Maat concludes the fourth workshop of civil society organizations in the Delta

“UPR ambassadors, a charter to respect the implementation of recommendations and a cartoon exhibition inside the university” The most important proposed activities for the participating organizations

 

Within the framework of its project funded by the European Union, Maat for Peace, Development and Human Rights concluded the fourth training workshop in a training program"Cadres of civil society organizations to follow up on Egypt's obligations before the universal periodic review mechanism."It is worth noting that the program, which is implemented in two phases during March - April and August - September 2016, seeks to build the capacity of civil society organizations' cadres in 60 NGOs in the governorates of the Republic on how to communicate with international mechanisms for the protection of human rights, and to follow up Egypt's implementation of its obligations before the UPR 2014 , With the aim of contributing to the project's efforts at the local level by presenting alternatives and proposals at the level of legislation and policies to help the state fulfill its obligations related to improving the human rights and developmental conditions in Egypt.

The fourth training workshop, which was held over the course of two days, targeted 12 civil society organizations working in the central and western governorates of the Delta, including: Alexandria, Beheira, Kafr El Sheikh, Gharbia, Dakahlia, Menoufia, and Matrouh, who worked on issues related to good local governance, environmental issues, conservation Heritage, women empowerment and community development.

The program designed to build the capacity of civil society organizations 'cadres raised the trainees' awareness of the concepts, classifications and characteristics of human rights, increased their knowledge of human rights protection mechanisms and the international system of human rights protection mechanisms, increased their awareness of the universal periodic review procedures, and raised their awareness of the procedures for the participation of civil society organizations in the periodic review mechanism. Comprehensive awareness-raising tools and community-based follow-up of review findings.

In this context, the NGOs that benefited from the training committed themselves to organizing a set of voluntary activities with the aim of multiplying the impact and transferring their expertise to partner organizations and target groups at the local level. These activities varied between merging the knowledge and experiences acquired by the graduates of the first phase of the training program on the universal periodic review in The activities of their already existing organizations and linking these activities with the voluntary commitments accepted by Egypt at the UPR session 2014. In addition to proposing independent activities to be carried out separately around the mechanism of the UN Human Rights Council.

The proposed activities of the organizations that actively participated in the training workshop varied between activities to raise awareness of the UPR for parliamentarians, choosing ambassadors for the UPR, organizing awareness campaigns for students inside schools and universities, establishing an observatory for civil society organizations in Alexandria to follow up on the implementation of recommendations, signing a charter to respect the implementation of recommendations, And organizing a cartoon exhibition inside the university.

And theProject seeking "The Universal Periodic Review as a Tool to Improve Public Policies during the Transition", Which began in January 2016 and continues to be implemented over two years to enhance the role of the universal periodic review to improve public policies and reform human rights during the transitional phase in Egypt by actively engaging civil society organizations, activists and media professionals in following up and advocating for the necessary reform of human rights, and adopting new policies compatible with standards International Human Rights Based on the 2014 Universal Periodic Review.

More updated news about the project activities is available at the following link: www.fb.com/UPR.Egypt2016/