The kickoff coordination workshop was held at the University of Balamand, Al-Kurah, Lebanon on the 4th and the 5th of February 2009. Participants representing 19 leading Arab Universities met in the forum over two days of global discussions and separate working groups.This workshop has been organized with the “openness” of the FOSS philosophy in mind. 

The workshop aims at:

• Discussing and deepening the ideas and the missions carried out by MA3BAR and defining a concrete action plan for the coming two years.
• Defining MA3BAR constituents and major actors and partners.

The opening session presented four welcome statements by the University of Balamand, UNDP/ICTDAR, UNESCO, and the MA3BAR coordinator. All statements expressed the importance of the Ma3bar initiative and the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in social and economical development in the Arab region.
Representatives of participating Arab Universities presented their views and initiatives in FOSS and the vital role Ma3bar can play in facilitating the necessary collaboration among Universities and providing the required awareness and training in the Arab societies. Ma3bar would smooth the progress of FOSS research and development, which would have direct impact on social and economical development.
During the next session participants were divided into three separate working groups to discuss the three major tracks of the center: Training, Awareness, and Application development. Each group has come up with a set of recommendations that were discussed and presented during the second day.

Training. The working group on training categorized the target groups for training as faculty members, IT staff, public and private administrators, and enterprises in general. The training domain subjects were put into four major categories: Economic models for FOSS, processes for transition towards FOSS, FOSS applications, and FOSS development. The training delivery process was also defined to include five steps: Identification of needs, scheduling of a session, preparing the materials, delivery of the training session, and follow-up and indicators of success.
The group discussed also the trained models. These cover normal classes, panel group discussions, project oriented training, and virtual training for professionals. Finally, the group recommended Ma3bar to build a list of expertise. (click here to download the presentation)

Awareness. The working group on awareness identified the goals of awareness as the spreading of the open source philosophy in the Arab societies, and widening the aware community.  The target group sectors are: public and private academic institutions, the public sector (government agencies), and the private sector (companies and NGO’s.) Target group categories include decision makers, management, IT specialists, and end users. The working group also developed an awareness matrix that specifies the awareness requirements per sector per target groups. (click here to download the presentation)

Application and content development. The working group on application and content development discussed the target domains of development. It has been decided to exclude enterprise solutions, and limit the development to academic and SME applications, and largely involve students at all levels. It was recommended to establish a special interest group on open source. The group would provide the community with technical support for the development of new open source applications. Two types of projects were defined: One based on the community needs, and another one based on local needs. The recommended project themes are: e-commerce, e-learning, and projects needed by local partners.
In order to recommend regional collaborations, a call for proposal would be issued by MA3BAR. At least three Universities from three different countries are expected to work on this category. Proposals in this category would be funded.
It was recommended to create FOSS student clubs supported by Ma3bar with basic funding, training, and other necessary materials. (click here to download the presentation)