Under the umbrella of the Civil Society Facility for the Mediterranean, a second phase of the highly successful Med Dialogue for Rights and Equality project was launched in January 2023. The main goal of the first phase was to strengthen the role of CSOs active at the regional scale in building sustainable development, regional cohesion and social resilience, as well as in influencing policy-making in the Southern Neighbourhood and the Euro-Mediterranean Space. After three years of works and achievements under the first phase, the second phase has a primary focus on providing support for a more structured dialogue between CSOs and the EU in the Southern Mediterranean around the sectors of Good Governance and Human Rights, Economic development, Migration and Climate Change; creating a community of practice of young civil society leaders; and providing support to the EU for a broader and better engagement with civil society in the region.

In order to carry out the second phase of the Med Dialogue for Rights and Equality project, a multinational Technical Assistance team, composed mostly by consultants from the southern neighbourhood and managed by DAI Global, has been contracted for 42 months, supporting the EU (DG NEAR and the EU Delegations in the 10 partner countries of the Neighbourhood South) as well as 6 Framework Partners (EuroMed Rights, Arab Reform Initiative, Minority Rights Group Europe, Euro-Mediterranean Foundation of Support to Human Rights Defenders, Norwegian Refugee Council and COSPE) who have signed agreements with the EU with the aim of feeding the Structured Dialogue process between the EU and civil society in the region. In this, the technical assistance team will support the Structured Dialogue activities carried out by these 6 Framework Partners, providing coordination, facilitating regular dialogue and organising the Mediterranean Civil Society Forum, which will be organised each January during the next three years, putting together more than 100 civil society actors in the region with most key EU institutional players.