CCSD believes that governance cannot be achieved without transparency, accountability and citizen participation in decision-making. It is therefore necessary to work towards establishing transparent and accountable institutions that have legitimacy, and to ensure that these institutions are subject to comprehensive and accountable structures and processes, in addition to ensuring fair and transparent elections.
All this is necessary for Syrians to establish a new and more democratic society, one that is able to avoid the continuation of violence and that will be less likely to fall again under dictatorship.
Civil society will have a key role in promoting transparency and accountability, and will facilitate citizen participation in decision-making. Accordingly, we are working to strengthen the capacity of civil society organizations (CSOs) to do their part.
We launched the following initiatives and programs to achieve our vision:
Through the Transparency Program, we aim to educate and guide recently established CSOs and governing bodies so that the processes they perform during their work are more transparent. We also aim to develop a culture of inclusion and accountability in decision-making.
Since the launch of the project, more than 2,000 people have participated. In addition, more than 30 local councils as well as more than 40 civil society organizations have been trained. A range of relevant research has also been produced.
The Election Program aims to instill a culture of integrity and raise awareness about the importance of fair elections. It also seeks to empower the Syrian civil society, institutions and individuals through the practice of fair and transparent democratic elections within government bodies and CSOs, and through training of NGOs in monitoring electoral processes. More than 2,500 activists – both men and women – have participated in this program and two electoral processes were monitored.
Through the Organizational Development and Civic Leadership Programs, CCSD began mobilizing communities in several Syrian cities at the end of 2013, in cooperation with a number of local organizations and youth groups. The aim of these programs was to develop the capacity of community leaders and emerging CSOs. We conducted 75 workshops on Organizational Development, with 768 people participating, including 350 women. The organizations with which we cooperated were diverse, including civil and relief organizations, youth groups and women’s groups. In addition, cooperation was also carried out with some local councils.
Over the course of these two years, CCSD conducted 57 training workshops on Civic Leadership. Most of these workshops targeted community leaders, while some of them targeted leaders of CSOs. Six hundred and seventy people participated, including 344 women.
The Active Citizenship Program aims to enable diverse Syrians to become part of the political decision-making processes at the local level. To this end, we have been working to provide the target population with the knowledge and skills to identify common problems in their community. This program has reached 772 people.
The Civil Media Program provides media professionals with the appropriate tools to carry out their work in documenting human rights violations and encouraging, through the use of media, effective community participation in institutions and decision-making centers. It also aims to enable people to raise their concerns with local authorities. More than 85 Syrian journalists have been trained through the program.

Our Strategies:
– Research
– Training
– Providing small grants
– Networking, Mobilization and Advocacy

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