Netherlands-MENA Partnership (Shiraka)

In 2016 the Netherlands-MENA Partnership (Shiraka) was launched by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a successor to the Matra South Programme. The aim of Shiraka is to support  sustainable democratic transition in the MENA region. It is a Dutch bilateral effort dedicated to contributing to political developments in the MENA region.

Components

The broader programme consists of the following two components:

• Training for government employees (Shiraka Training Programme, STP)
• Government-to-government cooperation (G2G)

Programme objectives

The aim of Shiraka is to support:

• democratisation, including the organisation of free and transparent elections and the government being held accountable
• construction of the constitutional state and protection of human rights and minorities
• economic growth, partly by building up the economic infrastructure, including stimulating employment.