During the last ten years the countries in the Middle East region have been especially engaged in a fragile process of transformation requiring legal, organizational and institutional reforms. Among its citizens is a growing demand of the vital importance of freedoms of expression and association; the need to end all forms of social discrimination; and the need of introducing the principles of transparency and accountability throughout the executive, legislative and judicial processes.
Nevertheless, after the last elections we have been facing a reoccurring fear of instability causing a stronger state control mechanism, and leading to challenging the work of NGOs and journalists in the three countries we are working in. As we  support the strong call for democratic development which comes from the people themselves, we are focusing our work on supporting and promoting civil society. Civil society organizations are still the main force of change in the region as they continue to push towards  the discourse on democracy and reform and bring relevant issues to the attention of a broad audience. Our Democracy and Reform program is built upon three main aspects which are:

• Democratic Participation
• Gender Democracy
• Media and Freedom of Expression

We believe that democracy can be only achieved if democratic participation is guaranteed and accepted by stakeholders in and outside the country. Another focal point is reducing the deficit in gender democracy and enhancing the active participation of women in the society. Last but not least we concentrate on freedom of expression as well as strong and vivid media, as they are needed to enable the free flow of information and opinion.