The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) Fellowship programme will welcome its newest group of fellows from the 18th to the 30th of November. Ten emerging leaders from across Europe and North America will visit Middle Eastern and North African cities. Their tour will take them to Rabat, Casablanca, Fes, Amman, Wadi Musa (Petra), and Doha.
As in previous years, this year’s fellows have been carefully selected by the programme’s selection committee from a large number of applications.
The UNAOC’s Fellowship Programme focuses on creating opportunities for young leaders, across the Arab world and the West, with the aim of increasing mutual understanding through experiential learning, and direct interaction with civil society. This intense programme is designed to be intellectually and humanly enriching for the fellows, as well as for the participants in the organized meetings.
The Fellows will be travelling to six cities in three countries over a period of 13 days. During their various venues, they will be meeting with decision makers, media leaders, local communities and grassroots, as well as government officials along the way. The aim of the visit is to create new alliances, enhance cross-cultural cooperation, and improve understanding between the Western and the Arab world.
The journey will begin in Morocco on November 19. While in Rabat, the fellows will have a chance to meet with Moroccan Delegate Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ms. Mbarka Bouaida, as well as officials from the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO). They will also engage in discussions with scholars and activists on Moroccan culture and society. In Casablanca and Fes, they will meet with young activists and students, to learn about their experiences in social entrepreneurship and aspirations for the future.
The next stop will be Amman, Jordan where the group will engage Jordanian officials to learn about the Syrian crisis and its impact on the country. They will also meet with young Jordanian leaders to discuss youth engagement and inclusion in public life. The cultural aspect will be featured as the group visits Nabataea city of historical Petra.
Finally, in Doha, the fellows will visit institutions relevant to the international arena such as Al-Jazeera News Network and Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue.
More information will be posted in the next few days; including their bios and the fellowship blog. For now please follow us on Facebook!
For more information on the programme itself, please visit our fellowship page.
The programme is made possible thanks to a grant from the Federal Foreign Office of Germany and The Hermes Foundation. The programme is developed in partnership with the League of Arab States, the British Council, Islamic Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), Qatar Committee for the Alliance of Civilizations, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), The Institute for International Education, and All Jordan Youth Commission.
The Fellowship Programme is the first and only young leaders’ exchange programme developed jointly with partners and resources from the Arab and Muslim world, Europe, and the United States.