constitution is, what representation looks like. how soon they can take part in the process. also, looking at society on a national level. what is required for society to engage. had you create precedents for civil society to become a legitimate means for impacting decision-makers? >> joyce? >> thank you. it is humbling to be on a panel with all of you. i heard about you long before i met you. i have been grateful to work with you since january. just to throw that out for everyone, the familiar faces i am seeing in the audience, i would like to focus on the organizational capacity outside of civil society.

i think that we have heard already that civil society is comprised of a lot of vibrant act ears. aere is a culture of revolutionary spirits. the spirit of volunteerism. you have everyday citizens that are involved in multiple organizations, and excited about contributing positively and holistically to the transition in libya. finding ways to take ownership of that. i think that finding a way to bring that excitement together, to coalesce around certain issues, to understand the power advocacy, to understand the structures in the decision- making processes that already exist, that will be a challenge. in addition to having this spirit and passion, there are significant gaps in for good -- civil society. just in the daily news we hear about the importance of building security institutions,

that often we are forgetting that civil society as institution needs to be built as well. that happens on it -- that happens on an organizational level. international community is helping to make huge gains in that way. we need to re-shift our focus to focus on organizational development. a few general observations about this, which i have to say in those many countries i've worked in, i have never witnessed a more empowered group. a more excited group of activists. young people to women, those that are willing to drop everything they are doing to go out and organize a campaign. this examinee is to be harnessed and put a positive use. what we saw after the initial

end of the revolution was lots of these programs taking place. they may have this return to normalcy. people back in school. there was a large number of organizations that were registered. those remained active in met the compliance requirements of the ministry of culture dropped off. that is natural in conflict transitioning countries. i would say for my point of view, at this point, there's a tremendous amount of frustration over the donor strategy of engaging civil society. they heard time and time again that there is a commitment to funding projects. there is a strong commitment to building up the structures that would make them operate more

efficiently. financial management, program management, good governance. all of these things. there is a lack in dedicating to that. there is support from that on different projects. a second observation will be that we have a lot of civil society that are very early on, and we have seen there is a focus to been from project to project out of the scope of their mission. the can be a result of donor strategy. this of woman commitment to make libya better means that an organization might -- this is a trend. we know this happens. i would highlight engagement

with more grassroots organizations. a lot of feedback that i received on a daily basis, sometimes more, there is a frustration in providing training for workshops, but this missing piece of mentoring and technical reach back those immediate events. some partners have expressed this feeling of the international community setting up society to fail when they train on conduct -- content analysis. important,are very

and there is in the knowledge meant of how important those things are. but there may come to a point of implementation and trying to move those skills. it means getting out of project cycles, and focusing on long- term strategies. it is difficult. security situations, scarce resources. better coronation and ensuring that we have geographical representation. lessons learned and make ghazi can be applied elsewhere. there is the national institutional level of civil society. it is going to be requiring more on the regional level that what is happening right now. there is no national coordination mechanism. if it is happening right now,

it is happening through personal connections. i would also say that a key observation is frustration for grassroots shouldn't -- organizations that do not have english and their ability to provide proposals and make pitches to international communities.

inhave to get more creative how we work around the language barrier issue. it is easier to go to this one if language is a barrier. engageg out how to everyone if we are building the institution, not building those easiest to access. orher geographically language. to move forward with a few recommendations that outline the organizational development side of things, we are at a point where training and workshops need to be applied.

there needs to be a technical reach back that i was alluding to earlier. i can speak specifically to the fact that they are not iraq, nato comparisons. but they have made success in leveraging our investments, and the capacities that some do initial training and mentoring of the libyan facilitators. it is a way to ensure that the information is being shared our tarn a way that is regionally relevant and accessible. things that people can connect to.

things that people can understand. the more creative we can be in figuring out how to leverage other investments throughout the region, i think the better. i wanted to talk a little bit about the civil side in libya. we get set in our ways and we consider it at this point in geos. hugei'm hearing on the area is bridge leisure sector. while many of those people who are engaged in some way with civil society, figuring out how to empower them in a way to expand the definition and expand the engagement to include a much larger cross-section that has also direct access to decision makers are usually influential.

to speak to civil society in transition, we have heard about the flurry of registrations that took place with the culture following the revolution. one of the key areas that we -- remains an issue is the legal framework for governing civil society. it doesn't exist. organizations are doing tremendous work to ensure that the law in its final form is exactly what libya needs. yet, also not having that legal framework creating room for fear. not understanding what is a role for civil society. for my government perspective, civil society actors not

understanding where they have power, where can they leverage, where do authorities exist? the closer we can get to formalizing a law, clarifying what will civil society actual play, there will be a much more openness on a national level. civil society activists change right now. they have local connections. there is a culture of mistrust and fear. ofould say that in terms creating a space to develop organizations, a few gaps are glaring. financial management and monitoring. aod governance, do you have charter and a mission? a board and executive director? who is accountable for spending, to making sure you are in compliance with the ministry of culture?

building committed to the institution of civil society, requires indymac -- the requires a direct commitment. that requires a shift away from mere focus on projects. let's thank you. we are opening it up for questions. i'm going to ask the first one. first of all, i enjoyed your presentations. all three of you, there are common threads. there was one i like to highlight. the voids that exist in libya today. organizations, voids in the national level. what we have seen, and what we would have you mentioned at this point specifically, you find the militias filling these voice. what can be done to fill these roles?

their need for financing, technical assistance, is there something that is missing to help them be more effective players on the national level? can we realistically expect that if they are, they can begin to challenge the armed groups for political evidence? and they brought in their appeal to fill that role? >> i would take a shot at that. the question is really defining the role of civil society in libya. if you look at the coalition of groups that are brought in the political civil society is part

of it. there is not a distinction between working for the civil society, and working for other society. that is something that has not been marketed in the culture. can they play a role? absolutely they can. it was a large role meant to clear benghazi for the military groups. clear that from the center. the same thing which organizations are working to create a nonmilitary city. that is something that is not made by public demand. thesere filled with

people. there was a murky relationship. workedof civil society for the political i delay and -- and many people think that there is an impact of occupation of the ministry the speeding of the military. it could be. no one can deny the fact that

the pressure was effective in doing that. the question for us in libya, don't just judge what goes in benghazi and aaa. there other places that have worked out the issues without having to go to arms. and and killings, detentions that happened in the western mountains between the tribes, and in the south. in the east, known to be the tribal basin, it hasn't happened. it just shows that it is not the tribes. the animosity that can be created. who feeds it? who ignites a? there are millions of speculations. to conclude, the civil society

organizations can and have shown they can stand up to the arms groups. >> anybody? >> i would agree. i would see a few things. civil society is a much better place than i would say tunisian civil society at this point, when it comes to this blurred line of political party versus civil society. you see resistance to becoming more political, where is in tunisia it is so blurred that it is difficult to tell. i would say anything huge positive, civil society is very clear on what they want. they want to accountable government. as a happening at the pace they would let? definitely not. if you look at the recent polling, it organizations in

this room sponsored them, there is optimism that while things are worthing -- moving slowly, there's an appreciation the democracies went take an insanely long time. to your question, i think the little framework question is key. how can they operate on the national level ones that legal framework is in place? it makes it easier for them to go and take larger national level actions. advocacy is a huge issue. there is a lot of civil society issues that are passionate. they want to influence the decision, and the immediate response is we will protests. systematically, understanding where decisions are made, who are the influencers, what are the structures that we need to work through to impact a larger scale decision, that is missing. hunting a way to get civil

society as a whole to understand their role of mapping of thehe whole thing to get that national level change. >> thank you. we will open our floor to questions. my colleague has a microphone. please with the microphone -- please wait for the microphone. >> what is the responsiveness of the libyans to do action? i'm afraid they are relying on the foreigners. sooner or later, there is not a

response from the libyans to work out. how is the new responsiveness? >> can you guys hear me? i'm under the believe that in approaching the civil society support center under the ministry of culture, the answer usually is because civil society's capacity is limited. there are sufficient needs for funding international bodies. to the extent that the funding usually at the end of the year isn't used. in libya, there is a concern with correction. it goes hand-in-hand with the institutions that can monitor the spending of funding.

in the absence of institutions, and the absence of civil society to execute on programs, the understanding is that currently it is working ok. the funding as it stands. we do have one of our largest grants from the libyan national telecommunications company, a local libyan company. our spirits with them is that while they offer us cash in a bag essentially, which is any dream country, the capacity to support is limited. the oversight took them nine months ended the grant issued to us. some of the items in the contract are not necessarily

following through. they just change the board of directors because of the political isolation law. the people we signed with initially have been replaced. doesn't situation is -- because the situation is not more stable, they're becoming more fluid, we believe there will be a reliance on foreign funding for the more time to come. therefore, a transition plan a couple of years from now is probably more appropriate than trying to develop a local funding mechanism at this point. >> thank you. >> i want to let my friend question. there are two sides to that. as for activities that are run within civil groups of civil society, i have seen it personally. there is an attitude by the private sector, even though it is nascent to help, programs? not yet.

even the ministry of culture and civil society, they have not stepped up to the plate and organize themselves. i suggested creating delivery -- libyan endowment. support programs. else -- let some of the programs the active. your supporting people who have just have a lot of money. support for civil society proves they can build. and it will not be wasted. they are not convinced. the mechanism of supporting has not yet been made from the official site. the private sector is in a nation stage. it has not been strong enough to support the organizations and programs.

events, i've seen them support many events. >> let me throw out a question. in the -- the legal framework for the civil society organizations. i agree they are important. we have seen when it is a less than fully free legal framework in which civil society organizations can operate in egypt, which has undergone be foreign funding trials. there is such a law under consideration in libya now, an initial reading suggesting it is fairly liberal. i'm curious, how you see that going forward. what is the political context for it.

what is the attitude towards it? i made the assertion that it is fairly open. on the other hand, there is suspicion that was nurtured under 42 years of the gadhafi regime to be suspicious of foreign agendas. how is that playing out in the development of the legal framework? ini have done 50 workshops libya. whenever i started the workshop, i tell people my organization is funded by the national endowment by the democracy. it is an american organization. if you do not feel comfortable, you can leave. and none will leave. 1800 people have dissipated. this aside, the civil society legislation, there are many

drafts. we have studied them. the edit nations program is working. we are working on creating the best modal for legislation we can present to the gnc. we engage this together. i think we are hopeful that process will bring about the best minds contributing. as for in general, in the mainstream, there isn't much in the culture.

in libya, we see -- there is no phobia against the other. there are some elements that want it. the general culture, the transparency is important. nopeople feel there is cheating. they are very transparent attitudes. >> i would just echo what you said.

often, what we're finding is organizations are open to any kind of exchanges where there are cautionary but not direct handover of funds. not wanting to be seen both within their community or their family as pushing a political therefore agenda, and you as an international organization, you provide technical experts. seeing that, taking on those funds, to not want the perception of being pushing the foreign agenda. >> the other question here? could you identify yourself? >> thank you. my name is chuck with the libya

business association. it is great to see you back here. i sincerely -- i've been back to libya only a couple of times since the revolution. most recently, in june, one of the things that struck me was the libyan private sector and this role in civil society. a -- i see a dichotomy where the rabbit sector serves a role in accomplishing things that need to be done a big government is not in a position to do at the moment. an example we saw in june, a businessman was underwriting the publication of critics,

and pamphlets explaining how civics work, and distributing them to mosques. there is less of a role of the libyan private sector as a legitimate civil society stakeholder, trying to relate their views in providing input into private policy. whether that being transparency

and corruption, to encouraging the libyan government to engage in international global trading system, or engaging in various forms of the united states government. i'm interested in many of your opinions on what -- whether the private sector is viewed generally, and if they view themselves as a needed and relevant stakeholder in the civil society, and what is being done to increase and challenge them to develop their own capacity to serve responsibly. >> not to speak of something that is in the making, but the center for international enterprise is working with the public sector and private sector

in developing a vision of the role of the private sector in developing not just the infrastructure for the country and the business, but in their own democracy building. that is something that the initial stage of it, we have done it with them. people are excited about it. it is in the making. as we said, technical resources are needed. you can help in that side for programs. >> there is legislation on the books before the revolution requiring that corporations give 33% of profits to social responsive romance. if you corporations have taken it upon themselves to do that. there are many corporations not paying the tax. as far as the involvement, there are great relationships on the local level. there isn't a lot of collaboration on a national level between businessmen and civil society. tripoli is an example of that. although it is a town, it is a national button -- and the economic center is tripoli.

those relationships don't exist between civil society and the economic factor and decision- makers. that collaboration doesn't exist. they do have a much closer relationship. civil society operates along practical lines of how can we build our city, how can we contribute to education and healthcare. that is the role of civil society. not very much engages civil society. with the money being a aaa -- tripoli, i think that the primary source for success in libya is coordination. and communication. it is about building capacity for instance, a coordinating

group for the constitution writing process. how civil societies can work together to advocate for major issues. one of the needs identified is because the trust is missing, to build with different players when you're coordinating with a group. the real psychology libyan set face on a daily basis. teambuilding coordinating, when it comes down to what everyone

here probably does as part of their organizational developments, people building. it is trust. individualith the believing in their own capacity and the community. the highest level of trust in the state. levelsost fundamental doesn't really exist. bring it down to the most basic block of civil society. >> the discussion so far is focused on the challenges in libya.

i'm getting there is a lot of enthusiasm for some organizations. they are finding more success on a local level. can you share specific examples of organizations that have stood out for being effective? especially since international donor status is likely to change in the short term. ofspecific examples organizations that have stood out and been successful in pushing a public agenda. what are the lessons to be learned? >> the first example will be the coordinating groups?

it was a national campaign all over the country and had really worked day and night for months until they had achieved the law. this shows that the civil society trained when they bring their forces together, they can achieve something. as i said, it is market with military groups that divide the ministries. was people forget that it not just the two militaries. but the coordinating groups for the political isolation that has worked day and night to contact members of the dnc.

they use the tv quite often. national made a campaign. that in this example of the success. working to achieve something with the help of the higher level. that is my take. >> i agree. i do think that the way that the political party that led the isolation law, having their most [indiscernible] in the way the position was more politics to the law and just grassroots activism. that was a successful campaign. it was a campaign that leveraged all the tools on the table when the time is appropriate. including the threat of violence.

towards the end of the campaign. on a local level, there have been a selection of counsel heads done on very much in consultation with citizens. for instance, the local municipality election laws are being determined with the collaboration of civil society. the national civic education, they are working to have a section for civil society. they're working on how to drop the local municipality laws, and how to guarantee maximum citizen participation. cleaningl level, campaign. healthcare campaigns. there is a really fantastic antismoking campaign that citizens of lead.

local legislation, non-smoking indoors. some of that i national level be difficult. what i would add that he civil society constitutional initiative, which rob has been an active member in leading and supporting. effective civil society across the country come together to develop a manifesto that should be enshrined in the constitutional process, and reach agreements on those principles, and nominate members within their own ordinary and feed these principles back, and arranging dialogue sessions to get input from the community on this manifesto, and feed those recommendations back up through

civil society working groups that got those recommendations to decision-makers across the board, that is a huge success. civil society, 1500 my been the last number that i saw. it is usually successful. i would say that the work of civil society, the shuttle diplomacy discussions and negotiators that are going on with civil society takes an active role in engaging with police and other security officials, following security incidents. share information, negotiate the agreements read remarkable to the table. make sure everyone is there to demonstrate the citizens of benghazi are full the rule of law. they do not want a malicious day. these initiatives are powerful. civil societies in the front. when there is that lack of response, that is in the front.

th ia huge success. >> thank you. >> [indiscernible] i want to get a sense, thank you for your commentary. uplifting remarks on the fact that as cream is it may appear, there is a minimum on the ground. it would take about civil society, how widespread is participation in civil society? we have a number of organizations, 1500 that are written on the books, but what is your sense of greater citizen participation? a minority of people? are a lot involved? can you talk about that?

>> i would like to add an adjunct to that question. in terms of advocacy, reaching people, getting people participating. what is the role of social media in libya? how could it be used more effectively. citizenr as participation, i think that benghazi and triple the -- tripoli are different. ibo wanted to participate. in the absence of results, participation waned off. we have a handful of

organizations with not very strong grassroots our reach. groups that already exists on the outskirts. they are not necessarily doing civil society activities, but organizing the activity, and getting their communities safe on a daily basis. ipending on your definition, suppose, there are active citizens. there is no rule of law and libby. it is a state of anarchy. it has always been that way. manages have learned to their affairs, and learn to create the peace. air actually actively working towards keeping the safety, keeping the order by virtue of them being libyan citizens. advocating very limited activity in their regard.

>> i will take a shot at the issues. first of all, the activities are absent downs. if there are issues, that really gauge, like the issue of most dire issue, the presence. those cities that the people of the cities are very much in line of trying to work out and push the government to please the cities. it is an ongoing process. they have been working on with

all available means available to them. as far as social media, i have seen it in benghazi. i'm sure the benghazi is using it regardless of the problems. for example, the assassination, it reverberates across the country. and people from the south east came to benghazi to participate against the killing, give support for the family. just to say, it is not yet the absence of the rule of law. >> there is a heavy factor. weapons are in libya. almost every libyan is on. there is a deterrent.

>> that creates some kind of stability. they are there to attack your home. even police cannot give you a ticket. --y know you have a ticket they know you have a gun or something. it is a silver lining. in a way, you can look at it, people have used the facebook methodology a lot. it is creating movement. thes calling people into street.

they haven't seen a week without a protest of something. in many ways, regardless of the absence of the security presence, i have met with a lot of people in benghazi from the civil society, from the local government, from the security and the military to create what is called the chamber of security in benghazi. they collaborate to work together. there is an effort of civil society to engage in the security and safety of the city. what they can bring is the streets, which is important. factor that has ever been played before. >> does anybody have a comment

on the social media aspect of aspect of this?- revolution, and facebook, you had a lot of close to groups, in light only groups. a lot of those groups are coming out into the open and creating an online platform where they are trying to engage across the country. that is a positive step. people were afraid to be open on facebook. now you can find anything on facebook. people are mobilizing on facebook. they are sharing different opinions and engaging in the discussion and dialogue. that is translating in other ways to your daily dinner --versation, civil side civil society working group meetings. that is a positive step.

he's close groups have come out into the open. -- these close groups have come out into the open. >> i explored the presence of media and how people in government and civil society and business news media. the conversation was that everybody agrees that the most legitimate source of media was facebook because it was people- driven content and you could check out different groups to see how they reflected on the news. it was a one-stop shop for investigating what was happening. wonderful that a resource like that was available. even members of congress said they got their news from facebook before they got it from the official speaker was the speaker was limited to a lot of

bureaucracy. there are many ways to leverage back. there have not been any real facebook campaigns that have been leveling around civil society movements in the sense -- americans have a wonderful idea of how to create online campaigns, how to get people involved. creating a photograph and some texts that people want to share throughout facebook, creating news or up loading videos on youtube -- that kind of social activism has not been tapped into. internet is limited. where it is available, facebook tends to be three most popular source for news. >> i think we have time for one more question from the audience.

otherwise, i threaten to ask it myself. all right, i will ask the question. it will be for all of the panel ists. for how toadvice effectively support the democratic transition in libya, whether it is through increased engaged in civil society or other means, what with that the funds be? -- advice be? to the viceo back i made -- gave at the beginning. i gave at the beginning. finding a way to a couple these programs and projects, spending a lot of time mentoring and providing technical support to build the institutions. say two things.

the first is to really take it easy on libya. of libyang the history and the circumstances, i think they are holding it together quite well on the ground. as news comes out of everything that is occurring, it is to be expected given that it is an .nstitutional voicd limited education on how democracy works. people.nempowered they are waiting for someone else to come in and create the change. we are in the process of empowering citizens. we are creating institutions, creating parliament, creating a police force, creating education systems.

west, we tend to look at progress based on a four-year term. was there progress at this time or was there not? on myable to put this resume? it took us 40 years to get here. are you interested in long-term success for libya or are you interested in a headline? for long-term success focusing on institution building and focusing on education. we are really going to rely on it a generation from now to be able to create a libya we are dreaming of today. i would say libya should be considered by the international players, the governments, actors, it is a win-win situation.

libya is not that strong. it is weak. it is still a situation where, if efforts are being given by libyan society, libya could be a model of the new world that is being created. libya is the, center of north africa's take to europe. ofope is considering it one the major gates of security. is a place to invest .eavily the technology and the know-how is needed.

>> thank you. very interesting remarks on the direction of libya today and how the international community can engage. please join me in thanking all three of our panelists. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013]

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