The project seeks to galvanise and further develop academic expertise and policy engagement around the emerging prospects for state social policy making and social welfare action more broadly in the Arab countries. It will be based on a network of social policy academics, national and international level policy-makers, and local NGOs in key Arab countries of the Levant and North Africa: Lebanon, Occupied Palestinian Territories, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Syria.

This project will address the twin issues of better conceptual understanding and better policy assessment and evaluation capacities. The programme of research and networking activities will lay the foundations for future knowledge exchange (research and teaching based) and policy development.