The Near East Foundation UK (NEF-UK) was established in 2012. The US-based Near East Foundation (NEF) and NEF-UK are legally and financially independent organisations. NEF and NEF-UK share technical and management capabilities as needed to advance our common objectives.
Our Work
NEF-UK and NEF share a common mission and approach to build more sustainable, prosperous, and inclusive communities in the Middle East and Africa through education, community organizing, and economic development.
Active: 2015 - 2017
Building on a successful model that the Near East Foundation has utilized since 2006, the Near East Foundation UK and its local partner, the Tichka Association, are working to improve access to education for primary students in rural Morocco. Through a multifaceted approach, we are accomplishing this goal by strengthening parent-teacher associations, designing child-led extra-curricular activities, and engaging disadvantaged parents to enrol and send their children regularly to school.
NEF is improving access to and quality of primary education for 2,100 poor girls and boys in 14 villages in Morocco’s High Atlas Mountains (Ouarzazate Province) by strengthening Parent Teacher Associations, designing child-led extra-curricular activities, and encouraging disadvantaged parents to enroll and send their children to school regularly.
Active: 2014 - 2017
This initiative focuses on the “missing middle” of women entrepreneurs – women who can act as drivers of development – creating jobs, revitalising their economies, and realising their full potential as agents of social change. Project activities are designed to help overcome barriers to women’s entrepreneurship, including lack of financial services for women entrepreneurs and a need for training and to increase market.
Empowering 200 Ramallah, Bethlehem, and Hebron-based women entrepreneurs to expand profitable and sustainable business models that are market-oriented, scalable and facilitate job creation. The project will (1) strengthen the skills of 200 women; (2) provide continued, more intensive training and coaching for 100 of the top performers of this group; and (3) support 60 of these women in accessing business incubation services to accelerate business growth.
Active: 2015 - 2017
The Advancing Gender Equality and the Rights of Survivors of Gender-Based Violence in Armenia project will be implemented in Yerevan, Syunik Province, and the Lori Province to improve protection, gender equality, agency, and economic independence for women survivors of gender-based violence. The project will work with four civil society organisations to engage the public in dialogue, training around norms, safe workspaces, and protection strategies linked to economic opportunities. The total value of the project is EUR 342,711. The project is due to be completed by 20 January 2017.
Over a two-year period, the project will help 200 gender-based violence survivors gain increased employability, small business skills, and safe access to economic opportunities. Sixty women will be offered tailored vocational training with accredited certificated, 120 will receive targeted business and financial support to start their own micro-businesses, and 80 will be offered tailored employment development support. The project aims to increase confidence and self-reliance amongst survivors, so that women can make and shape the choices that affect their lives. The project will increase the capacity of four civil society organisations to analyse gender-based violence risks linked to safe economic opportunities; facilitate spaces, networks, joint actions and conversations about gender-based violence risks and gender equality; and deliver tailored economic development programmes for gender-based violence survivors.
Active: 2016 - 2019
NEF will increase the sustainable income, leadership and inclusion of vulnerable women involved in the non-wood forest products sector (i.e., Gum Arabic, B. aegyptiaca, Z. spina-christi, T. indica, A. digitata, and forest honey) in 9 villages in South and North Kordofan (Sudan) through association building, improved market inclusion, entrepreneurship training, and collaborative natural resource management.
Increase the income of 2,242 women by 40-100% and asset accumulation by 10%, reverse local forest degradation by 6% annually, form and build the capacity of three cluster-level producer organizations, incubate 36 high-growth women-run enterprises, and initiate 21 collaborative natural resource management projects that benefit multiple groups.
Active: 2016 - 2017
NEF and its partners will strengthen the contributions of 10 Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in eight cluster of communities as partners and stakeholders in support of inclusive, peaceful and sustainable economic and social development in rural Central Darfur, Sudan.
Increase the technical and management capacity of CSOs to improve access to collaborative and quality Natural Resource Management (NRM) and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) and for vulnerable communities and create positive change in the lives of communities living in 8 clusters of 46 villages in four Localities through 16 multi-actor and CSO-led collaborative NRM and WASH community interventions. Further, strengthen the effectiveness of CSOs in cooperating with other actors to assess, prioritize, communicate, and coordinate local needs of vulnerable groups related to WASH and NRM.
