Call For Political Ecology

1. Background and Purpose

The Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung (RLS) is a German political foundation affiliated with the German party “Die Linke” (the Left party). RLS is dedicated to political education and progressive social research. The RLS Regional Office in Beirut, established in May 2017, primarily supports projects in Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq. Additionally, RLS publishes reports and analyses on developments in Iran.

As a result of intensifying global, regional political and capitalist transformation and crises, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq face growing political-ecological and environmental challenges, including environmental degradation, natural resource exploitation, land and water grabbing, loss of green areas and agricultural lands, relocation and displacement of rural communities, privatization and development, digitalization and AI domination, growing socio-economic disparities, ecocide and food and climate injustice. Within these contexts, critical political ecology tries to understand how state policies and global economic processes affect local environmental and socio-political conditions and realities.

Through this call for proposals in critical political ecology, RLS Beirut aims to support local political-ecological and environmental initiatives, grassroots organizations, civil-society actors, activist groups, and/or networks and practitioners in working to strengthen critical political ecology and enable critical discussion, practical solutions, alternative models and mobilization aiming at policy change within and between communities in Lebanon, Syria, and/or Iraq.

With this call, RLS Beirut will support three selected projects.

2. Objectives

Proposals should aim to achieve one or more of the following objectives:

• Support local community-led initiatives, grassroots organizations, social movements, and networks working to implement, and advance cross-community and regional collaborations, by shaping critical socio-political and ecological projects and strengthening local capacities across divides (economic, sectarian, ethnic, generational, etc.).
• Apply decolonial and critical ecological methodologies, models, and discourses to study, document, and analyze effects of current Western-centric capitalist and neoliberal developments, conflicts, markets, “green” technologies, resource politics, and their impacts on local communities, ecosystems, natural resources, biodiversity, human and non-human well-being—to influence and or inform alternative local practical solutions, political decisions and policies.
• Enable critical knowledge production on local ecological and environmental problems through empowerment, inclusion, and active participation of marginalized or vulnerable groups — including indigenous and remote rural communities, farmers, displaced populations, women, and jobless and alienated young adults with reliance on ecological practices and processes, and sustainable collective communal solutions.
• Advance food sovereignty as a political, ecological, and social practice, by supporting local food systems, small-scale farmers, seed sovereignty, agroecological knowledge, and community control over land, water, and natural resources, while critically examining industrial agriculture, extractive food regimes, and market-driven development models and their impacts on livelihoods, nutrition, and ecological resilience.
• Document, analyze, and critique the socio-political and economic dynamics of urban political ecology, through examining impacts of post-development environmental policies, rise and expansion of digital and AI technologies and infrastructures, expansionist urban development projects, “green industrial” agricultural technologies and models, smart and digital neoliberal spaces, and their impacts on indigenous local communities, natural lands and resources, human health, and economic justice within industrialized settings.  

3. Expected Outputs / Outcomes

Applicants should clearly specify expected results. Possible deliverables include (but are not limited to):

• Community- and grassroots-based alternatives and interventions (workshops, critical panels, focused group discussions, rural-urban community actions and mobilization, fieldwork and ethnographic studies, and critical participatory social projects).
• Capacity-building of ecological and environmental civil-society organizations, initiatives, practitioners, community or grassroots groups through training, practical, hands-on activities, organizational strengthening, network-building, local sustainable heritage methods and practices, and participatory planning.
• Research and social science studies, field projects and case studies, critical assessments, policy reports, and data collection and analysis of local political and ecological issues, and documentation of environmental violations and injustices, with actionable recommendations and policy reform alternatives.
• Production of visual resources—podcasts, reels, films, graphics, animations, or pilot models and methodologies to influence and shape sustainable community engagement, just ecological transformations, alternative food production and markets, and social-environmental inclusion.
• Establishing stronger ecological and environmental networks and or partnerships through active participation, interviews, organization, and focus group discussions across different rural-urban communities, groups, and stakeholders to enable policy change

4. Eligibility & Requirements

Eligible applicants include: environmental practitioners; grassroots initiatives; civil society and non-governmental organizations; community-led groups; ecological initiatives; civil society actors and networks; activist groups; and coalitions working in Lebanon, Syria, or Iraq.

5. Applicants should demonstrate:

• Experience in political ecological initiatives, civil society and community work, environmental/social activism, environmental protection, or similar fields.
• An understanding of the local socio- political, environmental, and ecological context, including issues of climate injustice, critical ecological themes, neoliberal and capitalist transformations, and power-social dynamics.
• Commitment to the values upheld by RLS: social justice, equality, non-discrimination, inclusion, solidarity, democratic participation, and respect for human rights.
•  Capacity to implement concrete activities or to produce research/documentation (depending on the proposal), with clarity on methodology, timeline, and feasibility.
•  A realistic and transparent budget, clear project plan, and, if applicable, a diverse, inclusive project team.