Young people age 35 and under make up more than half of Algeria's population, but they are largely absent from political life. Broad confidence in the government is lacking, with youth seeing no clear benefit to getting involved at even the most basic level in their communities. The political system provides few openings for young people to participate in a constructive manner. Their mounting frustration is sometimes taken out through street protests, which can turn violent.

To counter this growing sense of marginalization, NDI is working with Algerian young people to channel their criticism through processes like community organizing and direct appeals to government officials. Already, some of them are starting to use radio call-in programs, discussions in local cafés, online blogs or even peaceful demonstrations to act on their desire for genuine political reform and democratic governance.

NDI recently established a partnership with the Algerian Muslim Scouts (SMA) to encourage members to participate in public life. The SMA counts some 15,000 young men and women as leaders and 130,000 members across the country. It is an independent, national organization founded in 1939 and affiliated with the World Organization of the Scout Movement since 1963. By working together and building on a previous joint initiative to encourage civic education among young people, NDI and the SMA hope to inspire members to channel their energy into positive community action.

From Feb. 11 to 13, NDI and SMA gathered 26 troop leaders from nine cities across Algeria for an introductory workshop on civic engagement, held at the Scouts National Training Center in Sidi Fredj, outside of Algiers. Noureddine Ben Brahem, general commander of the SMA organization, opened the event with a speech about the value of learning from experiences in other countries and adapting successful strategies and tools to the situation in Algeria. Building on those themes, Nizar Rammal, a Lebanese expert in mobilizing the grassroots, and Jeffrey England, NDI regional representative for North Africa, led the sessions during the multi-day workshop.

Troop leaders took part in hands on sessions to identify the principles of civic engagement and ways to apply them to Algeria. They also learned from examples in Lebanon and the United States. Once they agreed on core aspects of civic engagement and explored its many forms, troop leaders shifted focus to developing plans for engaging their scouts, building local partnerships and using existing networks of scout members, alumni and others to raise funds and recruit support. Participants listed key issues in their communities, ways for young people to get involved and the local partners, businesses and government officials with whom they could work to achieve their goals. Troop leaders presented their draft plans to the group during the last day of the workshop, receiving feedback from their peers and suggestions from the visiting experts.

During the next two months, the troop leaders will initiate the plans in their local communities and scout troops. These efforts will demonstrate the constructive role young people can play in political life. As troop leaders, they will be instrumental in increasing youth dialogue and decreasing the sense of isolation felt by so many Algerian young people.

The participants will reunite with NDI in early April to assess progress, identify challenges and next steps and explore civic engagement strategies in greater depth.

Pictured above: Troop leaders at the NDI-SMA workshop on civic engagement

Published on March 17, 2010