Running Head: The U.S.-Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) 2 The U.S.-Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) Name of Student: Institutional Affiliation: Date: Introduction The media is one of the major factors that impact directly on the growth of organizations. It is responsible for influencing the activities of an institution both in a positive or negative direction. The media can be used as a marketing tool thereby fostering development in the institution and can on the other hand act as a tool for defamation thereby taking a negative toll on the institution. However, if well used, its merits outweigh the demerits and its effectiveness can be determined based on the performance of the institution. Nevertheless, an institution can also propel the media to develop itself.Media for Development The U.S.-Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) is one of the institutions that have greatly employed the use of media in its operations. The institution, a partnership between civil society organizations, the government and the private sector in the MENA region offers support to various organizations and individuals aiming to promote economic, political and social reform in North Africa and the Middle East regions (Sharp & Service., 2003). The organization provides financial assistance for various activities such as organizational development, advocacy, civil engagement, education and technical training. All these in one way or another require media in order to relay information to its various partners distributed over large geographic locations. The organization has region-wide multi-country projects based in different countries. One way in which it employs the use of media is soliciting for grants and proposals via internet postings. The organization has used the internet as a tool for acquiring important information on various sectors. The solicitations are then reviewed by a panel comprising of area and subject matter experts from the private sector, the NGO’s and the State Department. The team then picks up the best and most suitable projects to support among the submissions and proposals submitted (State). The internet in this case acts as the main media form used by the organization. It fuels development in the organization by helping in the solicitation of new proposals and ideas from the masses. Among many other instances where the internet has been used is the right to access to law granted to Yemen citizens. Initially, all media in Yemen was ran by the state hence much public information was not available to the citizens. However, the International Research and Exchanges Board, a MEPI funded project, a new law on access to information with adherence to international best practices was drafted. This brought in a new era of openness and transparency (Board. & Development., 2009).Social media has also been a great platform that has been used by the organization to pas ...

1. Running Head: The U.S.-Middle East Partnership Initiative
(MEPI) 2
The U.S.-Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI)
Name of Student:
Institutional Affiliation:
Date:
Introduction The media is one of the major factors that
impact directly on the growth of organizations. It is responsible
for influencing the activities of an institution both in a positive
or negative direction. The media can be used as a marketing
tool thereby fostering development in the institution and can on
the other hand act as a tool for defamation thereby taking a
negative toll on the institution. However, if well used, its merits
outweigh the demerits and its effectiveness can be determined
based on the performance of the institution. Nevertheless, an
institution can also propel the media to develop itself.Media for
Development The U.S.-Middle East Partnership Initiative
(MEPI) is one of the institutions that have greatly employed the
use of media in its operations. The institution, a partnership
between civil society organizations, the government and the
private sector in the MENA region offers support to various
organizations and individuals aiming to promote economic,
political and social reform in North Africa and the Middle East
regions (Sharp & Service., 2003). The organization provides

2. financial assistance for various activities such as organizational
development, advocacy, civil engagement, education and
technical training. All these in one way or another require
media in order to relay information to its various partners
distributed over large geographic locations. The organization
has region-wide multi-country projects based in different
countries. One way in which it employs the use of media is
soliciting for grants and proposals via internet postings. The
organization has used the internet as a tool for acquiring
important information on various sectors. The solicitations are
then reviewed by a panel comprising of area and subject matter
experts from the private sector, the NGO’s and the State
Department. The team then picks up the best and most suitable
projects to support among the submissions and proposals
submitted (State). The internet in this case acts as the main
media form used by the organization. It fuels development in
the organization by helping in the solicitation of new proposals
and ideas from the masses. Among many other instances where
the internet has been used is the right to access to law granted
to Yemen citizens. Initially, all media in Yemen was ran by the
state hence much public information was not available to the
citizens. However, the International Research and Exchanges
Board, a MEPI funded project, a new law on access to
information with adherence to international best practices was
drafted. This brought in a new era of openness and transparency
(Board. & Development., 2009).Social media has also been a
great platform that has been used by the organization to pass
messages to its citizenry. Through the Social Media Action
(SMA) project, the organization in collaboration with the IREX
issued a solicitation in a bid to provide grants to youth-serving
non-governmental organizations. This was aimed at leveraging
the media tools and approaches for a better outcomes and
creating more impact on their activities.
Role Played by the Media
The use of social media and the internet by the MEPI
organization is one of the most effective ways of reaching more

3. people in a large geographical area more easily. The internet
makes the world a global village where communication can be
done to any part of the world easily. This makes it the most
appropriate communication platform to use. The organization
carries out various activities in different countries thereby
calling for the use of a more advanced communication platform
(IREX, 2008).
The media has also acted as a development tool for the
organization. The idea of soliciting grants and proposals over
the internet goes a long way in opening up various opportunities
for the organization and the countries it works in as well. The
method proves to be effective in that a wide range of proposals
are submitted from which the selecting panes chooses which
proposal to take up. Through the system, various non-
governmental organizations dealing with issues related to the
youth have won grants from the MEPI thereby making the
process turn out to be a success.
Lack of economic and political freedom in the Middle East
countries is a chief source of the instability witnessed in the
region. The MEPI backed by the United States is faced with the
task of promoting democratic reform in the Middle East. The
two have done this by carrying out various support projects in
the countries. The media has been on the forefront in ensuring
the countries are updated on th
Underlying Assumptions
Potential Outcomes of Knowledge
From the informative function of the media to the citizens, they
are able to acquire concrete knowledge concerning the U.S.-
Middle East Partnership innovation. This has several outcomes
to people and to the organization at large, which include and not
limited to the following;
Creating Partnerships- When the citizens get to learn how MEPI
operates, they are able to create the partnerships which are
business-based. From (overview, 2003), it is evident that IREX
which has partnership with MEPI usually provides grants to the
Non-governmental organizations which serve the youths. These

4. partnerships aid in improving their organizational activities and
also serve a big purpose in improving the economic and social
status together with civic engagements to the affected youths.
Youth Inspiration- From the article, it is clear that the
organization has a big priority for the youths, and therefore
once the youths get to learn about this fact, they are at a better
position to have beneficial changes to their societies. With that
knowledge the youths can venture into the political activities
for those who have the capability and other development
projects in their areas of specialization.
Academic benefits- From the link, it has it that MEPI has
exchange programs that brings together many MENA (Middle
East and North Africa) students to United States who have not
yet graduated and allocates them to the various academic
institutions in the U.S. From these academic institutions, the
undergraduates are able to gain the leadership skills plus their
overall understanding of democratic process.
Women Empowerment- Knowledge on how MEPI operates is
crucial as we find from the article that the projects for
empowering the women reach their potential each passing day
across the MENA region. These projects usually take into all
sorts of women willing to venture into the different fields such
as the political sectors other economic activities. Training is
provided to the women for the purpose of improving their
capabilities when it comes to reforms, securing equal
opportunities and rights for women. The assumption is that this
empowerment will eventually lead to a positive growth to the
economies of the affected states. In most cases you find that in
a country which has equal rights of men and women, there are
higher chances of development.
Interests of MEPI upon doing its Initiatives
From the options in the article, you find that one of the interest
will lead to the other stated one, like for instance recognition.
Taking into consideration the factor of consideration, it is
obvious that if an organization ventures into such activities
such as supporting the youths and women, it is definite that the

5. organization will win the recognition from government and also
the people at the individual level. It can be termed as an
indirect form of advertisement and trying to win the trust of the
people for the purpose of business partnerships in some future
times to approach.
Secondly, recognition goes hand in hand with the influence that
an organization has in the market. It can be compared to
branding whereby once the organization has established itself
and is well-known to the people, any product that they produce
will easily be acceptable into the market however competitive it
might be at that particular time. According to (Henson, 2008), a
well-recognized organization is at a better position to secure
trust from its targeted population and according to the activities
that MEPI is involved in, it is striving to get to the said point.
About the tax cuts, it is not a guarantee that the organization
will acquire them since the commodities are of a set price and
cutting tax for one specific organization would raise an issue
with other organizations in the region.
In fact, from the link, it is well stated on the mechanisms that
MEPI uses to do its mission which are: projects involving a
region-wide, civil society grants of the local countries and
finally the country-specific projects.
Region-wide programming
The purpose of this is to set up networks of partners so as to
learn and give each other support with the aim of facilitating a
change within the region.

6. References
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