Participatory Planning Workshop

The first day included a small group of activists and experts who had previously participated in the project, and on the second and third days they were joined by many activists and experts who had also contributed to some stages of the project.

The session was opened by Mr. Firas Hamadeh, and after welcoming the attendees, Mr. Firas explained that the aim of this workshop is to reach a strategic approach to participatory planning and work according to SWOT planning in order to reach the general goal of working systematically, including the results and activities later, then work will be done to set tactical objectives in the following two days. Mr. Firas explained that what was analyzed by stakeholders during the project workshops will be presented, especially during the three local workshops that were held previously (the workshops for the southern, northeastern and central coastal regions), then this analysis will be developed so that we can build strategic outputs and identify the activities that can be worked on.

In turn, Mr. Anas Joudeh explained that this workshop is not a traditional activity to conclude the project, but rather an attempt to share opinions and plans with activists for the future. Mr. Anas Joudeh explained that there were some stages of the project that did not originally exist, but were proposed and crystallized through the opinions of activists and as a result of developments and work, and this indicates the existing flexibility. In some stages, work was carried out at a high pace according to the circumstances.

Mr. Anas Joudeh presented the project stages and its beginning about two years ago, where the orientation was initially for the licensing guide for civil entities with some experts “Mr. Aref Al-Shaal, Mr. Louay Shenouda and Dr. Youssef Rizq” to develop a legal guide for licenses with the aim of helping activists and guiding them with licenses. The idea was later developed according to community standards, based on an expanded team that took into account local workshops while discussing the guide and then coming up with basic recommendations. As a result of the developments in the work, two workshops were held that came out with outputs, despite their differences, but they were integrated. One of the workshops resulted in the vision, principles and determinants, and the second resulted in the vision and goals. Based on the outputs of the two workshops, the vision was basically shaped, then the roles according to the guide and its chapters, and reaching the theory of change session to develop the work, which resulted in the three tracks:

• Legal depth track: Work was done on the guide and its chapters and the classification of entities according to the functional and higher role of civil entities.

• Advocacy track: or the political track as it was called according to the theory of change, and it includes individual meetings and personal visits to key and influential local people. Three sessions were held for people who were chosen according to specific criteria. Mr. Anas pointed out here the possibility of holding a session at the end of this December within the advocacy track. Mr. Anas added the possibility of having a media track accompanying this activity, but it was postponed considering that time did not permit and it was not clear yet.

• Assemblage track: It was supposed to hold six assemblage workshops based on the regions (southern, central, northern) on a national basis without political consideration for dividing these regions. As a result of the pressure of work, these workshops were shortened to three workshops.

Mr. Anas Joudeh pointed out that work was done with the localities on the basis of advocacy and the guide was used in these workshops, reaching out to local supporters and stakeholders, so that the localities would be able to understand the project, move forward with it and launch it into other regions. Mr. Anas stressed the need to plan the project for the next stage based on the interaction that took place during the project’s journey.

Mr. Karam Suleiman, a member of the project team and its coordinator, presented a presentation on the results reached from each workshop (the first and second team building workshops). The first workshop resulted in analyzing the context of Syrian civil society and building a support team for the project to develop civil work in Syria. At the end of the two workshops, a vision was reached about the desired reality of civil work in Syria, in addition to the determinants of existence as a standard ruler and a wide range of roles, and setting a vision specific to the project and the civil values ​​that must be worked on to enhance. Mr. Karam indicated that after the two workshops, a virtual dialogue session was held to inform the participants of what had been accomplished and to agree on the content of the paper and the project’s vision on building an independent and effective civil society. The paper was modified and long-term goals were set with their requirements, which, when achieved, would lead to the vision, and then the project’s messages were set that should be used in the advocacy process later. Mr. Karam indicated that the activity was completed by holding a legal in-depth session with the participation of a number of legal experts and activists, which resulted in consolidating the range of roles of civil society and the standard determinants ruler, in addition to training the participants on analyzing legal texts specific to civil work according to the determinants. The standard, and then forming several teams to analyze a number of legal texts regulating civil work in Syria according to the proposed determinants, followed by IPS sessions that included a number of local key people and introducing them to the project to establish the spectrum of civil society roles and the standard determinants’ ruler. Mr. Karam pointed out the benefit of the comments made by the participants to amend the knowledge paper and the classification of the guide as well, as well as suggestions for initiatives for people to participate in the advocacy process at the local level. Mr. Karam concluded his talk by referring to the three workshops “Southern, Central and Northern” through which work was done to raise the awareness of local activists about the roles of civil society, establish the spectrum and ruler among the participants, train participants in advocacy skills and apply the knowledge they acquired for advocacy to the project outcomes, in addition to analyzing local stakeholders and determining the methods of targeting them and the messages directed to them.

Mr. Firas completed the workshop by working according to a SWOT analysis in collaboration with the attendees. The results of the analysis were as follows:

Strength Work was done to build a trust "acquaintance" and a clear vision.​ Compliance with risk management. Diversity across sectors, experiences and age groups. There are success stories that can be built upon, such as Deir Ezzor. The presence of a significant network of activists. High flexibility and quick response from the project managers. The project works at the policy level. Project decentralization. Spread in the governorates. Legal depth and legal reading. Rapid response from activists. Raising awareness of civic roles. No intellectual monopoly on the project. Generate legal knowledge case. Develop a broad, participatory vision. The project context evolved from the initial document to deeper findings.

Opportunities Activists see the project as a locally accepted need. The term civil society has become popular and widely used. Local Administration Law No. 107 can be built upon. Interconnection with other projects. Youth engagement. The opportunity for partnership exists: “The National Book as a Model” Recognizing civil society in school curricula. Involving religious men in civil work and their acceptance of the idea in the first place. Diversity has led to opportunities for knowledge transfer to all groups. Networking with some entities that work to develop the legislative environment, such as the Syria Trust, which works strategically to build the capacities of governmental and civil institutions.

Weaknesses Lack of formal adoption of the project or lack of legal cover. There is no final outcome for the project yet. The ultimate goal of the project, is to enact a law or amendment, and what is the mechanism? What is the method of outputting the outputs and to whom will they be directed? There is no clear path to assemble, in addition to the difficulty of communicating with activists. There are no clear advocacy mechanisms. There is a problem with the name of the Building movement, what it is and what its identity is. Lack of a clear concept of civil terms. Lack of funder support during interventions. Resource coordination. The project deviated from the initial project document, which led to work pressure.

Threats Obsession with frustration The project was overloaded with additional workloads, resulting in stress at work. Concern about the lack of mechanisms to access decision-making Lack of awareness and weak legal knowledge Lack of legal reading knowledge by lawyers Lack of consensus on civil concepts. Idleness in legal change. The shift towards non-participation by civil society. Unsustainable funding. Changing the mechanisms of implementing laws and the general climate as a political vision. The main purpose of the guide. The mentality of exclusion and centralization that exists in Syrian society. Weak youth capabilities. Falling into the trap of personalization and individualism. A strategic project with an unclear lifespan. The ban on legal work by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Institutions were not reached, but people were contacted.

A set of recommendations was also reached:

• Create a working nucleus in each governorate.

• Searching for partners and undertaking joint projects with entities.

• Working with local communities after the idea matures.

• Rethinking the Licensing Guide.

• Create a website for a the guide.

• Good project holders.

• Working on creating a methodology for the guide.

• Training content that monitors civic engagement.

• Create a need to market and promote the outputs.

• Developing directory entries.

• Work on using previous outputs in the advocacy process “sorting stakeholders according to their desires and interests.”

• Involve youth as strategic stakeholders in the project more.

• Develop indicators to measure civil, increase people's interest after launching the guide.

• Rethinking the mechanisms for disseminating the guide and the target groups.

• Convert the guide to a reference.

• Approaching sustainability and financing with law.

• Entering into work at the level of changing the executive mechanisms of laws.

• Building the capacity of government workers.

• Introducing civil society through various means.

• Exploiting available resources to develop the theory of change and transfer it from the theoretical side to practical reality.

• Focus more on institutions, especially those concerned with the legislative process, “according to the paths of the theory of change.”

• Shifting to a new law-making mechanism that starts with the beneficiary.

• Work at the level of awareness.

• Creating models, success stories and partnerships with local administration institutions and civil society institutions.

• Creating a body or structure that works on this path to move away from personalization.

The first day’s work was completed by asking the participants to formulate a strategic goal for the project for the next year, taking into account the vision “Towards an independent and effective civil society” and the values ​that were reached “trust, objectivity, participation, transparency, diversity, equality, governance, objectivity, and self-accountability”. Each person wrote the goal on a piece of paper, and the participants exchanged papers, so that each participant read the goal written on the new paper that he received and modified it to suit the strategic goal that he had set. The participants exchanged papers four times so that the paper was not repeated with the same person, and then each paper was returned to the person who wrote it initially, and the modifications to his goal were compared and the strategic goal was formulated again after reading the previous modifications. The goals that the participants set were as follows:​

• • Raising awareness of the civic role, the civic space of the “fan and ruler”, through building capacities in knowledge and skills and monitoring gaps for advocacy.

• • Raising the capacities of local authorities and stakeholders and empowering them with the concepts and roles of society.

• • Empowering Chapter One entities to work on raising awareness among their communities, activists, state agencies and other relevant entities of civic values ​and roles.​

• • Issuing a preliminary paper containing general principles for developing the legislative environment for civil society and raising awareness among partner entities of their roles so that they can perform their roles.

• • Building a unified concept base to spread the values ​of civil society in a specific area (the strategic goal being for one year) for a number of activists (their number to be determined), and introducing them to their civil roles in preparation for spreading the concepts of the legislative environment.​

• • Spread awareness of the roles of civil society on a large scale to achieve the desired change.

• • Civil society entities have legal awareness of their civil roles.

• • A context-aware community with effective mechanisms to establish a safe environment and safe legislation.

• • Defining the term and institutions of “civil society” and raising awareness of the laws regulating it, in order to achieve safe adoption of the term.

• • Civil society and Syrian institutions are aware and empowered, aware of the role of civil society and practicing civil work within a clear vision.

• • Empowering civil society organizations, teams and activists to carry out their roles through clear determinants based on activating and developing laws.

• • Spreading awareness of civil work among civil activists in developing the legislative environment.

• • Building a base of concepts and capacities of active activists and entities within localities to enhance awareness and establish the roles of civil society to develop the legislative environment.

• • The existence of partnerships between civil activists and people who support the project (a “popular base”) who are aware of their civil roles and agree on a unified conceptual base within a supportive legislative environment.

• • Building a community culture around civil society and raising the awareness of a network of civil activists about civil roles and networking with other networks and reaching clear determinants of civil roles through discussing a set of basic laws that highlight the role of civil society in decision-making.

• • Raising awareness about civil roles at the governmental and civil levels by discussing the laws regulating active entities within civil society.

• • Raising awareness of the civil role through capacity building and studying gaps among individuals, government institutions and activists.

• • Disseminating and developing awareness of the importance and roles of civil society entities in all tracks, developing their capabilities and enabling them to go down to local levels.

• • Spreading awareness of the importance of civil society entities, leading to a draft law regulating the work of this society and respecting its existence and areas of work.

• • Raising and spreading awareness among society and government institutions of the importance of the role of civil society and the legislative environment regulating it.

• • Empowering entities and activists who are aware of their functional and higher roles by forming a clear and specific identity.

• • Empowering local resources in civil roles and spaces to develop a comprehensive national solution for consensual civil values, rules and principles that govern the effectiveness of all resources in order to develop the legislative environment and advocate and assemblage for this development.

• • Establishing consensual civil rules and standards that achieve the vision.

A unified strategic objective was formulated after discussing the strengths, weaknesses, challenges and opportunities and coming up with recommendations. The general objective is:

Raising awareness of the principles, roles and laws of civil entities, society, localities and government institutions through the five determinants and model laws.

On the second day of the project, new activists who had participated in previous sessions joined, where Ms. Rula Bash Imam, the project manager, explained what had been achieved on the first day. She pointed out that the people were chosen taking into consideration their geographical distribution and their work path in the paths of assemblage and advocacy, and that there was an opportunity to benefit from the existing expertise distributed across all sectors, governmental, civil, and others. Ms. Rula confirmed that the work in this workshop would focus on planning for the next stage.

Attendee notes:

Ø    Will planning be political or legal?

Ms. Rula explained: “No point of view will be imposed on the participants or thinking will be restricted to a specific direction, and this matter is left to the activists.”

Ø    Is a long-term goal the same as a strategic goal? Yes.

Mr. Firas continued the workshop by talking about participatory planning, and explained that participatory planning means joint actions and negotiation dialogue on the part of local people and project staff for the purpose of formulating development plans and choosing the best available alternatives for their implementation. It expresses an effort by the parties involved in a joint agenda for future development actions, as each party has its own agendas, competencies and responsibilities. Mr. Firas explained that participatory management includes: participatory planning, participatory implementation, and participatory evaluation, where planning participation is carried out through six steps, which are diagnosis, problem assessment, choice of options, project planning, implementation, follow-up and evaluation. Mr. Firas pointed out that the participatory plan is a mixture of individuals + institutions + goals + interests + agreement + time frame + experts and facilitators. Mr. Firas stressed that the positions of local stakeholders must be taken into consideration when approaching them, whether they are supportive, neutral or opposed, and the degree of their interest and the amount of flexibility they enjoy, opposition and their ability to close the project if they are opposed, and the extent of their influence, whether it is strong, medium or weak, and They are classified into four categories as follows:

1- Those who must be satisfied: They are the most important people in the project and their influence is weak. They must be satisfied, such as: the beneficiary group, as they have high importance and little influence.

2- Key players: They are considered the cornerstone of the project, such as financiers, the work team, and the board of directors. They have great importance and influence.

3- The duty to communicate with them: just to communicate with them, they have little importance and little influence.

4- They should be integrated: Integration into the work, they have little importance but high influence.

In order to engage stakeholders, it is necessary to know how to manage this network of stakeholders, in terms of the roles, responsibilities, authority and communications of the various activists in the project; therefore, the RACI diagram helps to face these challenges, and it is one of the tools that help in facing the challenge of managing the network of interests, and it revolves around:

A-      Responsible? Who does the work?.

B-  Issues? Who approves and signs the results?.

C-  Consultation: Who needs consultation on an activity for project inputs?

D- Reporting: Who needs to be kept informed through copies of reports and email.

Mr. Firas pointed out that the process of involving stakeholders includes the empowerment process, which means enabling stakeholders to express their opinions, while noting that there are several levels of dealing with and integrating stakeholders into any program or project, which are as follows:

1 - Reporting. 2- Consultation. 3- Participation. 4- cooperation. 5- Empowerment.

Each party must be dealt with at a specific level. Some parties need empowerment, others need cooperation, and others need participation, consultation, or notification. Mr. Firas stressed the importance of the diversity of the project’s carriers to ensure effective access.

The workshop participants were divided into 5 groups and an activity was carried out to identify the stakeholders, their level of interest in the project, their influence, and the strategy to be followed.

The First Group:

Concerned party	Interests and its role in the project	Impact Evaluation	Strategy
-         Public benefit institutions -         Cooperatives	10 5	9 9	cooperation  Participatory  Empowerment
Influential people (clergy, tribal leaders) Volunteer initiatives and teams	2 10	7 9	Consultation and collaboration Participatory and empowering
- Neighbourhood committees and local development committees - People's Assembly	6 3	9 10	Participatory and empowering Cooperation and empowerment
Ministries concerned with the law to be developed	3	10	Cooperation and empowerment

 

The Second Group:

Concerned party	Interests and its role in the project	Impact Evaluation	Strategy
Associations and social institutions	6 - 8	8	- Participatory workshops that simulate the project - Defining their roles - Introducing them to the project's purpose and process - Enable them to carry out the project.
Clergy	3 - 8	8	- Dialogue meetings. - Building bridges of trust. - Involve their affiliated bodies.
Administrative councils of the entities	3	7	- Personal visits. - Invite them to attend and share their experiences in workshops.
Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor and its Directorates	5 - 8	8

 

The Third Group:

Concerned party	Interests and its role in the project	Impact	Strategy
Syrian Trust for Development "Civil Entity"	5	10	consultation
Key people: “clergymen, tribal leaders, and mediators with references interested in the project” “community entity”	4	8	Visits consultation Assemblage
Neighborhood Committees	7	9	Report, Empower, Collaborate,Assemblage
Ministry of Education - Curriculum Development Office "Government Institutions"	8	10	Participatory, informative, collaborative, Assemblage.

 

The Fourth Group:

Concerned party	Interests and its role in the project	Impact Degree	Strategy
Bar Association	2	6	Participating in the project, giving lectures, workshops, visits and addressing the captain, in addition to presenting the guide.
Clergy	3	8	- Invitations to attend workshops. - Involvement in community initiatives - Visits in addition to an invitation to the Director of Endowments - View Guide
Deputy Director of the Executive Office	5	9	- visit - Invitation to attend workshops - Involving provincial councils
Ministry of Local Administration	6	9	- Private visit - Invite key people. - Workshops. - Suggest support programs

 

The Fifth Group:

Note: The group distributed the degrees of interest and influence according to the criteria of interested and not interested.

Concerned party	Interests and its role in the project	Expected impact	Strategy
Civil activists Unlicensed entities: My home is your home, "Sabil"	interested 9 Not interested 5	8 4	- Empowerment and assemblage - Reporting and consultation
Licensed Entities "Union of Charitable Societies"	interested 6 Not interested 3	5 2	- News, advice and sharing - Reporting and consultation
Key People: "People's Assembly Members: Hossam Qaterji, Fares Al-Shehabi, Atef Henedy"	interested 5 Not interested 4	7 6	- Dialogue, consultation and cooperation sessions - Reporting and consultation
Religious institutions and clerics: Father Ibrahim Naseer, Ahmed Hassoun, Ain al-Zaman shrine in Sweida, religious preachers.	interested 7 Not interested 3	8 5	- Consultation, cooperation and participation - Reporting and consultation
Elected council members (city, town and provincial councils)	interested 6 Not interested 4	7 4	- Sharing, collaborating, informing and empowering. - Reporting and consultation
Official government institutions	interested 6 Not interested 4	8 4	- Inform, consult, share and collaborate - Reporting and consultation

 

After the groups had finished presenting, the groups' suggestions were discussed and the degrees of interest and influence were determined through consultation and discussion among the workshop attendees.

The Party	Interests and its role in the project	Impact
Unions	2	6 - 8
Clergy	3 - 4	8 - 9
Related Government Institutions "Ministry of Local Administration" Local councils	5 - 6	8

 

Attendee Notes:

Ø    The workshop participants indicated when approaching the civil or governmental body according to the criteria of whether it was interested and effective, interested but ineffective, effective and not interested, or ineffective and not interested..

Ø    The attendees wondered about the absence of religious men, since they have great influence, in these workshops. Mr. Anas Joudeh replied that this idea was present with the project team and had been studied, to the point that some religious men were invited to one of the workshops and listened to.

Ø    Not giving a 10 for either interest or impact is therefore being overly optimistic.

Ø    There is a note about the first group that proposed an influential entity, “neighborhood councils,” and this has an impact on a local level, not a national level, which is appropriate for the project.

Ø    When approaching local authorities, the specificities of each region must be taken into consideration when developing strategies.

Ø    Universities were noted as a concerned party, as they could be used at the academic level.

Ø    It was suggested that partisan and security forces be taken into consideration in terms of influence.

The participants were divided again into several groups and worked on setting specific goals that could be worked on for one year, based on the recommendations that were previously reached, in line with the general goal that was previously agreed upon “raising awareness of the principles, roles and laws of civil entities, society, localities and government institutions through the five determinants and models of laws”. During this, Ms. Rula Bash Imam, the project manager, stressed the importance of taking into consideration the theory of change and the paths that resulted from it “the legal, civil and political paths”, and the three project paths “advocacy, assemblage and legal deepening”, as well as the vision, evidence and six legal studies: the Associations Law, the Media Law, Training Centers, Local Administration, Cooperatives and Chambers of Commerce”, and work is currently underway to draw the paths, while Mr. Anas Joudeh pointed out the importance of the exercise in transferring ownership of the project to activists, in a way that ensures the sustainability of the project, its development and its implementation by activists, to establish a theme and logic of thinking for development later.

The results of the groups' work were as follows:

The First Group:

-         Raising awareness of community entities about the importance of the guide.

-         Assemblage and advocating for community entities through roles and proposing laws regulating civil work.

-         Preparing the community in partnership with civil society entities to communicate the concepts of civil society and clarify its effective role.

-         Developing legal studies regulating civil work.

-         Forming core and carriers in local councils and civil entities that work to develop determinants according to the laws.

The Second Group:

-         Raising awareness of civil values ​​and principles for institutions, associations and activists with principles and entities.

-         Raising awareness of the roles of key persons, localities and entities.

-         Raising awareness of the impact of relevant laws and the importance of developing them.

-         Building partnerships with relevant institutions.

-         Create a network of activists who share the common vision..

-         Expanding the spectrum of civil forces and entities that carry the project’s common values ​​in order to involve them in the vision.

The Third Group:

-         Building partnerships with civil society institutions by identifying target groups and work priorities at the local level, by developing joint action plans to target specific segments according to priorities, in addition to defining the vision, goals and work plans.

-         Creating ways to cooperate with government institutions by identifying government agencies from ministries and directorates of “justice, media, local administration and social affairs”, in addition to presenting initiatives to the relevant government agencies that are consistent with the plans and objectives set.

-         Building communication capabilities and bridges capable of adopting common concepts with all entities, by selecting influential legal figures and building platforms.

-         Working to agree on a draft general framework for the work of civil society entities, by working to publish a civil society work guide and a licensing guide.

-         Qualitative targeting of different societal segments, measuring the level of political awareness and culture, and designing knowledge resources specific to each segment..

-         Creating and activating supportive entities that represent experienced people and effective youth teams.

The Fourth Group:

-         Creating new civil partnerships, from strategic partners and advocacy partners.

-         Building cooperative relationships with the government sector, in order to raise awareness and develop laws.

-         Strengthening communication channels between entities and institutions to exchange experiences.

-         Spreading awareness of the guide "The Concept of Civil Action".

-         Developing the guide to be a reference for laws regulating civil work.

-         Activating the role of civil entities to develop determinants and laws.

-         The presence of a civil community base supporting the project.

-         Support the delivery of people who believe in the idea of ​​the “project” to decision-making centers.

-         Develop plans to publish success stories.

The Fifth Group:

-         Creating work centers in the governorates to raise awareness.

-         Empowering the media to engage in raising legal and civic awareness.

-         Unifying civic values ​​in localities to identify principles and roles.

-         Enabling society and institutions to understand civic roles and their effectiveness.

-         Targeting independent activists to reach and raise awareness.

-         Preparing legal studies on the legislative reality to reveal the weak points in the laws most closely related to the civil environment, society and laws: “Local Administration Law, Media Law, and Associations Law”.

The Third Day

The workshop continued its work on the third day, where Mr. Firas Hamada pointed out the importance of setting specific goals or desired results, which should focus on raising awareness, developing determinants, and developing models of laws, in addition to having a supporting part related to Assemblage, within a year.

Firstly: Raise awareness: We begin by raising the awareness of people and entities that have no awareness and little interest, but have great influence. We must work to raise their awareness of civil society and its role, and also raise the awareness of stakeholders according to their priorities that have been arranged.، And includes raising awareness:

Raising awareness of civil values, civil roles, evidence and legislative environment, and legal studies related to civil work, with the basic tool of raising awareness being perception.

Secondly: Involvement: Thus, the other party becomes a key partner in the project. The concept of partnership differs from the involvement we seek, which can be expressed by carrying out an activity, for example, while paying attention to the possibility of specifying the indicator by the output. Involvement can be with various entities, including government institutions, media, teams, initiatives, and individuals, where we can talk about involvement in spreading civic values ​​and awareness, each according to its role. 

Thirdly: Development: The development here is based on evidence, and developing the determinants of the legal work of society with deepening in the relevant legal studies, in addition to developing the path of legal deepening and the method of analysis, i.e. developing the means to reach a governing standard for the work of civil society entities legally in a way that enhances a higher role in society. At the end of the discussion, the attendees agreed that raising awareness is based on perception, and development is based on evidence and determinants, while involvement is a method of work and a means.

Based on the general goal that was agreed upon and the visions, Mr. Karam Suleiman pointed out the necessity of benefiting from the available resources in the coming stages, so that they can be relied upon to continue the project, according to the capacity classification table. Accordingly, a paper will be distributed to the attendees in which each participant will present visions of the resources he has available, including social, human, local, economic and spiritual resources. The resources may also be logistical, or any resource that can serve the general goal of the project.

After that, the workshop continued with an exercise by dividing the workshop attendees into pairs to go to the previously identified parties and try to convince them of the project’s objectives and judge the degree of persuasion that the supposed committee obtained from the attendees. The result was as follows:

The Entity	Degree of persuasion
The party	2\27
Chamber of Commerce	25\27
Syrian Trust	6\27
Social Affairs and Labor	2\27
Local personality "notable"	11\27
Ministry of Education	18\27
Charity	16\27
Local Council "Chairman of the Local Council"	27\27
Clergy	18\27
Ministry of Justice	5\27
Bar Association	15\27
Government and "security" agencies	It was very convincing.

 

At the end of the exercise, Ms. Rula indicated that the exercise demonstrated the difficulty of approaching and addressing the parties that one wants to talk to, involve, or convince of the project.

The attendees pointed out a number of observations:

• The necessity of taking into consideration, when addressing individuals or entities, the role of the personal factor, the type of people, their qualifications, personal skills, and personal relationships, and investing that to serve the project’s goal, with good preparation for the method of approaching and presenting the project so as not to clash with the target party.

• There is a lack of vision when presenting the project in the interviews that were conducted, especially in terms of starting to explain the project at the beginning of the interview, which created negativity with the other party. Therefore, the people who conduct these interviews must have a clear vision, and not be limited to requesting logistics only, as the project as a path is larger than that.

• The importance of building on what came before and not starting from scratch.

• Relying on negotiation skills, knowing the strengths and weaknesses of the entity when approaching it, and seeking the opinions of influential decision-makers (President’s Speech).

• Belief in the project and moving forward with it at an increasing pace, especially with the supervisory authorities.

• Be careful not to involve other parties in merging with them, so that partnerships, their levels and form are studied.

• Study the target groups we want to involve according to two levels of partnership: partnership of interest and partnership of benefit and search for common values.

• Focus on presenting ourselves as partners and avoiding flattery, clarity and simplification of terms, while preparing well for the logical development path of the project.

• Focus on the first step in the interview because it has an important impact.

• The necessity of having an alternative plan in the event of a clash with the party and rejection, “Plan B.” This assumes the existence of several scenarios in order to use them when needed, quick thinking when changing the plan, and studying the exit strategy in the event of a halt and inability to continue.

• Focus on the speech being spoken "having a common interest, common concerns, common friend".

• Focus on the formulation of the message, the content and the recipient in general.

At the end of the workshop, Ms. Rula Bash Imam thanked the participants for the effort made during the workshop.