The 2nd Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Social Policy Network Conference Social Policy in the Middle East and North Africa: Challenges and Opportunities 20-21 November 2014 Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution, Bath, UK PROGRAMME Supported by the Institute for Policy Research and Department of Social & Policy Sciences, University of Bath, Economic and Social Research Council, and the UK Social Policy Association Day One: Thursday 20th November 2014 09:00 09:30 Registration (Murch Room) 09:45 Conference Keynote Welcome by Professor Jane Millar, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research), University of Bath H.E. Dr. Ghada Waly- Minister of Social Solidarity- Egypt– “Reforming Social Protection Programs in Egypt” 10:30 Keynote Panel Session 1: Policy Perspectives Adel Abdellatif: Chief Regional Programme Division, Regional Bureau for Arab States, UNDP, New York, USA – Title TBC Charlotte Morris: DFID Social Development Adviser for the Middle East and North Africa, DFID, UK – Title TBC 11.30 11:45 13.10 13:55 15.25 Break Parallel Session 1: 11:45-13:10 Social security and social insurance systems (Elwin Room) Informality and Social Security in Tunisia: Diagnostic and policy recommendations Nidhal Ben Cheikh, Centre for Research and Social Studies, Tunisia The Clienteles' social security system in Palestine Ibrahim Mahajne, Zefat Academic College, Israel The role of equivalence scales in embedding social equity in income taxes in Egypt Abdel-Hameed Nawar, Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University, Egypt Gender perspectives: Session 1 (Lonsdale Room) Women’s social and human rights in Kurdistan (Iraq) Daniele Joly; coauthored by Adel Bakawan. Presented by Daniele Joly, University of Warwick, UK / CADIS-EHESS, France AKP Governments and Women in Turkey Gamze Çavdar, Colorado State University, USA Lunch Launch of ESRC research project findings on Social Policy and Religion in the MENA region: Beyond the Rentier State, Towards a New Ethic of Welfare, Rana Jawad, University of Bath, UK; Ali Saeidi, University of Tehran, Iran; Burcu Yakut-Cakar, Kocaeli University, Turkey and Daniele Joly, University of Warwick, UK / CADIS-EHESS, France Break 15:40 Parallel Session 2: 15:40-17:05 The “Arab Spring” and Social Policy (Elwin Room) MF20 OR the other Arab Spring and Social Policy Younasse Tarbouni, Washington University, St.Louis, USA and Cadis, EHESS, France A Socio-Economic Perspective into the Syrian Uprising of 2011 Shamel Azmeh, London School of Economics and Political Sciences, UK Social Justice Discourses and its Implementation: Egypt as a case study 2005-2013 Mervat Madkour, Future University, Egypt Child, youth and family policy (Lonsdale Room) Policies for the Empowerment of the Family in the Middle East and North Africa Narjes Mehdizadeh, University of Bradford, UK Grandchildren of the Street: Difficulties of Reintegration and Alternative Foster Care Nelly Ali, Birkbeck College, University of London, UK Civil marriage not civil war": Examining the wave of anti-sectarian mobilizations in post-war Lebanon Alexandra Kassir, CADIS-EHESS, France Pre- University Education Outcomes in Egypt: Does Money Matter? Israa El Husseiny; Co-authored by Khaled Z. Amin and presented by Israa El Husseiny, Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University, Egypt Employment and labour policies: Session 1 (Duncan Room) Restructuring the labour market in Bahrain: challenges to Bahranisation Noor Hussain Alabbas Demographics, financial markets and growth in MENA region Yeganeh Forouheshfar, Universite Paris-Dauphine, France Towards New Employment and Labour policies in Egypt: The Implications of the 25th of January Revolution Samar Abdelmageed 17:05 Parallel Session 3: 17:05-18:10 Health Policy: Session 1 (Elwin Room) Social Protection for Better Health Markus Loewe, German Development Institute, Germany Governance and social accountability at current health care system in Iraq - Qualitative approach Hamid Yahay Hussain, Faculty of Medicine, Baghdad, Iraq Arab uprising: Health and welfare in transition 18.10 19.00 Adam Coutts, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK Gender perspectives: Session 2 (Lonsdale Room) Gendered Policies: The Case of Iran Marzieh Kaivanara, Department of Archeology and Anthropology, University of Bristol, UK Women’s Participation in Egypt over a Decade: Empirical Evidence Using the Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey Rana Hendy, Economic Research Forum, Egypt Increasing Women’s Political Participation in Lebanon: Reflections on hurdles, opportunities and hope Zeina Chemali, Harvard Medical School, USA Religion and social policy: Session 1 (Duncan Room) Shari’ah, Bioethics and the State: Lessons from the Islamic Republic of Iran’s System of Donor Compensation Muhammad Siddiqui, Wake Forest University, USA A comparative analysis on perceptions of Iranian men and women towards sexual assault with intersection of religion/culture and gender Atlas Torbati, University of Bristol, UK Social Policy, Religion and Politics in Turkey Yavuz Yaşar, University of Denver, USA Close Reception Day Two: Friday 21st November 2014 09:00 09.15 Registration Keynote Panel Session 2: Policy Perspectives : Ursula Kulke: Social Security Specialist, ILO Regional Office for the Arab States, Beirut, Lebanon – Title TBC Zafiris Tzannatos: Senior Consultant for Strategy and Policy, Beirut, Lebanon – Title TBC Samman Thapa: Social Policy Specialist, UNICEF Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa, Jordan – “Child sensitive social protection reforms in MENA - Unicef perspective" 10.45 11:05 Break Parallel Session 4 : 11:05-12:10 Poverty and poverty-reduction policies/ strategies (Elwin Room) Challenges for the implementation of socio-environmental protection floors in the MENA region as a response for increasing climate impacts and human displacements Jesús Marcos Gamero, Universidad Carlos III of Madrid, Spain Microfinance in Islamic Communities: Communal bonds and collective empowerment through aspiration frameworks Yi Ren Thng, Faculty of Human, Social and Political Sciences, University of Cambridge, UK Inclusion of persons with disabilities in the Social protection Policies in MENA region: Unified benefits when needs differ. Ola Abu Alghaib, University of East Anglia, UK Institutional frameworks for social policy provision: Session 1 (Lonsdale Room) Social Policy and Social Changes in the Post-Revolutionary Iran Mohammad Razaghi, University of Guilan, Iran Functional Disintegration Of Institutions In Transition Period and Its Effects On Interpersonal Relations In Iran Masood Alamineisi, Allameh University, Iran The Efficiency of Social Spending and Fiscal Rigidities: Case Study of Egypt Abdallah Khattab, Department of Economics, Cairo University, Egypt Health Policy: Session 2 (Duncan Room) Integrated Response of Social, Health and other Sectors to Rapid Ageing of the Population, a Module Suggested for Syria Waleed Al Faisal, Faculty of Medicine, Damascus University, Syria Voluntary Health Insurance Policy in Lebanon: Learning from Failure Fadi El-Jardali, American University of Beirut, Lebanon Financial barriers to healthcare in MENA Randa Alami, SOAS, UK 12:10 13.00 13:50 15.15 15:40 Parallel Session 5 : 12:10-12:55 Employment and labour policies: Session 2 (Elwin Room) Public Policies Targeting Unemployment in Morocco: A Review in The Light of the Characteristics of Labor Market Btissam Benkerroum, Center of Studies and Demographic Research, High Commission for Planning in Morocco On the Interaction between Trade Reforms and Labor Market Regulation: Evidence from the MENA Countries' Labor Markets Chahir Zaki, Cairo University, Egypt Social safety net programmes (Lonsdale Room) NGOs and FBOs in Cairo’s informal areas: The Main Contributions Sarah Sabry, University of Zurich, Switzerland The impact of removing fuel subsidy on Egypt’s poor Reham Rizk, Economic Department, British University in Egypt, Egypt Lunch Panel Sessions: 14:05-1535 Yemen National Social Protection Monitoring Survey (Elwin Room) Fabio Veras Soares, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPCIG), Brazil Conflict in Syria: Impact on Population Health, Health Systems and Social Policies (Lonsdale Room) Waleed Al Faisal, Faculty of Medicine, Damascus University, Syria Break Parallel Session 6 : 15:55-17:00 Institutional frameworks for social policy provision: Session 2 (Elwin Room) Home in times of long-lasting disruptions and uncertainties: Challenges and opportunities for social policy to avert losing a generation. Jose Azoh Barry, Investigacion & Accion, A.C., Mexico The political economy of media in Egypt and its effect on the organizational structure and output of media Mohamed Elmeshad, Department of Development Studies, SOAS, UK Illicit Drugs in Revolutionary Egypt: Changing Consumption at a Time of Turmoil Philip Robins, University of Oxford, UK Social Movements and Governance Issues (Lonsdale Room) First Things First: The 3C-Model of Grassroots-led Development and Grassroots Democracy in Egypt 17:00 17.15 Solava Ibrahim, University of Manchester, UK Sadr City Peace Building Mehair Kathem, Department of Development Studies, SOAS, London, UK Religion and social policy: Session 2 (Duncan Room) Religion and Social Policy Taner Dogan, School of Arts and Social Sciences, City University London, UK The multifaceted roles of Shi’a NGOs in Iraq post 2003 Janan Al Jabiri, PhD student, University of Bath, UK Closing remarks Close