Building the bridge from both sides in Egypt

How can we work together to strengthen the social fabric of the Arab world? This is the issue we’ve been discussing with The Arab League over the last two years, to find solutions through building stronger Civil Society Organisations (CSOs). And in my most recent visit we took great steps forward.

Through the vision of Secretary General Mr Amr Mousa and his chief of Staff, Ambassador Hisham Yousef, we reached an agreement to work together in addressing this huge issue. On the one hand this gave The Humanitarian Forum a very positive message, that the League has confidence in our mission, and on the other hand it conveyed the more dynamic message that we are building the bridges from both sides – across the gaps, the rivers, the oceans that divide us. This is a new milestone that The Forum is building with the Arab League.

The Arab world has tens of thousands of civil society organisations (CSOs) which need to work together in a more conducive atmosphere with their societies and their governments. Their intentions are sincere, pure, and clear. But sometimes the mechanics of the philosophy of their discussions can be misinterpreted through many different pressure points, both global and local. On the global side, there’s the global political climate; global financial problems; global war on terror; the media war on Islam and Arab nations; the global culture of divides. On the local side, the philosophy can be seen through the lens of local theological interpretations and understanding of religion, and the role of local culture, values and religions. The impact of these pressures on cementing or fragmenting the social role of Civil Society in building (in partnership with governments and the private sector) more sustainable economic, political and social movement within the country should not be underestimated.

Many efforts have been made to address such points – and we don’t want to reinvent the wheel again. While we’re mapping the TREE of problems (Terrorism, Radicalisation, Extremism, Exclusion), we also need to find the proper solutions for every large and small problem.

Our proposed conference in December 2010 will be the beginning of a long term process, not only addressing the problems but identifying the solutions. To organise such a conference, we’re facing a few challenges: coordination, finance, logistics, and most importantly, implementation of the result in action with the community – our challenge is to close any gap – be it in civil society, government or private sector - and our success will be measured by the dynamic social, political and economic atmosphere we create. We must all work together for our nations, not for our organisations / political parties /companies. Our focal point should be our citizens, our countries; our world. And we are grateful for any support from you to make our conference a success story.