Foreword

Behind the dramatic headlines about our region, there is a story that is rarely, if ever, told. It is a story about a generation of Arab youth whose activism is empowering low-income communities, resolving conflict, safeguarding the environment, and promoting the rights and dignity of all people.

These youth – through perseverance, compassion and creativity – are solving old problems in new ways. Many are redefining traditional notions of development. Others are harnessing the tremendous power of technology to transform people’s lives. They believe in the power of partnership, and, in pursuit of their vision of social change, have recruited into service their peers, community members, businesses, and governments. As these young people lead by example, it is my hope that many more Arab youth will pursue their roles as active citizens.

At a time when our world faces very real and daunting challenges, these young leaders offer hope that through working together, we can build a more sustainable, prosperous, and peaceful future.

Launched at the World Economic Forum in 2007, The King Abdullah II Award for Youth Innovation and Achievement (KAAYIA) aims to celebrate and support young men and women throughout the Arab region who have pioneered innovative solutions to urgent social, economic and environmental challenges. The award is designed to promote creative problem-solving and cross-border dialogue and cooperation among Arab youth. Through shining a much-needed spotlight on youth-led social change, the KAAYIA seeks to encourage present and future generations of Arab youth to assume their roles as active citizens.

The KAAYIA is managed by the King Abdullah II Fund for Development and has a Board of Trustees chaired by Professor Klaus Schwab and the membership of: – Mr. Saeed Al Muntafiq, Executive Chairman, Tatweer– Mr. Arif Naqvi, Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Abraaj Capital– Ms. Carly Fiorina, Chairperson, Fiorina Foundation– Dr. Khaled Toukan, Chairman, Jordan Atomic Energy Commission

The KAAYIA is awarded to youth, ages 18 to 29 across the Arab region. Applications are reviewed against three core criteria: the applicant’s leadership qualities and the innovativeness of their approaches, his or her capacity to form and maintain partnerships, and the impact and sustainability of their projects.

As testimony to the spirit of youth innovation that abounds in our region, more than 500 youth from 17 Arab countries applied for this year’s inaugural award.

The final selection of award recipients is made by an independent assessment committee of experts from across the Arab region. Winners receive recognition for their work at an award ceremony during the World Economic Forum and through related media exposure. Each winner also receives a monetary award of USD 50,000 to expand the scope and impact of their work, and to support complementary training and capacity building opportunities.

For more information about the award, please visit: www.KAAYIA.org

The Award

TheFinalists

Listed in alphabetical order

While studying engineering at the University of Khartoum, Abdelkareem Bedri started looking for ways to put his education to work to make a difference in people’s lives. It didn’t take long before he conceived of a device that would translate Arabic sign language into an audible voice enabling the deaf to be heard.

According to the World Health Organization, approximately 300 million people, or five percent of the world’s population, are deaf. Many live in rural areas where resources are few.

Says Abdelkareem, “Because of their disability, the deaf are frequently isolated from their communities. Our goal was to eliminate the barriers between mainstream society and the deaf, while boosting their employment and educational opportunities.”

While the technology exists to translate English sign language into voice, Abdelkareem’s goal of making Arabic sign language audible has never been achieved before. He began by taking an Arabic sign language class and studying the use of microcontrollers, small computers that require little power, are lightweight, and can be easily carried. Together with a fellow student, Mohammed Younis, he developed and tested what would become known as the “Speaking Gloves”.

The glove fits snuggly onto the hand of a deaf individual and contains sensors that transmit information to a microcontroller as the wearer moves his or her hand to sign. The microcontroller then activates a small speaker which emits the corresponding words.

Inventing such a device in a war-torn country wasn’t easy. Some of the sensors, for example, could only be obtained from the United States, which had instituted a ban on product shipments to Sudan. Abdelkareem persevered, eventually tapping the support of friends to obtain the sensors.

The prototype he developed cost approximately USD 500 to make. Abdelkareem estimates that the finished product will cost closer to USD 100. He’s currently looking for investors to help fund enhancements to the prototype and finance the mass production of the “Speaking Gloves”. For his next project, Abdelkareem plans to develop a similar device that will teach the deaf how to sign in Arabic.

“The whole process has opened my eyes to how small ideas can change people’s lives,” says Abdelkareem, “and how technology can create new opportunities at a relatively low cost.”

Abdelkareem BedriAge 22“Speaking Gloves: Arabic Deaf Sign Language”

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“The whole process has opened my eyes to how small ideas can change people’s lives…”

Civil war broke out in Somalia when Abdinasir Nur, now 29, was only eight years old. The conflict has continued more or less ever since, with an estimated two million Somalis currently facing a humanitarian crisis, including chronic food shortages.

Believing that youth hold the key to transforming his country, in 2004 Abdinasir founded what is now known as “Somali Youth for Peace and Development” (SYPD), a national nonprofit organization. Abdinasir recognizes that peace is not likely to be achieved in Somalia until more people are able to meet their needs for basic livelihoods, food, water, and sanitation.

“We work to address the root causes of conflict in my country which are ignorance and poverty,” he says. “To do so, we provide assistance to the poorest and most marginalized people.”

To date, SYPD has implemented more than a dozen projects with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)/CARE International, the Norwegian Refugee Council, the Danish Refugee Council, Islamic Relief, and the National Endowment for Democracy in the U.S.

One SYPD project provided 72 farm families in the Hiiraan region with water pumps to enable them to irrigate their crops and increase harvests. Now, as a result of accessing water, participating villages report greater incomes and reduced conflict. Local youth who once resorted to petty crimes now have a steady source of income.

Other SYPD projects engage youth in efforts to improve health, sanitation, and transportation.

In 2008 alone, more than 1,800 families benefited directly from SYPD’s activities with thousands more people benefiting indirectly. Despite the tremendous obstacles facing his country, Abdinasir remains hopeful.

“My dream of a peaceful and democratic Somalia gives me the energy and passion to continue on, despite the difficult conditions in my country,” he says. “The success we have achieved in creating change within communities gives me hope that we are capable of building a nation.”

To learn more, visit: www.sypd.org

Abdinasir NurAge 29“Somali Youth for Peace and Development”

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alia

“My dream of a peaceful and democratic Somalia gives me the energy and passion to continue…”

Depending on where they live, between a third and half of Palestinian youth are unemployed. To help meet the urgent needs of youth for jobs, Lana co-founded “Souktel”, a mobile phone-based job matching service.

Translated from Arabic, “Souktel” means “telephone marketplace”. Through the service, job seekers create mini-CVs that include basic data on their skills and location. Similarly, employers create mini job ads. Both are sent by mobile phone to a central database, where jobs seekers and employers may search for appropriate matches.

Lana knows well what it’s like to search unsuccessfully for work. When she graduated from college with a business degree she spent months fruitlessly looking for a job. By chance, she eventually found work at a telecom company. “I was one of the lucky few,” she recalls. “There are millions of youth with brains and energy but no way of finding good employment.”

Based on the results of a 2007 pilot, “Souktel” began full operation in Palestine in 2008, where more than 8,000 job seekers and 200 employers have accessed its job-matching service. To use the service, a job seeker accesses a simple SMS menu on his or her phone. By texting the number (1), he or she is able to search for jobs by location. By texting (2), a list of job opportunities, sorted by wage, appears.

“Souktel” operates as a social enterprise. Job seekers pay a modest fee to search job ads or post their mini-CVs; employers pay a higher per

transaction fee to post jobs and search CVs. Through this model, “Souktel” earns an average of USD 1/month per job seeker and an average of USD 10/month per employer. As a result, “Souktel’s” current net income averages roughly USD10,000/month – enough to cover its operating costs, with surplus revenue directed at market expansion and research and development.

A key to “Souktel’s” approach is building win-win partnerships. It’s currently cooperating with corporate partners, government ministries, nongovernmental organizations, and academic institutions to achieve its goals. It’s also expanding its services to Egypt, Jordan, and Somalia, where it expects to reach 16,500 job seekers in 2009.

Says Lana, “We’re working to equalize opportunities for the poor so that they can get the same information as someone with a personal computer from the wealthiest part of town.”

To learn more, visit: www.souktel.org

Lana HijaziAge 27“Souktel”

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“We’re working to equalize opportunities for the poor so that they can get the same information as someone with a personal computer from the wealthiest part of town.”

A simple but powerful message drives Motaz Gendia: “Don’t smoke.” As a child, Motaz grew concerned over his father’s penchant for cigarette smoking. As a teen, he watched as his peers became increasingly susceptible to the allure of smoking. Advertising campaigns and cultural pressures, such as the popularity of “sheesha” - water pipes used for smoking flavored tobacco - made tobacco products hard for many young people to resist.

As a university student, Motaz took action, co-founding the “Life Free of Smoke Association”. Over the past three years, the Association has educated more than 11,000 people about the harmful effects of smoking, with roughly 3,800 quitting their smoking habit as a result.

Says Motaz , “We’re working to change people’s perceptions of smoking as something enjoyable to smoking as a tool of destruction.”

Recognizing the addictive nature of tobacco products, Motaz has put his communication skills to work in developing creative strategies to help people overcome the temptation of smoking. He and his peers organize one-day events and month-long campaigns held at university campuses, clubs, and schools. A key to the Association’s approach is engaging well-known actors, athletes, and journalists as role models and spokespeople.

In designing anti-smoking campaigns and media outreach materials, the Association stresses the importance of prevention and the lives and health care costs saved when people don’t smoke.

To achieve its goals, it has engaged companies as sponsors, and developed partnerships with Egypt’s Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization.

Given the role that individual psychology plays in one’s decision to smoke, the Association works to build trust with smokers and counsels them on a case-by-case basis. One of its strategies includes taking samples of the amount of carbon monoxide in a smoker’s lungs at the beginning and end of a campaign. Individuals who agree to a smoking cessation plan become eligible to win prizes.

Among its accomplishments, the Association convinced the Canadian International College in Cairo to declare itself the first smoke free campus in the country. It also contributed to the establishment of ten smoke free beaches in Alexandria. In the future, Motaz seeks to expand the Association’s reach to other parts of the Arab world.

To learn more, visit: www.hyah.org

Motaz GendiaAge 21“Life Free of Smoke Association”

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“We’re working to change people’s perceptions of smoking as something enjoyable to smoking as a tool of destruction.”

Not long after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, Nadia Al Ghadiri joined with her mother and other concerned citizens in co-founding the “Lothan Youth Achievement Center” (LoYAC). Its mission: “to provide Kuwaiti youth with unique opportunities that help them evolve into highly effective leaders.”

Nadia noticed that the Kuwaiti youth need all the support available to become fully engaged members of society. “During my own youth I witnessed many changes,” she recalls, “from increasing gender segregation to a deteriorating quality of education and lack of afterschool activities. Youth had little to look forward to and their right to choose was severely restricted.”

To address these challenges, LoYAC offers young people, ages 13 to 27, volunteer opportunities, job training and placement services, sporting activities, and creativity workshops. LoYAC now serves 2,000 young Kuwaitis annually and has opened chapters in Jordan and Lebanon. Through its holistic approach, LoYAC equips youth with essential life skills and connects them to one another and their community. Nadia, who is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts degree in filmmaking, was instrumental in launching LoYAC’s drama and performing arts program, which provides youth with opportunities to express themselves, think creatively, and work as a team. “Through our theatrical productions, youth learn to express themselves and communicate important messages promoting social progression in the Middle East,” she says.

In 2006, following a volunteer experience in Mombassa, Kenya, Nadia was inspired to launch K4K (Kuwait for Kenya), a program of LoYAC. Through the initiative, volunteers from Kuwait travel to Kenya to carry out various community projects, such as teaching in schools and building classrooms.

Nadia now seeks to expand LoYAC’s approach to youth, particularly young women, in Yemen. Her plans include training women to make high quality handicrafts - jewelry, textiles, handbags - that meet international fair trade standards. Eventually, she hopes that LoYAC will positively impact young lives throughout the Middle East.

To learn more, visit: www.loyac.com

Nadia Al GhadiriAge 24“Lothan Youth Achievement Center”

Kuw

ait

“During my own youth I witnessed many changes; from increasing gender segregation to a deteriorating quality of education and lack of afterschool activities. Youth had little to look forward to and their right to choose was severely restricted.”

Pierre Daher is well versed in the environmental challenges facing his native Lebanon. He cites environmental statistics - the amount of trees, water, and fuel, for example, needed to manufacture paper—with the ease of a chef describing the ingredients in a signature dish. Yet Pierre knows what is needed in his country is an environmental recipe for change.

“Sustainability is a process,” says the 23-year-old. “Our primary responsibility should be to trigger it as soon as possible. Future generations deserve nothing less!”

In 2008, Pierre served as Minister of the Environment in Lebanon’s Youth Shadow Government. In that role, he conceived of “Craft”, a youth-led initiative that not only encourages companies to adopt a paper recycling program, but provides the training and tools to do so. National in scope, the project was launched in partnership with the private sector (e.g., Thomson Reuters, Byblos Bank) and civil society organizations(e.g., JCI Lebanon, Indyact). Central to its philosophy is the importance of the“three Rs:” Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

“Most companies in Lebanon don’t recycle because they lack information and awareness,” says Pierre. “Concerns about costs and the time required are big factors.” To address this challenge, “Craft” streamlines the steps needed for organizations to develop recycling programs. A key to its approach is developing synergies among the public, private, and civil society sectors.

In less than a year, “Craft” has trained representatives of major companies, newspapers,

and banks to implement recycling programs in their places of work. These trainees, representing more than 8,000 employees, then share what they learned with their colleagues. Similarly, “Craft” has trained youth in how to launch paper recycling programs on university campuses serving more than 10,000 students. Outreach is also conducted in conjunction with large-scale youth organizations, including the Scouts of Lebanon, the Girls Scouts of Lebanon, and the Francophone Games.

To spread its message, “Craft” has created an award-winning website, booklets, posters, and publicity materials and produced ergonomically designed recycling bins. Its Facebook page currently boasts 2,200 members. Looking ahead, the “Craft” team seeks to advocate its approach within the 400 biggest paper-consuming entities in Lebanon. News of “Craft’s” innovative strategy is spreading, with requests for information coming from as far away as Suriname and Gabon.

To learn more, visit: www.craft-lebanon.com

Pierre DaherAge 23“Craft”

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“Sustainability is a process. Our primary responsibility should be to trigger it as soon as possible. Future generations deserve nothing less!”

On a trip to southern Jordan in 2007, Rabee’ Zureikat visited the rural community of Ghor Al Mazra, whose people, the Ghawarna, had long experienced poor living conditions. Deeply moved by those he met – and concerned about growing social divides in his country – Rabee’ started a charity drive to collect and distribute clothing.

“I soon realized that the people needed more than just clothes,” he says. “They needed opportunities to discover their abilities and the confidence to stimulate their own development.”

To address these needs, Rabee’ launched “Zikra” initiative. Translated from Arabic, Zikra means “memory”. Its goal is to promote greater equality through facilitating cultural exchanges and improving livelihoods. “Zikra” works to achieve this goal through a multi-faceted approach that includes voluntourism, a micro loan program, entrepreneurship and skills training, and arts workshops.

“Zikra” encourages greater understanding of the culture and lifestyle of the Ghawarna by engaging domestic and international tourists, as well as students, in volunteer activities. The volunteer activities are based on “Zikra’s” exchange concept, in which an exchange of resources, skills, and knowledge takes place between the beneficiary and the volunteer. For example, visitors meet the local community, learn how to make bread, enjoy a traditional lunch, and pick vegetables — as well as experience the region’s natural beauty. Each pays a fee of JD22.5 (the equivalent of USD 32), the bulk of which is invested in a revolving loan fund. To date, more than 1,000 volunteers have supported “Zikra’s”

approach, generating over USD 15,000. With these funds, “Zikra” has provided microloans to 15 families to develop businesses ranging from handicraft production to beekeeping.

Equally important, “Zikra” encourages artistic self-expression and the preservation of indigenous culture. Through filmmaking, photography, theatre, and other arts workshops, Zikra reinforces the cultural identity of local villagers, while educating the world outside.

“Zikra’s” philosophy of “exchange” has succeeded in generating greater understanding and empathy between the Ghor Al Mazra community and visitors from Amman and elsewhere. In the future, Rabee’ hopes to expand this approach to other marginalized communities throughout Jordan.

Rabee’ attributes “Zikra” with helping him to discover his life’s true purpose. “While I had always known about hardships, I am no longer a passive listener,” he says. ““Zikra” is my passion. It’s an extension of who I am and what I believe in.” To learn more, visit: www.zikrajordan.org

Rabee’ ZureikatAge 29“Zikra”

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“I soon realized that the people needed more than just clothes; they needed opportunities to discover their abilities and the confidence to stimulate their own development.”

When Raghda El Ebrashi was 12, she visited a poor village on the outskirts of Cairo with her school. “I saw things I had never seen before; children with no clothes, houses made of straw, garbage everywhere,” she recalls. The experience left a lasting impression. Shortly afterwards, Raghda started volunteering with NGOs working in similar villages. When she entered university, she discovered most of her fellow students were unaware of the extent of poverty in Egypt. Those who were involved in helping others did so through charitable activities.

Today, as Founder and Chairperson of the “Alashanek Ya Balady Association for Sustainable Development” (AYB-SD), Raghda nurtures a spirit of volunteerism among Egyptian youth, while promoting sustainable models of development. AYB-SD focuses its efforts on addressing the needs of youth and women in Old Cairo. Graduates of its vocational training program are offered either formal employment opportunities through AYB-SD’s employment office or microloans to start their own businesses. Through its family based approach, AYB-SD provides health, environmental, and cultural development services to families of youth and women participating in its programs.

Activities are carried out by student volunteers from five Egyptian universities. Through its franchise model, AYB-SD enables any student, aged 16 to 22, to open an AYB-SD club in his or her university as long as he/she fulfills certain criteria. Each club has roughly 100 volunteers.

Tapping the skills and knowledge of a talented volunteer base is just one way AYB-SD sustains its

work. It has also launched three social ventures that generate revenue for its activities through providing technical training to students and employees; producing and selling high quality, handmade products; and offering graphic design and arts workshops. AYB-SD currently generates 30 percent of its annual budget from these ventures – a percentage Raghda hopes to double within the next three years.

In 2008 alone, AYB-SD reached more than 2,000 low-income youth and women through its programs. Now pursuing a Ph.D. in Social Entrepreneurship, Raghda continues to pursue her passion for innovation and social change. She attributes her success to sheer persistence. “All problems have solutions if we have the persistence and guts to solve them,” she says, adding,“I didn’t create AYB-SD, it created me.”

To learn more, visit: www.ayb-sd.org

Raghda El EbrashyAge 26“Alashanek Ya Balady Association for Sustainable Development”

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“All problems have solutions if we have the persistence and guts to solve them. I didn’t create AYB-SD, it created me.”

Rawan Abu Al Failat created the project “Raneen: Audio Library for Children” with the goal of bringing stories to life for young people, ages 5 to 16, while improving their listening and Arabic language skills.

Rawan, who is blind, grew up with a passion for hearing stories, which later translated into her interest in drama and the performing arts. As a young girl, she would listen intently as her mother read her favorite stories. When her mother was diagnosed with throat cancer and could no longer read books aloud, Rawan recognized how important storytelling had become to her.

“I knew other blind children whose parents could not read to them,” she says. “It became a dream for me to make audio stories available for children anytime they desired.”

Rawan is now well on the way to realizing her dream. To date, she has produced five CDs containing 13 audio stories. The stories are performed and recorded by a team of volunteer professionals. To date, Rawan has succeeded in generating roughly USD 10,000 in in-kind donations of time and equipment for her project.

One of the stories included in Rawan’s audio CDs is called “Elghool”. It tells the tale of villagers who feared a monster who lived on a nearby mountaintop. A child from the village eventually embarks on a journey to visit the monster. What he discovers is that the monster, too, was fearful of the villagers.

“When you don’t know something you’re afraid of it,” says Rawan, alluding to the moral lessons that accompany those stories included in the “Audio Library”. Other benefits attributed to audio storytelling include improved communication and listening skills and the ability of such stories to enhance a child’s imagination. “The auditory experience prompts the listener to create visuals in his or her own mind,” says Rawan.

In the future, Rawan hopes to make the “Audio Library for Children” available to schools and organizations serving disadvantaged and blind children throughout Jordan. She also seeks to record many more stories, launch a website, and broadcast her stories through national radio stations with the goal of reaching as many as 10,000 children.

Rawan Abu Al FailatAge 23“Raneen: Audio Library for Children”

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“I knew other blind children whose parents could not read to them. It became a dream for me to make audio stories available for children anytime they desired.”

Can increasing voluntary blood donation foster greater peace and solidarity among a nation’s citizens? Yorgui Teyrouz thinks so.

Yorgui became aware of blood shortages in Lebanon when a close friend needed a blood transfusion and the hospital he was admitted to could not provide the proper blood type. A frantic search ensued as friends, relatives, teachers, and coworkers were contacted for their support. “People are often reluctant to give blood because they don’t know who’s getting it or because they are afraid of the procedure,” says Yorgui, who is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy and volunteered with the Lebanese Red Cross first aid team. “There’s a stigma associated with giving blood to strangers. People prefer to give to relatives in cases of emergency.”

By promoting voluntary blood donation, Yorgui seeks to change this attitude. In 2007, he launched “Donner Sang Compter”, encouraging Lebanese citizens to register with his database as donors on demand. “The name of the project is a play on words,” explains Yorgui, “designed to communicate the notion of giving blood generously without expecting anything in return.”

To date, around 5,200 people, the majority of them youth, have registered with “Donner Sang Compter”. Through this resource, more than 1,000 patients have received the blood, platelets, and plasma they need.

Yorgui advocates for voluntary blood donation through events held on the largest university

campuses in Lebanon and through the “Donner Sang Compter” Facebook page, which includes nearly 6,000 members. Having installed the blood donors’ database on his mobile phone, he’s able to respond fairly quickly to the five requests a day he receives on average, usually from a patient’s relative. In the future, Yorgui hopes to register as many as 50,000 people through “Donner Sang Compter” as a solution to donor scarcity. Just as importantly, he’s working to promote a spirit of volunteerism and solidarity among Lebanese citizens, despite differences in cultures and beliefs.

“My goal is to create a more humane, democratic, and peaceful society,” he says, “where people empathize with others, take initiative to act, and create positive change around them.”

Yorgui TeyrouzAge 23“Donner Sang Compter”

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“My goal is to create a more humane, democratic, and peaceful society, where people empathize with others, take initiative to act, and create positive change around them.”

Fadi GhandourFounder and CEOARAMEX InternationalJordan

Fadi Ghandour is Founder & CEO of Aramex International, a position he has held for the past 27 years. Aramex, one of the leading logistics & transportation companies in the Middle East and South Asia, was the first company from the Arab world to go public on the Nasdaq stock exchange. After five years of successful trading on it, Aramex returned to private ownership and, in June 2005, went public again on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM).

Ghandour is a Founding Partner in Maktoob.com, the world’s largest Arab On-Line Community, is a member of the Board of Abraaj Capital, and serves on the Advisory Board of the Suliman S. Olayan School of Business at the American University of Beirut. Between 2003 and 2005, he was the Middle East and North Africa Area Chairman of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO).

Ghandour is actively involved with community and NGO work. He is the founder of Ruwwad Development (www.ruwwad.net), a region-wide corporate social responsibility initiative. He is a Member of the Board of the “National Microfinance bank” in Jordan (www.nmb.com.jo), and he served as Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Jordan River Foundation (www.jordanriver.jo) for over 10 years. Ghandour is married to Rula Atalla and has two sons, Bassel and Fares.

Assessment CommitteeMembers

*Listed in alphabetical order

Nabil Ali Alyousuf is Vice Chairman of Board of Trustees of the Dubai School of Government. Throughout his career, he has focused on public sector development, human development and community development. He improved government performance in Dubai during his time as General Coordinator of the Dubai Government Excellence Program. Mr. Alyousuf led the strategy development team for Dubai Strategy 2015, and served as Vice-Chairman of the Arab Strategy Forum. In 2004 he helped to establish the Dubai School of Government, a research and teaching institution which aims to promote good governance through enhancing the region’s capacity for effective public policy.

In the field of human development, Mr. Alyousuf helped to establish the Dubai Institute for Human Resources Development, as well as the Emirates Nationals Development Program, and managed the Mohammed bin Rashid Program for Leadership Development. He helped to establish the Dubai Cares campaign, as well as the Mohammed Bin Rashid al Maktoum Foundation (MBRF), which aims to spur development initiatives in the areas of knowledge and education, culture, entrepreneurship, and philanthropy.

Nabil Ali Alyousuf has a B.Sc. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Arizona (USA), an M.Sc. in Operations Research from the Georgia Institute of Technology (USA), and an MBA from the University of Strathclyde (UK).

Nabil AlyousufVice ChairmanDubai School of GovernmentUnited Arab Emirates

Dr. Bibars is a Vice President of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, a global organization that accelerates social change by identifying and investing in leading social entrepreneurs. Since 2003, she has served as Arab World Regional Director for Ashoka, establishing the Arab office and selecting more than 41 Ashoka Fellows to date. Her work also involves fundraising from traditional donors and the private sector and promoting the concept of corporate social responsibility. Since February 2008, Dr. Bibars was elevated to Vice President in Ashoka Global’s Leadership Group, a role she fulfills concurrently to her duties as the Regional Director of Ashoka Arab World.

Additionally, Dr. Bibars is a co-founder and chairwoman of the Association for the Development and Enhancement of Women;a CSO providing credit and legal aid for poor women who head their households. She is also a co-founder of Women and Memory, an organization that aims at bridging the gap between research and action. She is currently a member of the Gender Advisory Board of the Egyptian Social Development Fund.

Dr. Bibars has a Ph.D. in Development Studies with a focus on State’s social policies and social reform from the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex University, UK.

Dr. Iman BibarsRegional Director

Ashoka - Arab WorldEgypt

Ziad is the Regional Project Manager of ICTDAR (Information and Communication Technology for Development in the Arab Region), a regional program of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) based in Cairo, and covering the Arab Region.

Ziad has several years experience managing large scale projects both within the UNDP and in the private sector. Prior to joining ICTDAR, Ziad was the UNDP Coordinator for the National E-Strategy in Lebanon, where he supervised the development of a multi-sector national plan.Preceding that, he worked in the United States as Director of Client Relations and General Project Manager at a consulting firm focusing on digital business strategy and knowledge management projects for global clients.

He holds a Bachelor of Architecture from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, and a Masters in Business Administration from Babson College in Boston, USA.

Ziad HaddaraRegional Manager of ICTDARUNDPLebanon

Dr. Suhair Hassan Al-Qurashi is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Dar Al-Hekma College, one of the first and leading private Colleges for women in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. She was the Interim Dean of the College from 1999 to 2000 and was appointed Dean in 2005.

Dr. Al-Qurashi has long standing interest in serving and advancing the youth and has been invited to participate in the development of the youth strategy for the Makkah Region. This interest and commitment of hers is also reflected in the excellent student development program that she sponsors and supports at the College and through her other commitments and activities. Dr. Al Qurashi received a Ph.D. in Education (Evaluation of Higher Education) from Cambridge University, U.K.; an M.P.E. in Educational Research also from Cambridge University, U.K; an M.Sc. in Management Organizational Development, from United States International University, San Diego, California, USA; and a B.A. in Business Administration from Richmond College, London, U.K.

Dr. Suhair Al-QurashiDean

Dar Al-Hekma CollegeSaudi Arabia

www.KAAYIA.org