada, which in recent months has worked in coordination with official and non-official Lebanese bodies to present a framework for addressing the reality of Syrian refugees in Lebanon from a "pragmatic" perspective, considering, as described, the rights of Syrian refugees alongside Lebanese national interests. Notably, Kulluna Irada organised a side event on the sidelines of the ministerial day of the Brussels Conference to discuss its proposed framework, attended by a large number of high-level international officials alongside representatives of Syrian civil society organisation and Madaniya. 

Following this, Madaniya held a separate meeting with Kulluna Irada to discuss opportunities for interaction to develop the proposed framework in a way that considers the rights of Syrian refugees without hindering the Syrian process from the perspective of Syrian civic actors, while also acknowledging the implications of this issue on the situation in Lebanon. In this meeting, we reached an agreement to include representatives of civic organisations within the working groups that Kulluna Irada is currently establishing to develop the proposed framework. Madaniya will facilitate participation in these groups once they are formed. 

It is also noteworthy that Madaniya has reached out to a wider group of Lebanese civic organisations, platforms, and coalitions that work on documenting violations against Syrian refugees and adopt a clear rights-based and value-based approach in their dealings with the situation, including Public Works Studio, the Arab NGO Network for Development, and the Refugee Protection Watch Group, and discussions are still ongoing to explore avenues for cooperation. 

Updates on the Work of Member Organisations  

In this section, we review the achievements and developments in the work of Madaniya's member organisations.  

Report in Spotlight 

A Crumbling Economy: SCPR’S Annual Bulletin for Consumer Price Index and Inflation in Syria 2023 

Under the title "A Crumbling Economy," the Syrian Centre for Policy Research released this month the annual consumer price index and inflation bulletin for Syria 2023, which provides a comprehensive assessment of consumer prices and inflation rates for 2023, based on a monthly price survey since October 2020. 

According to the report, the country witnessed a significant increase in prices due to the worsening economic crisis, with an inflation rate of 400 percent compared to 185 percent in 2022, reflecting the extent of economic collapse and the deterioration of purchasing power. Twelve out of fourteen governorates recorded annual inflation exceeding 100 percent, with Al-Hasakah leading at 148 percent, Raqqa at 137 percent, Tartus at 135 percent, and Daraa at 131 percent, highlighting the growing economic challenges across the country. 

Similarly, the value of the Syrian pound dropped significantly against the US dollar, with an average annual exchange rate of 10,565 Syrian pounds per US dollar in 2023, compared to approximately 4,402 Syrian pounds in 2022, showing the decline in the national currency's value and its impact on citizens' purchasing power. 

To read the full report, head to the available link.