Ziad Abdel Samad, co-discussant of the OIC study, is Executive Director of the Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND), based in Beirut since 1999. ANND brings together 30 NGOs and nine national networks from 12 Arab countries active in the fields of social development, human rights, gender, and the environment. The network, established in 1997, focuses on developing the capacity of Arab civil society organizations and promoting democracy, human rights, participation and good governance in civil society and among governments. ANND has been an active participant in a number of United Nations conferences, WTO negotiations and the World Social Forum. Mr. Abdel Samad is a member of the Lebanese Negotiating Committee for accession to the WTO. He sits on the International Council of the World Social Forum; the Coordination Committee of Social Watch, an international network of citizen coalitions that monitors the implementation of the commitments made at the 1995 World Summit on Social Development in Copenhagen; the Board of Directors of CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation; and the UNDP CSO Advisory Committee to the Administrator. Mr. Abdel Samad is the Treasurer of the Board of Directors of the Euro-Mediterranean civil platform and General Manager of the Centre for Developmental Studies (MADA), a Lebanese centre for social and economic studies and research.