Leader and Co-Founder of NGOs and Community Initiatives
Education changes people's lives!
This is the most fulfilling experience ever! I found the purpose of my life while working as a civil society activist. Changing the lives of children and youth by changing their value system through innovative ways of education is really rewarding. Working with youth on community initiatives is what makes me feel truly alive! Youth have an incredible amount of energy and freshness that creates a vibrant work environment and makes anybody feels full of hope.
I worked as a community leader of many initiatives that target civic education of children and youth. I also co-founded and served as a board member of, a number of NGOs in Egypt. I started my journey with Nahdet Elmahrousa, one of the most youth leading NGOs in Egypt with Ana Masry (I am Egyptian) project on peace education. after only 8 months, I became the treasurer of that leading organization. Then I co-founded a number of other NGOs such as Elnamaa, Ishraka, Darb Alnour, and AM for Career Development.
I participated in a huge number of community activities and initiatives sometimes as a university faculty member and some other times as a community leader. All the initiatives I led were mainly focused on education reform in innovative ways.
Corporate Social Responsibility and Service Learning
Education changes people's lives!
As an education reform and civic education activist, I was invited to participate in a series of workshops held by the Ma'an Alliance for Civic Engagement at the John Gerhart Center for Philanthropy and Civic Engagement at the American University in Cairo. The workshops aimed at connecting education to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
(CSR) is one of the hottest issues in the corporate world. The bridge between CSR, education, and philanthropy is the Service Learning (SL). It is one of the topics that each and every university educator should be aware of. It must be part and parcel of the strategic goals and plans of every higher education organization. SL is the glue that bonds education to the job market in a very creative way.
SL is one of the most enjoyable, yet most challenging, topics in civic education, philanthropy, CSR, and education altogether. It carries great potential for connecting education to satisfy both the true needs of society and the required skills of the job market.
Giving Voice to Values (GVV)
Education changes people's lives!
I am honored to participate in the 2 days workshop the output of which was this book entitled "CSR Passion and Beliefs (A)." Giving Voice to Values (GVV) is an innovative approach to values-driven leadership development in business education and the workplace, pioneered by Dr. Mary C. Gentile (GentileM@darden.virginia.edu ).
GVV is based at University of Virginia-Darden School of Business, having been launched by Aspen Institute as Incubator & Founding Partner, with Yale School of Management; then supported at Babson College 2009-16. Drawing on actual experience and scholarship, GVV fills a long-standing critical gap in the development of values-centered leaders.
GVV is not about persuading people to be more ethical. Rather GVV starts from the premise that most of us already want to act on our values, but that we also want to feel that we have a reasonable chance of doing so effectively and successfully. Read the full text here.
Fellow of the TNGO Initiative Program
Education changes people's lives!
As a leader in the field of NGOs, I was selected to participate in the Transnational NGO Fellowship Program at Moynihan Institute, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, in Upstate New York, USA.
Transnational non-governmental organizations (TNGOs) participate in the evolution of global governance and shape the daily lives of millions around the world. The growing visibility of these organizations has created much debate about the legitimacy and proper role of civil society actors projecting their influence across national borders. The TNGO Fellowship is part of the TNGO initiative that aims to connect practitioners from the NGOs world with academics in the field of civil society.
In 2012, I participated as an NGO leader and civil society activist in this advanced program where I had the opportunity to network with NGOs leaders from around the globe and share experiences and reflections about the challenges we face to achieve our goals.
Fellow of the Democracy and Governance (D&G) Program
Education changes people's lives!
As previously called the Democracy and Governance (D&G) program, the International Institute for Education (iie) and World Learning (WL) came together to create this program, which is now replaced by the Democracy Fellows and Grants Program (DFG), run by the iie.
As a leader in the field of NGOs, I was selected to be a fellow of the D&G program which is a fellowship offered through USAID’s Democracy Fellows and Grants Program place experienced technical specialists within USAID to support USAID’s policy and programs in the democracy, human rights, and governance fields.
In this fellowship, every participant was somehow free to tailor their program according to their needs. So, I focused on training and education management in the NGO world. Thanks to the flexibility of this program, I visited many famous NGOs in Ohio State, USA. I learned a great deal from their experience in managing education and training, and I applied what I learned in establishing and managing the Training Unit at the FHE, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt; a practice that was acknowledged as best training practice by the National Accreditation and Quality Assurance Authority in Egypt.
Fellow of the Leaders for Democracy (LDF) Program
Education changes people's lives!
This is one of the most life-changing experiences I have ever had! Participating in the Leaders for Democracy program was a cornerstone of my life. This program was previously run by Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs under the management of the MEPI office and the funding of the USAID.
In this program, I had the opportunity to spend three months in the US with a group of community leaders and social activists working towards learning more about connecting democracy to civic engagement. This program was a very fulfilling leadership program where I learned a lot about democracy, governance, leadership, civil society, and much much more!
As part of the program, I had an internship at the National Democratic Institute (NDI) where I learned more about civic education initiatives and project management.