Center for Civil Society and Democracy in Syria

The Center for Civil Society and Democracy in Syria (CCSD) is an independent Syrian centre that seeks to support and strengthen civil society and democracy and promote the values of freedom, justice and coexistence through analysis of the current situation and developing and implementing solutions.

Aims

To promote the values of democracy within Syrian society, and raising awareness among Syrian citizens.
To disseminate civic culture, and to devise new ways to connect to the community.
To remove the remnants of tyranny and its consequences on civil society in Syria through the strategy of real data analysis and the formulation of solutions based on this, as well as removing existing obstacles to the emergence of democratic civil thought and working to provide all support needed to mobilise a civil and democratic society in Syria.

Description of activities

From August 2014 to March 2015, CCSD conducted 113 workshops inside Syria. Its team trained 17 local councils and more than 40 NGOs on organisational development, civic leadership and election procedures. It also conducted four discussion forums, three lectures and election process monitoring work.

Training hall: provides a special hall for training purposes in programs and workshops organised by other organisations.
Logistic support: for organising workshops and general help to new organisations.
Coordinating workshops: staff provide services in coordinating workshops, communicating with trainees and trainers and workshop scheduling, in addition to expenses management and writing reports.
Interpretation and translating training materials: provides services related to simultaneous interpretation from English to Arabic and vice versa, as well as ensuring the radio equipment needed for interpretation.
Training and Consulting: provides training in: transitional justice; peace building; negotiations; organisational development; transparency; psychological support; strategic planning; financial management; running advocacy and community mobilisation campaigns; financial management.
IT: manages organisational networks, archiving, database building.
Produced a report on Peacebuilding within Syrian communities (funded by the United Kingdom’s Conflict Prevention Pool).
Supporter of the “From Noruz to Akito” campaign, which aimed to promote the value of co-existence through public media. The public outreach measures consisted of hanging seven billboards of various sizes in different locations around Qamishlo city. In addition to the billboards, a free guidebook was distributed to people of the area regarding different events and civil organisations. (supported by CCSD within Aman Network)