Photo courtesy of Sherine Morad
When Rowaida Mroue, 2010 URI Youth Ambassador from Lebanon, took an internship at Radio Horytna in Cairo, she had no idea she would soon find herself in the middle of a revolution. But there she was on January 25th, watching as radio staff defied police security to take photos and videos of protesters facing down tanks—images that helped mobilize hundreds of thousands to take to the streets in the following days. The experience inspired her to launch a political and social reform campaign of her own when she returned to Lebanon.
Ms. Mroue, who founded and leads the International Training and Conflict Resolution Center in Beirut, is one of many young URI activists who have taken part in the recent wave of Arab uprisings, and will help shape their countries’ futures. Among them are Naoufal El Hammoumi, another 2010 Youth Ambassador, who is helping lead the youth call for civil reform in Morocco; and the nine URI youth who participated in “Youth: A Revolution of Change,” a conference in Alexandria, Egypt of more than 600 youth involved in Egypt’s revolution.
Part of URI’s Global Youth Network, these young people are bringing to their work skills gained from URI’s regional youth leadership trainings and Youth Ambassadors program. The trainings, held most recently in Uganda, Istanbul and Washington D.C., teach promising young leaders from the URI network strategies in conflict resolution; interfaith organizing, dialogue and advocacy; civic participation; media outreach and more, and an upcoming training in Morocco for youth from the Middle East will focus on the changes occurring in that region. Our Ambassadors program goes a step further, providing intensive coaching to a select group of youth and helping them get established in their communities.
As nations in the Arab world and beyond struggle to resolve the thorny question of the role of religion in government and society, URI is preparing youth across the globe to take a leadership role in bridging religious divides and building robust and inclusive civil societies.
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