Tandem Amwaj Story

In physics, a wave is a propagating dynamic disturbance that travels through a collection of interacting particles making an impact and creating a change. In day-to-day life, a wave is what captures our attention when looking at the water. It is repetitive; it can be calming or frightening; it has power.

The Amwaj programme is a civil society-led project co-designed, and implemented by 4 partner organisations (Tandem programme alumni) in the MENA region working on creating safe and creative environments for independent narrative discourses.
By supporting culture-led engagement actions and actors, this program aims at promoting civil society participation in local development practices, growing a space for different forms of expressions and sense of belongings to be performed despite the pressuring contexts (political and economic) across Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia. The program also aims at strengthening civil society organisations’ resilience by offering opportunities for organisational capacity building, international connectivity, knowledge transfer, in-depth learning, and impact development, consolidating a portfolio of actions, targeting underserved areas and groups.

Despite the economic and political unrest in the region, there is a new energy in culture and arts practices to support alternative forms of civic participation. The programme targets free-floating/ fluid structures giving space to less-known or marginalised narratives and grounded participatory methods to inquire challenges of relevant importance for the local and regional context. “Constant dropping wears away stones” – the stiffest coasts are sculpted day after day by waves. These waves cross the Mediterranean in a continuous cycle linking Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco, transmitting messages from one shore to the other, waves full of culture and history. Its perpetual rhythm shapes the cultural ecosystem and gives space to exchange.