Influencing and Strengthening Civic Space
Masarouna works on two interlinked pathways to achieve change: influencing and strengthening civil society
Pathway 1: Influencing
Together with young people, Masarouna influences decision-makers and society to address legislation and transform social norms. Influencing is a holistic approach to lobby, advocacy, and campaigning. It’s about creating lasting change to systems, structures, social norms, and behaviors to address the root causes that prevent young people from claiming their SRHR.
Masarouna uses lobby and advocacy to change policies and legislation. We campaign for social mobilization around SRHR issues to change convictions, behaviors, and policies. We engage and build relationships with the communities we work with and share knowledge, create spaces for dialogue, and build networks and alliances.
Pathway 2: Strengthening civic space
Civic space is the legal, political, and social environment that allows or restricts people to organize, assemble, speak out and influence decisions that affect their lives. This includes the space for young people to speak up and claim their SRHR.
Civic space is crucial for civil society to survive and flourish. If there is space, being part of civil society allows people to express their interests, claim their rights, hold power-holders accountable, and peacefully engage with others. People participate in civil society as activists, independent journalists, with community-based organizations, NGOs, labor unions, social movements, grassroots initiatives, and other groups.
The civic space in the countries where we work in are rated as obstructed, repressed, or closed and these restrictions are only increasing (CIVICUS). This makes it difficult and sometimes dangerous for young people and organizations to express themselves. Young people face harmful social norms and values, which restricts their access to SRHR information or their ability to express their views on SRHR.
Despite these challenges, young people in MENA are finding new ways to navigate civic space,. They are leading movements that challenge dominant powers and developing creative solutions! This wave of youth-led activism is creating new possibilities for young people to raise their voices and shape their futures.
Masarouna works on strengthening civic space with with young people so they can access and share information and influence policies on SRHR in a safe way. We do this by contributing to our partners’ and activists’ skills on digital safety. We support learning on stress resilience and well-being for more sustainable activism. And we facilitate peer learning on the best practices of widening civic space and increasing public support for SRHR.
