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MENA Regional Hub

Middle East & North Africa

The MENA Regional Hub is working with local municipalities and governates to strengthen their role in preventing and responding to hate, extremism and polarisation as part of a whole-of-society approach. Often viewed as falling within the exclusive purview of national security actors, cities across the region are well placed to play an active role in prevention and response.

City Needs & Priorities

At the Regional Hub’s Inaugural Workshop in March 2023, stakeholders identified a number of priority needs, including: greater sensitisation to the role of cities in prevention and response; guidance on building trusted partnerships with hard-to-reach residents; ongoing challenges around the rehabilitation and reintegration of foreign fighters and their families; engaging with youth, women and marginalised communities; and maintaining social cohesion whilst supporting migrants and other new arrivals. Strengthening national-local cooperation and technical capacity-building on leveraging existing and/or establishing new infrastructure, including local prevention networks, before extremist- or hate-motivated violence manifests, were also identified as priorities.

Delivering Impact in MENA

The MENA Regional Hub is delivering considerable impact in the region, including inter alia:

  • In Baghdad (Iraq), the Hub partnered with Iraq’s National Committee for Countering Violent Extremism (NCCVE) and the European Union Advisory Mission (EUAM) to convene a two-day workshop in May 2023, focused on operationalising a whole-of-society approach to prevention. The event gathered more than 35 key national and local stakeholders focused on developing National-Local Cooperation, raising awareness of governorates and cities of national efforts and making clear that the National Strategy supports a mandate for local governments in hate and extremism prevention. The Hub is now working with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Iraq to support the implementation of local prevention plans of action in six local government areas.
  • In Rabat (Morocco), the Hub’s Inaugural Workshop convened more than 70 city officials and practitioners representing 27 localities across the region to identify city prevention needs and priorities. These include those related to engaging young people, women and marginalised communities and managing challenges associated with climate and conflict-induced migration. Rabat, Marrakech and Oujda have since become Strong Cities members, with the Mayor of Rabat also serving as co-chair of the Network’s International Steering Committee.
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Testimonails

Hear what cities are saying about our impact

Saida went through some challenges that pushed us towards a preventative approach. As a result, the mayor considered the Local Prevention Networks to be a priority for youth and for schools especially. Engagement with Strong Cities has had a very positive impact on the city’s practitioners and municipal officials. To be honest, we didn’t expect this result. It has exceeded our expectations.

Focal Point—Saida Municipality, Lebanon

About the MENA Regional Hub

Twenty-seven municipalities and governates from Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia participated in the Regional Hub’s inaugural event, working together to identify needs and priorities across the Regional Hub’s five pillars to drive forward engagement across the region.

The MENA Regional Hub is funded by the European Union’s STRIVE Cities Initiative, a three year project supporting Strong Cities’ efforts to provide cities and local authorities with context-driven, evidence-based, city-level extremism prevention policies, programmes and technical assistance within a human rights framework. The Regional Hub is catalysing the Strong Cities’ GLOBAL mission with LOCAL impact.

DISCOVER THE NETWORK

Strong Cities in MENA

A global network of cities in different national and local contexts ensures that wherever a city is located, there will be other cities facing similar challenges and with similar capacities and needs

Morocco

Agadir

MENA Regional Hub
Morocco

Tangier

MENA Regional Hub
Morocco

Oujda

MENA Regional Hub
Morocco

Marrakech

MENA Regional Hub
Jordan

Amman

MENA Regional Hub
Jordan

Ajloun

MENA Regional Hub
Morocco

Rabat

MENA Regional Hub
Jordan

Irbid

MENA Regional Hub
Jordan

Zarqa

MENA Regional Hub
Lebanon

Majdal Anjar

MENA Regional Hub
Lebanon

Tripoli

MENA Regional Hub
Jordan

Karak

MENA Regional Hub
Lebanon

Saida

MENA Regional Hub
Tunisia

Tunis

MENA Regional Hub
Mauritania

Kiffa

MENA Regional Hub
Lebanon

Beirut

MENA Regional Hub
MENA REgional Hub

Connect

Zouhair Racheha

Head

Zouhair Racheha

Head

Zouhair is Head of the MENA Regional Hub, leading engagement with local governments across the Middle East and North Africa to promote the Strong Cities mission and facilitate the sharing of lessons learned and approaches to effectively address hate, extremism and polarisation. His key responsibilities include facilitating city-to-city learning and national-local coordination and supporting the operationalisation of multi-stakeholder prevention frameworks. He previously served in various roles at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s (UNODC) Terrorism Prevention Branch (TPB), implementing counter-terrorism capacity-building programmes in the Middle East, North Africa, and West Africa. He also served as an Assistant Legal Officer at the Chambers of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. He holds a Master’s in Law from the Lebanese University and Master’s in Criminal Law and Criminal Sciences from the University of Lyon 3 in France. He speaks Arabic, English and French.

Maria Sarkaz

Programme Lead

Maria Sarkaz

Programme Lead

Maria serves as the MENA Regional Hub’s Programmes Lead, driving forward engagement with cities and partners and supporting programme delivery across the region on city-led approaches to address hate, extremism and polarisation, and promote city resilience and social cohesion. With previous experience at the International Institute for Justice and the Rule of Law (IIJ) in Malta, and the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF) Administrative Unit, Maria brings valuable expertise to her role. She holds a master’s degree in international relations and has a deep passion for Arabic dialects, which helps her understand and truly appreciate the region’s rich linguistic and cultural diversity.

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EVENTS

MENA Regional Hub in Action

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Copyright © Institute for Strategic Dialogue (2024). The Strong Cities Network is hosted by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), a company limited by guarantee, registered office address PO Box 75769, London, SW1P 9ER. ISD is registered in England with company registration number 06581421 and registered charity number 1141069. All Rights Reserved