Ibrahim Natil
Dublin City University, Institute for International Conflict Resolution and Reconstruction, Researcher/Associate Prof
Recent books: Public Diplomacy and Civil Society Organisation (2023). New Leadership of Civil Society (2022). Youth Civic Engagement and Local Peace-building in the Middle East and North Africa: Prospects and Challenges (2021) and Conflict, Civil Society and Women's Empowerment (2021). Barriers to effective civil society organisations (2020). The power of civil society in the Middle East and Northern Africa (2019). The Co-covenor of NGOs in Development Study Group, DSA-UK (2018- present). Teaching politics, IR, development and business.https://www.waterstones.com/author/ibrahim-natil/2714793
less
Uploads
Papers by Ibrahim Natil
Bringing together case studies from Cameroon, Egypt, Poland, Palestine, Lebanon and Libya, this edited collection reflects on how external calls for proposals in the fields of women’s empowerment, community development, education, training, exchange programmes, democracy, human rights and peacebuilding influence the way civil society organisations contribute, deliver, intervene and position themselves in various societies. It explores the lessons learnt by various CSOs in identifying societal problems, understanding grassroots demands, prioritising development agendas and campaigning for peacebuilding. Grounded in a firm theoretical framework and based on up-to-date empirical research, the book reflects on the leadership shown by civil society organisations in development, politics and business and their impact on community development initiatives and local change process.
This book will be an important resource for researchers, policymakers, donors, NGO practitioners and the beneficiaries themselves, within the areas of international development, peacebuilding, civil society, politics and international relations.
Youth engagement and contribution to civil society and local peacebuilding can play a crucial role in development; however, there is often a lack of effective engagement, policies, and opportunities for young people in policy and practice. This book analyses their experiences of civic engagement and community participation and the challenges they face, across diverse areas including youth empowerment, freedom of expression, mobilization, ideologies, conflict resolution, and peacebuilding. Drawing on cases from Yemen, Syria, Iran, Morocco and the Palestinian Territories, this book offers new insights on how youth not only are shaped by, but also react to policies, conflict, constraints, and challenges.
The insights drawn from this interdisciplinary collection will be of interest to researchers of civil society, youth, peacebuilding, and development, as well as to policymakers, donors, and NGO staff.
Here Ibrahim Natil shines a spotlight on how young Palestinian women work through civil society organizations (CSOs) to improve their communities’ and their own resilience and empowerment. He first outlines the impact of CSOs upon peaceful struggle, human rights and community development relief assistance, highlighting how CSOs respond rapidly to the needs of the population by delivering social, health, cultural and educational services to all sectors of society during humanitarian crises. He then asks how empowered Palestinian women contribute to CSO missions and how CSO missions reciprocally contribute to Palestinian women’s empowerment. Ultimately, young Palestinian women’s engagement with CSOs proves to strengthen cooperation, communication and cross-fertilization between CSO groups, which in turn increases these young women’s agency.
Conflict, Civil Society, and Women’s Empowerment: Insights from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is a little-known success story, one that makes for required reading for scholars of development, peace studies, conflict resolution and conflict strategy, and which will inspire women’s rights activists around the globe.
I chose this focus for my book due to the number of significant challenges and changes that had taken place in Gaza, and in Palestinian society, during the specific period under study.