UN
Alliance of Civilizations Fellows back in the US and Europe to improve trust
and cooperation between the Muslim world and the West
Emerging Leaders from North Africa and the Middle East to share their thoughts one year after the Arab Spring
New York, 7 May 2012 - Twelve
young leaders from North Africa and the Middle East are arriving in New York
this Monday with the aim to create new alliances, gain knowledge, and
understanding of the USA and Europe.
From New York to Paris twelve young leaders are now embarking on a journey across the US and Europe. Every single day of the program is going to be rich in learning and in exchanges. The UNAOC’s Fellowship Program focuses on creating opportunities for young leaders, across the Arab world and the West, to increase mutual understanding through experiential learning and direct interaction with civil society.
From New York to Paris twelve young leaders are now embarking on a journey across the US and Europe. Every single day of the program is going to be rich in learning and in exchanges. The UNAOC’s Fellowship Program focuses on creating opportunities for young leaders, across the Arab world and the West, to increase mutual understanding through experiential learning and direct interaction with civil society.
The fellows will be part of a
two-week program organized under the auspices of the UN Alliance of
Civilizations (UNAOC). The program is funded by the German Foreign Office
with the support of the Guerrand-Hermes Foundation for Peace and developed
in partnership with the League of Arab States, ISESCO, the Institute of
International Education, the Government of Jordan, OIC and the Qatar Committee
for the Alliance of Civilizations.
The Fellowship Programme is the first and only young leader’s exchange program developed jointly by partners and with resources from Arab, Muslim, European and American partners.
The Fellowship Programme is the first and only young leader’s exchange program developed jointly by partners and with resources from Arab, Muslim, European and American partners.
During
its first stop in the USA New York, the group will meet with UNAOC’s partners,
Esther Brimmer at the US State Department, the World Bank, the
United Nations agencies but also visit national and community level work such
as the Bronx transformation project , Park 51 in New York and the National
Women's Law Center in DC
From
there, the group will fly to Europe where fellows will meet among others with
the Federal Foreign office of Germany and Mr. Guerrand-Hermes from
Guerrand-Hermes foundation for peace, one of UNAOC’s main partners on the
fellowship as well as NATO, the European Parliament, Vivendi and France 24. The
group will also interact with the fellows from the 2012 class (Spring and Fall)
of the Fellowship Program who are currently living in New York, DC, Paris and
Brussels.
“Our
objective is to create an opportunity for these emerging leaders to see by themselves
the reality of the other society, to deconstruct stereotypes and to become the
messengers of new relations between the western and the Muslim world based on
cooperation and trust. This will contribute to establish personal connection
among emerging leaders from the western world and the Muslim & Arab world,
and to build trust, understanding and collaboration among them,” says
Jean-Christophe Bas, UNAOC Senior Advisor.
Through a number of discussions and meetings, the fellows will also have the opportunity to talk and exchange their views with their hosts on the current events in the Arab world and in the US and Europe. Beyond the meetings and conferences from which they are going to learn a lot, the fellows will also be given a chance to experience the richness of the country through visits to cultural and historic sites.
The
12 fellows, selected among hundreds of applications, are a diverse group, and
include:
Achraf
Aouadi
(Tunisia) Emanating from a family of political activists, Achraf started as s
blogger and a cyber activist., After the Tunisian evolution, Achraf, founded I
WATCH organization, a Tunisian watchdog organization working on transparency,
good governance and anti-corruption. I WATCH put together the second largest
domestic observation mission in Tunisian’s last elections. During the Libyan
war, Achraf served on the Tunisian-Libyan borders to rescue around 500.000
refugees who crossed the borders to seek refuge in Tunisia.
Kholoud
Mansour
(Syria) works for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in
Damascus. Her articles on current situations appear under pseudonym in
different printed and online media outlets. She is an alumni of the Young
Leaders Visitors Program (YLVP) that combines intercultural leadership training
with theory and practice in the fields of transparency, democracy and human
rights.
Last
month, twelve young leaders from North America and Europe have travelled
to Morocco, Jordan and Saudi Arabia on a similar tour, meeting with
government, civil society and other groups involved in this issue.
Contacts:
Karima Zerrou, Fellowship Coordinator, karimaz@unops.org
Jean Christophe Bas, UNAOC Senior Advisor, jeancb@unops.org
No comments:
Post a Comment