Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies (ICDS) is a non- governmental professional institution, registered in Cairo since 1988 as a limited liability civil company (license no. 3044). Its headquarters is located in the Mokattam Hills. ICDS has its own research, advocacy, and development programs, but it also conducts commissioned research, provides consultation and training services to governmental and non-governmental organizations on issues of public policy. The main objectives of the Center are the advancement of applied social sciences with special emphasis on Egypt and the Arab World. It is committed to the promotion of responsible dialogue, democracy, peace and development for all peoples in the region. The Center carries out supportive activities related to its objectives, including organizing seminars, conferences and the publication and dissemination of information.
In fifteen years since its establishment in 1988, ICDS has undertaken more than 75 research projects, organized over 150 conferences, seminars and workshops, provided consultations to a number of prominent Egyptian, Arab and International organizations. ICDS has also distinguished itself through quality research and effective advocacy around issues deemed relevant to Egypt and the Arab world. ICDS pioneered many of these programs, typically beginning with activities in Egypt, and then branching out to other countries of the Arab World.
Ratiu Center for Democracy (RCD) was launched in 2004 by the Ratiu Family Foundation of the UK. The RCD strives "to promote participative democracy by informing, researching, learning and applying democratic values and behaviors locally, nationally, and internationally." The RCD encourages democratic values in a way that transcends specific cultures and allows the inherent values of democracy to inform the daily lives of individuals. The goal of the RCD is to apply the lessons gleaned from the social sciences to the difficult task of building civil society in a way that is non-dogmatic and non-partisan. RCD believes democratic principles need to be, and can only be discovered and practiced, together, in a community setting. The only way to ensure the peaceful evolution of institutional and behavioral democratic practices is through a gradual shift in individual values, which only become visible within the community over time.