Projects
Energy Transition and the Upcoming Hydrogen Economy in Saudi Arabia
Duration: January – September 2023
This project aims to provide background information and an analytical overview about Saudi Arabia’s current key industries as well as products of relevance for its energy transition and its national hydrogen economy. In this context, the project team also explores what additional industrial sectors might be expanded or added to enhance the establishment of the energy transition’s supply chains at a domestic level. By focusing on Saudi Arabia’s current industrial production and its main industrial targets within the energy transition, the project sheds light on the kingdom’s untapped industrial potential within the energy transition’s supply chains and future perspectives for hydrogen production.
Global Autocratic Collaboration in Times of COVID-19: Game Changer or Business as usual in Sino-Gulf Relations
Duration: February 2021 – July 2022
There is strong empirical evidence that COVID-19 acts as a booster for processes of global autocratization in which autocratic protagonists present themselves as more effective role modelsin fighting the pandemic than the ‘liberal script’ of Western societies. This project aims at explaining these corridors of autocratic collaboration based on the example of Sino-Gulf relations that challenge Europe’s and Germany’s international alliances andpartnerships. The project consists of two research blocs: Firstly, it deals with the traveling of autocratic practices and asks how global autocratic collaboration manifests itself in times of crises. Secondly, the project addresses questions of competition for China’s favor:How are regional actors competing in terms of their ‘special relations’ with China?
Impact of Oil Extraction Industries on Local Communities and the Environment in Hadhramawt, Yemen
Duration: April 2022 – April 2023
Over the past years, the oil extraction industry and climatic disasters played an important role in environmental degradation and socio-political instability in Yemen. Against the backdrop of these problems, Ettifaq, MMF and CARPO explore the impact of oil extraction in the governorate of Hadhramawt. Livelihoods and the health of local communities are at the focus, as well as the ways environmental pressures exacerbate tensions and hinder coexistence. The overall goal of this project, which will result in workshops, trainings, briefings and a publication, is to raise awareness about Yemen’s environmental stress, addressing of which constitutes a key prerequisite for sustainable peace in the country.
Iran-Saudi Dialogue Initiative
Duration: October 2015 – October 2024
Since 2015, CARPO has established an Iran-Saudi dialogue format in cooperation with the Stimson Center in Brussels. This initiative entails workshops and publications focussing on the exchange of perspectives on relevant issues between diplomats, policy analysts and security experts from both countries.
A first project phase – funded by the German Ministry for Foreign Affairs through the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (ifa) – ran from 2015 to 2018. Throughout this period, numerous workshops on a broad variety of topics were implemented and their insights published through publicly available policy briefs. As of 2019, the initiative has entered its second phase and is jointly funded by the Foreign Ministries of Switzerland and the Netherlands.
In 2020 and 2021, this initiative will continue to bring together distinguished stakeholders from Tehran and Riyadh to exchange viewpoints and assessments on issues of shared interest and concern in the Middle East.
Research Cooperation on Peacebuilding in Yemen
Duration: since February 2019
This initiative seeks to develop the capacities of Yemeni and international researchers and organizations in researching and advising on peacebuilding in Yemen. Within its framework, an ongoing series of publications, each resulting from a Yemeni-international research partnership, on aspects of peacebuilding in Yemen is developed and published. The initiative is implemented on behalf of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and co-financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the European Union.
Rethinking Yemen’s Economy – A Track II Initiative
Duration: March 2017 – May 2025
This two-year project is an initiative to identify Yemen’s economic, humanitarian, social and development priorities in light of the ongoing conflict in Yemen, and to prepare for the post-conflict recovery period. It aims to build consensus in crucial policy areas through engaging and promoting informed Yemeni voices in the public discourse.
Tafahum wa Tabadul
Duration: April 2023 – December 2025
This project aims to develop innovative (knowledge) products addressing gender (in)equality and (lack of) social cohesion in Yemen by initiating networks and cooperation between higher education institutions and non-university partners, including German and Yemeni researchers and students, civil society stakeholders and artists in the fields of science communication, gender equality and social cohesion in Yemen.
Tafahum wa Tabadul
Duration: December 2021 – May 2023 (current project phase)
This project has started in December 2021 and aims to generate further understanding (tafahum) among regional stakeholders and to foster cooperation (tabadul) on common interests in West Asia and the Arabian Peninsula (WAAP) – a region that includes the GCC states, Iran, Iraq and Yemen. In the course of this project, various stakeholders like officials, academics and experts as well as civil society actors will be engaged on various levels with the aim of generating a political climate that is more conducive to regional cooperation. Furthermore it aims at collectively examining the energy-climate-health nexus – a concept that entails economic and ecologic sustainability, as well as regional health resilience, and at fostering people-to-people mobility in the region through exchange activities in the fields of academia and civic education. This 3-year initiative is funded by the German Federal Foreign Office and builds on the results of the Tafahum project, which was implemented between 2018-2021.