Cairo, Egypt - Ashoka Arab World, the platform for social entrepreneurship and innovation in the Arab world, is proud to announce the election of three new social entrepreneurs into its Fellowship program: Raphaelle Ayach and Usama Ghazali from Egypt and Saed Karzoun from Palestine. With a strong belief in our Fellows’ system-changing ideas, and confidence in the positive impact they have, and will continue to have, on society, Ashoka will be providing its Fellows with a range of tailored services, supporting him in his efforts to scale up the impact of his work, and helping him develop his idea further. Raphaelle Ayach is humanizing intercultural relationships for children as a start; she is building an empathetic, intercultural sensitive generation. In doing so, Raphaelle breaks the cycle of elitism that is associated with opportunities for geographical mobility, exposure and intercultural experiences. To do this, Raphaelle is engaging underprivileged children in “touchfeel” simulated travel adventures that harness their imagination.
These simulated travel
adventures are the meaningful intercultural interactions with people from other cultures, whom Raphaelle calls the “foreign friends”. Usama Ghazali is building social capital and full economic citizenship among local communities from disparate parts of Egypt by preserving local indigenous craftsmanship skills that revive the sense of pride in the local Egyptian heritage and identity, and connect local people to the Egyptian market. To do so, first, Usama uses media to promote the diversity of local indigenous Egyptian communities and display the communities’ cultural identities and economic strengths. Second, he builds the capacities of local communities in product and brand development and equipping them with technology skills that allow connections among different cities without having to migrate. Third, he creates online portal which does not only promote for selling the communities’ products but it also acts as a digital archive for the diverse Egyptian cultures and histories. Saed Karzoun is shifting the mindset of communities in the Levant region of the Arab World from focusing on short term survival issues, to thinking for the long term for the general community prosperity. He is promoting freedom of expression and mobilizing citizens to demand their rights to access to information from decision makers. Saed is shifting the
residents’ role from mere witnesses of public events and passive recipients of aid to active reporters and advocates of the change they wish to see. To do so, first, Saed is empowering citizens with advocacy, reporting and campaigning skills through trainings and mobile blogger buses which mobilizing citizens to document their daily lives. Second, he created a free and interactive online platform (YouKnow) which directly links citizens to decision-makers and intermediary groups such as Citizen Sector Organizations and media personnel; in which they all can interact: advocating for changes, demanding information from decision makers and conveying the harsh realities of everyday life. Ashoka’s global community includes more than 3000 social entrepreneurs, similar to Raphaelle, Usama and Saed from all over the world. "Fellows are chosen based on five main criteria" Dr. Iman Bibars, Vice President of Ashoka Global and Regional Director of Ashoka Arab World explains, "innovative ideas, demonstrated creativity, entrepreneurial qualities, clear social impact, and ethical fiber". You can help us to identify additional social entrepreneurs for the Ashoka Fellowship, by emailing us at venture-assist@ashoka-arab.org Ashoka is an established community of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs - men and women with system-changing solutions to global social ills. Since 1981, Ashoka has sourced the best social innovations, supporting over 3,000 entrepreneurs through the provision of technical assistance, financial stipends, and professional support, mobilized thousands of people to create change, and enabled businesses, the media, policy makers and “Changemakers” to work together to help contribute to the eradication of the world’s most pressing social challenges. Ashoka Arab World (AAW) is a regional branch of Ashoka. Established in 2003, AAW has, to date, elected more than 80 leading social entrepreneurs in 10 Arab countries into the global Fellowship program. These social entrepreneurs (Ashoka Fellows) work in various sectors, including environmental conservation, urban planning, health service accessibility, child and youth empowerment, civic engagement, women’s empowerment, education, income generation and plenty more. Using our highly collaborative approach, designed to unite and pool the
resources of key stakeholders from different sectors, our Fellows are able to professionalize their initiatives, maximize their impact, and scale and replicate their models, all with the support of partners from the public, private, and government sectors. To know more about AAW, kindly check our website and our blog. For more information, contact: Sama Singer Media and Marketing Representative, Ashoka Arab World, Tel: 0225328586/ 23655336 - Fax: +2 0223654404 Email: media@ashoka-arab.org