SmartGov

Civic Space Watchdog is a monitoring platform developed by HuMENA for Human Rights and Civic Engagement to document restrictions on civic space across the MENA region, including violations of freedom of expression, assembly, and association.

As a Code for MENA Fellowship 2025 grantee, the HuMENA team is now piloting the platform, utilising AI-assisted tools combined with human verification to track and document incidents affecting civic freedoms. This enables civil society actors and researchers to explore, filter, and understand patterns of restrictions across the region.

👉 Swipe to see how the platform works and explore the tutorial.

🔗 Learn more about the initiative by visiting

TransitionalJustice DigitalDemocracy

SmartGov participated in a regional advocacy mission at the 61st session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, from 25 to 27 February 2026. The mission was led by – MENA in partnership with 7amleh - Arab Center for Social Media Advancement and brought together several regional actors, including for Human Rights and Civic Engagement, SmartGov, and Wasl for Human Rights Tunisia, focused on the growing challenges surrounding digital democracy, surveillance, and online repression in the MENA region.

Our message, at SmartGov, emphasised that as civic participation increasingly takes place through digital systems, legal frameworks, institutional practices, and accountability mechanisms must evolve to protect meaningful participation.

For SmartGov, the mission was an opportunity to push the conversation forward, from concern to reform and from broad principles to practical pathways for protecting digital civic space.

🔗 Read the full article on our website.

Data4Justice is an initiative that maps Syrian laws issued between 2011 and 2024 that have been used for justifying human rights violations, such as property confiscation, displacement, and denial of civil rights.

As a Code for MENA Fellowship 2025 grantee, the Syrian for Truth and Justice team is now piloting their platform. It works on connecting legal texts with documented cases of harm during the Assad regime and currently under the transitional government. This helps civil society actors and accountability mechanisms understand how legislation was used to harm communities and what legal frameworks are needed to prevent the misuse of law.

👉 Swipe to see how the platform works and explore the tutorial.

🔗 Learn more about the initiative by visiting

TransitionalJustice DigitalDemocracy

Himnity brought scattered community initiatives and volunteering opportunities into one accessible space, helping people discover how they can contribute to social impact in their communities.

This reflection is part of our Code for MENA Fellowship Grantee Reflections Series, highlighting the journeys of civic tech innovators working to strengthen community participation across the region.

🔗 Read the full story on our website. Link in the comments.

The Himnity is a civic engagement platform designed to bridge between citizens, NGOs, and local governments through community events, volunteering opportunities, and measurable social impact.

As a Code for MENA Fellowship 2025 grantee, the Himnity team is now piloting their digital space, allowing citizens to access opportunities to contribute to local causes in Tunisia.

👉 Swipe to see how the platform works and explore the tutorial.

🔗 Learn more about the initiative by visiting

CivicParticipation DigitalDemocracy

The Wihda app was developed as an accessible digital tool to help people connect locally, share resources, support one another and foster a more active everyday civic life in Algeria.

As a Code for MENA Fellowship 2025 grantee, the Wihda team is now piloting their neighbourhood-based civic platform, turning the idea into a practical, accessible app that helps communities connect, exchange support, and organise around local needs.

👉 Swipe to see how the platform works and explore the tutorial.
🔗 Learn more about the initiative by visiting .app

CommunityEngagement CivicParticipation DigitalDemocracy

Code for MENA Fellowship 2025 grantee teams are now piloting their civic tech solutions, turning their ideas into practical tools designed to tackle real challenges across the region.

Mshkltk is being piloted in the City of El Mina after securing municipal buy-in. It was designed to turn everyday local problems into structured civic solutions. The platform helps bridge the gap between citizens and the institutions that can respond, making issues more visible, organised, and actionable.

👉 Swipe to see how the platform works and explore the tutorial.

🔗 Learn more and explore the project by visiting .lb

DigitalDemocracy CivicEngagement

The Wihda platform was built on the idea of strengthening neighbourhood connections by providing a simple, accessible digital space where people can share resources, support one another, and participate more actively in community life.

This reflection is part of our Grantee Reflections Series, spotlighting civic tech initiatives advancing accountability, responsiveness, and community resilience across the region.

🔗 Read the full story on our website. Link in the comments.

Through Data 4 Justice, Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ) is building an analytical bridge between fragmented legal texts and documented human rights violations, transforming scattered information into structured, analysable datasets that support accountability in Syria’s transitional period.

This reflection is part of our Grantee Reflections Series, spotlighting civic tech initiatives advancing accountability, justice, and community resilience across the region.

🔗 Read the full story on our website. Link in the comments.

The Mshkltk platform was created to turn scattered local complaints and frustrations into structured, data-driven reports to bridge the gap between citizens and the institutions that can address these issues.

This reflection is part of our Grantee Reflections Series, spotlighting civic tech initiatives advancing accountability, responsiveness, and community resilience across the region.

🔗 Read the full story on our website. Link in bio.

HuMENA is transforming scattered reports into structured, verified, and advocacy-ready evidence across the MENA region through developing the Civic Space Watchdog (CSW) platform during the Code for MENA Fellowship 2025.
This reflection is part of our Grantee Reflections Series, spotlighting civic tech solutions advancing accountability, justice, and community resilience across the region.
🔗 Read the full story on our website, link in the comments.