News in Brief Number 1

Civil Initiatives Libya is a two year-project funded by the European Union and implemented by a consortium of international NGOs: ACTED, CESVI and PIN. The project aims to strengthen the capacity of emerging civil society organisations (CSOs), working with Libyan and European CSOs and institutions to help build a vibrant, active and independent civil society in Libya.

Title and date of the event Workshop on Inducing a dialogue between media and political sphere , 12-13 March 2013 Organised by CIL in cooperation with Miadeen (Miadeen is a Libyan association specialized in media and
freedom of media; it is also a monthly newspaper). Ms Fatma Gandhur was the main moderator.

Location CIL Training Centre, Tripoli Purpose of the activity Training members of political parties to make a more responsible use of the mediatic
channels.

Number of participants 15 representatives of political parties including Dr Wasila Elashaq, member of the GNC, and
M. Abdulrazag B. Abara, Deputy Ministry of Media

Comments This is the last training of a cycle on media training to CSOs delivered in cooperation Miadeen
in Tripoli, Misrata, Sabha, Benghazi, and Obeida. The 2-day workshop was an opportunity for CIL team to interact with political leaders. Particularly, the possibility to involve some political parties in actions focusing on youth political engagement has been discussed. This event was also supported by the UK Embassy in Tripoli. Picture: Fatma Ghandour delivering the training to representatives from Libyan political parties

News in Brief Number 2

Title and date of the event Kick-off meeting of the Local Development Strategy (LDS) process in Zawia, 10 March 2013. Organised by CIL and the Local Council of Zawia, in cooperation with the Libyan Association of Jurists. The
meeting was chaired by M. Abdulkhalak Jarboa from Local Council and moderated by CIL and the experts of NAXTA (Francesco Natale and Zoran Krtinic), subcontracted by CIL for the LDS component of the project.

Location Az Zawia (conference hall of the Refinery) Purpose of the activity The meeting had three objectives: a) to explain to key stakeholders the principles and
methods of the action (drafting a Local Development Strategy for the territory of Zawia); b) to establish a coordination committee or drafting team (about 15 members) which will support and coordinate all activities; c) to facilitate the dialogue and exchanges among key stakeholders (lack of communication between the different players involved in local planning is considered by all organisation as a major weakness)

Number of participants About 50 participants representing CSOs, local council, Ministry of planning and other key
institutions involved in territorial management.

Comments The meeting was covered by local media and also largely advertised through web media
(Facebook page of the Local Council and other participants). Ministry of Local Administration is observing the process and may support it. A draft list of members of the coordination committee (still to be finalized by the Local Council) was made and these potential members have received a specific training on LDS (Zawia, 12 March, training delivered by CIL/Naxta). This is a very pilot action in Libya. Support from the DEU could be very helpful in the future (participation of EU representatives in some public meetings would strengthen the credibility of CIL)