CSID Bulletin - CSID Workshops in Jordan and Bahrain

CSID organized two new "Train-the-Trainers" Workshops in Jordan, on Jan. 29-31, and in Bahrain, on Feb. 4-5-6, 2010. The purpose of these workshop was to train 8-12 trainers in each country (for a total of 40 trainers in Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain) with our "Islam & Democracy - Towards an Effective Citizenship" training manuals and methodology. CSID will then encourage and support these trainers to organize follow-up training on their own. CSID will provide them with the manuals as well as some seed money to help support these workshops.

Participants in the 3-day train-the-trainers workshop in Amman, Jordan

The four workshops held recently in Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan and Bahrain were very successful. The trainers were selected from different backgrounds and organizations in order to maximize the impact of this training. Over 70 applications (from the four countries, as well as Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Sudan) were received. CSID then worked with our local partners to review, evaluate, and select the best candidates for these training workshops. In the case of the Jordan workshop, we decided to invite two candidates from Sudan and two candidates from Yemen to attend the workshop, at their own expense, because they were very interested and eager to train others with these training methodologies.

CSID-IFID Workshop in Bahrain

The workshops basically consisted of three days each: The first day consisted of some lessons on how to train others using the methods and exercises of the training manuals, while the other two days were reserved for the participants preparing and leading their own lesson plans and exercises (in groups of two). Each exercise took approximately one hour, followed by half an hour to evaluate the trainers and the exercise itself, in order to improve the skills of the trainers and learn from possible mistakes in the trainer's approach, methods, or ways of engaging the trainees. The training manual contains 6 chapters, and each chapter contains 10-12 exercises that people can do together using different strategies of group discussions, engagement, and debates. In most cases, the trainees are asked to take a certain position on a controversial political, economic, or social issue and develop the arguments for and against it. Sometimes, the trainees are asked to take a position that is opposite to their own convictions (such as asking Islamists to defend the ideas of secular democracy, and asking secular democrats to defend the ideas of Islamic democracy) in order to understand the opposing point of view and to appreciate that diversity and difference of opinions is normal and healthy, and must be protected. Democracy, above all else, is about respecting and protecting the rights of others to have a different opinion and solving political disagreements through peaceful means.

Participants discuss various exercices in the CSID ToT Workshop in Bahrain

These workshops are extremely important as they help to build, strengthen, and propagate a "culture of democracy" in the Arab World, and also strengthen the conviction that there is no contradiction between Islam and democracy. They also make the ideas and principles of democracy and citizenship easily accessible to common citizens.

The 3-days training workshop discussed the successful training methods, exercises and tools, in addition to orientations on democracy as a concept and as a life style, as well as women's participation in parliament. The workshop was attended by 12 participants from different backgrounds (one Syrian, one Yemeni, and two from Sudan).

Day 1

Participants are trained in how to lead exeercices and workshops on Islam and democracy

The training workshop began with an introduction about the trainers; Dr. Radwan Masmoudi, the president of CSID, Obaida Fares, the director of the Arab Foundation for Development and Citizenship (AFDC), and Samir Aljarrah, the director of Sawt Alqanon. Dr. Radwan introduced the book on which the workshop is based "Islam and Democracy" and the trainers' guide related to it.

The participants introduced themselves and their academic and practical backgrounds, their experiences in training and conducting workshops in addition to their expectations from the ToT. The concept of democracy was defined, then participants were divided into groups to work on the "democracy fruits" exercise.

The rules of successful exercise were explained and discussed, in addition to tips on how to guarantee participants' concentration in any training they might conduct, and the methods of implementing group exercises. Women's participation in parliament was then discussed in debate training, were the participants were divided into two groups; one that defends women quotas and the other against it, and then each group represented its arguments.

Day 2
The participants were divided into groups; with and against the Islamic or Secular democracy. Each group was asked to argue why they would want any of the two implementations of democracy. Later, they switched places and defended the other side's stand on the matter, thus, each could understand the other side's point of view. The participants worked in pairs to practice being trainers and work on a point taken from any chapter in the Islam and Democracy book. The groups used the exercises from the trainers' manual book and prepared and performed their lessons accordingly.

Day 3

Participants lead various hands-on training exercices on Islam & Democracy

The groups continued presenting their exercises, discussing citizenship, protests, national reconciliation and the conditions of electors, using different exercises and training tools. Later, the trainer demonstrated the tips of an effective training like preparing the training hall, the material and hand outs, organizing the participations to involve all participants in the exercise. Certificates of participation were given to the participants.

These workshops were funded by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

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