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Accepted Paper:

Listen to Localise - Middle East Listening Dialogues on MEAL and Faith  
Zainab Chamoun (Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities (JLI))

Paper short abstract:

My contribution aims to highlight the importance of listening dialogues as a practical method to be implemented before regionalization and localization processes. It will do this through presenting on JLI’s latest experience in conducting a series of interactive online listening dialogues in the Middle East, with local faith actors and practitioners, as a first step in the process of establishing a regional joint learning hub on monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning (MEAL) and faith.

Paper long abstract:

Regionalization does not give local actors a voice—they already own their voice and narratives. Instead, the process amplifies local and regional voices and pressures actors from the global north to actively listen. In order to regionalize its work on research and learning, the Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities is implementing practical and inclusive methods—namely listening dialogues—on local and national levels to bridge the gap between international and local perspective and provide a fair and equitable space for local discussions on evidence and research related to development, humanitarian action, and peacebuilding in each respective region.

In the “Faith-sensitive creative and decolonized research and learning” workshop, I’m interested to share a contribution on JLI’s latest experience in conducting regional listening dialogues in the Middle East as a first step in the process of establishing a regional joint learning hub on MEAL and faith in the region. The listening dialogues were conducted online for three different countries: Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq. They were brought together more than 60 local faith actors and practitioners to reflect together on the state of evidence on MEAL and faith in the Middle East, identify gaps, and outline suggestions and recommendations that inform the action plan of the regional hub before it launches.

My contribution aims to highlight the importance of listening dialogues as a practical method to be implemented before regionalization and localization processes. I hope to answer these main questions:

• Why do we need listening dialogues?

• How can we organize local, inclusive, and interactive online listening dialogues?

• What is the influence of using local languages and local partnerships in regionalization?

The Middle East Listening dialogues are crucial to develop a locally-rooted and faith-sensitive understanding of MEAL as a practice in the region that goes beyond Western definitions and donors’ priorities. In order to explore how we challenge standard MEAL and research processes in the development, humanitarian response, and peacebuilding, the JLI is mobilizing listening dialogues to actively listen to and consult with local actors on the ground, so that new evidence and research can inform policy and practice with a more fair and equitable influence that prioritizes local voices and experiences.

Panel W11a
Faith-sensitive creative and decolonised research and learning
  Session 1 Thursday 7 July, 2022, -