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*Project initiative*

Initially, most, if not all, civil society organizations (CSOs), civic campaigns, human rights defenders and free speech advocates were using the same limited number of social networks (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram...) to connect, mobilize and campaign. However, with the fast spread of smart phones and tablets and the subsequent development of online applications, customization has become the trend; developing apps, services and features that appeal to individual users, cater for their needs, and keep them coming back. The corporate world has been much faster than CSOs to embrace this new way of connecting.

Today, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is a fertile ground for many CSOs addressing the long list of challenges that citizens face: defending human rights from the worst forms of abuse, supporting freedom of expression, thought and speech, Safety of Journalists, helping refugees and displaced populations, defending women against all forms of discrimination, promoting education, science and culture, standing by marginalized communities, developing rural regions, etc. It is also a fertile ground for talented, young engineers, tech start-ups, coders and developers, who are starting to put their talents in the service of society. For instance, the tech scene in Beirut, Cairo and Tunis has been growing steadily in the last five years.

The Samir Kassir Foundation (SKF) aims to foster collaboration between the two aforementioned groups: CSOs working for social change, freedom and human rights on the one hand and tech developers and start-ups on the other. The project is based on a double assumption. First, giving CSOs the right, custom-tailored tech tools will exponentially increase their reach and significantly boost their impact. Second, giving tech start-ups in the region the opportunity to turn their expertise into a vector for social good has a direct, positive impact on their visibility and therefore their business. The gap between these two groups is currently wide; as if each one operates as a community, in their own bubble. While the interest to bridge the gap exists, there have not been enough enabling programs to do so.

*Project Brief*

SKF proposes to conduct a yearlong training, capacity building and networking program gathering CSOs and tech start-ups from the MENA region, with the aim of matching the supply and demand of tech solutions for human rights, free speech and civic participation initiatives. Ultimately, the project aims to use innovative ICT solutions to protect human rights defenders and freedom of expression from the worst kind of abuse.

More specifically, SKF will allow CSOs and tech start-ups to meet, connect, work together, and develop new apps that promote, practically, human rights, free speech, free expression, journalists' safety and civic participation initiatives.

ICT solutions can overcome borders and circumvent limitations that governments in the MENA region put on the Internet. While Facebook, Twitter and even Google searches are often filtered, smart phone applications can be designed in a way to avoid online censorship. By responding to direct and specific needs of human rights defenders and democratic civil movements, the project will not resort to one-size-fits-all approach. Instead, the personalized assistance given to each supported idea will ensure that it maximizes its reach and impact.

*Project Process*

*Launch phase:* Tech developers and NGOs gather in Beirut to learn about a number of innovative tech-based solutions and applications that were recently created and launched in a selection of countries, serving as sources of inspiration. This will be done through a presentation by tech start-ups and NGOs from different countries of their expertise and the products they developed. Then, participating NGOs will present their needs and aspirations, with a double focus: i) what can be made possible through the right tech solutions, and ii) what is needed to provide human rights defenders, civil movements and free speech activists with the most relevant online protection and advocacy tools. With the help of international mentors and facilitators, a matching will be made between the supply and demand of tech support for CSO initiatives.

- *Cooperation phase:* For a year after the launch event, SKF will
follow-up on the cooperation that will be established between a tech
firm and a CSO. Progress in the development will be assessed and
assistance, through a number of international experts, provided during
the design, development and launch stages.

*- Achievement phase:* Participants in the launch event as well as new ones will gather to discover, this time, the products developed during the cooperation phase and applications created and launched thanks to the program. The three months following this second gathering will serve as monitoring and evaluation months of the tech solutions and products that the program fostered, with a user-oriented approach to understand if, how and when the tech solutions and products are used and serving their objectives.
