Brussels, 18/02/2013 (Agence Europe) - The new regional fund in North Africa and the Middle East, the “German Marshall Fund-MENA”, which was created in December 2012 by initiative of the United States and the Netherlands, has been formally operational since the end of January. Its leaders are working on the basis of a potential commitment of $40-50 million over ten years. The first projects, which will benefit civil society, are soon to be launched.
Talks are under way with the EU and various other funds (the World Bank, the Deauville Partnership, etc.) to seek synergies and joint actions, the director of this “Fund for the democracy and development of the MENA region”, Ghazi Ben Ahmed, told EUROPE. Ben Ahmed holds a Ph.D. in economics and has previously worked at the European Commission.
He hopes to “help seek synergies to avoid duplications of effort and increase effectiveness on the ground, for the benefit of civil societies in particular”. He hopes that this will increase “the impact of every euro spent” to produce a “dual effect”. It will be a “multi-donor lever at the same time as a multi-recipient lever”.
He went on to explain that the initiative is the brainchild of the “German Marshall Fund of the United States”, an American public policy institution which fundamentally aims to promote transatlantic relations, “by means of a major network of experts and project financing”, he added. The Fund “will serve as an international centre of service providers, experts and experienced practitioners on which the beneficiaries can count to respond to their specific requirements”.
The new director for the MENA region added that “many partners have been involved in the creation of this fund”, not least among them the “German Marshall fund of the United States” already operational in the Balkans and the countries of the East. The Tunisian and Dutch governments and the Humanist Institute for Cooperation (HIVOS) are also lending their support. Other partners have been approached.
The fund, “which was initiated through a revolutionary public-private partnership (…), will work together with a wide range of donors, with a view to granting subsidies to local organisations committed to the promotion and reinforcement of regional cooperation, but also to anchoring the principles of the free market, entrepreneurship, the rule of law and democratic principles in civil society in North Africa and the Middle East (MENA)”, Ben Ahmed added. To start with, the MENA Partnership of the fund for democracy and development will focus on Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, he stated. (FB/transl.fl)