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Please join us for the welcoming reception for mid-career civic activists and democratic reform leaders from the Middle East and Noth Africa
Thursday October 13th
2pm - 4:30pm
Metropolitan Building 5183
This event is for S-CAR community members only.
Please RSVP
Dr. Kevin Avruch, Dean of the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, will offer the opening remarks followed by some of his colleagues and faculty members. LDF participants will share an overview of their group's journey and aspirations. In Addition to that, there will be a series of small-group interactions with larger S-CAR's community to exchange thoughts and ideas about specific topics related to the Middle East.
LDF is a three-month program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State (MEPI) and run by World Learning. It provides young professionals and emerging leaders from across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) an opportunity and tools to create reforms within their home countries, particularly during these extremely challenging times.
We would like to welcome 22 emerging leaders from eight countries across the MENA region, including Jordan, Palestine, Israel, Morocco, Algeria, Tunis, Iraq, Lebanon. The participants are engaged back home in different civil society, political, and academic circles and committed to contributing to a better future in their countries and communities.
As we all know, the Middle East is going through critical political transitions with a painful reality in some countries. The reception is an opportunity for S-CAR community members to hear directly from these program participants about their realities, their commitments, and the challenges they are facing in the current situation. It is also a chance for the SCAR community to expand our networks, build future collaboration with these leaders and reaffirm our commitment to making a difference in the world through the vast knowledge and remarkable experience this school has to offer.
For more information about the LDF program, also Follow them on Facebook
This event is arranged by S-CAR PhD candidate Fakhira Halloun.
Fakhira Halloun is a Palestinian, citizen of Israel, the US Program Advisor to the LDF Program, as well as a PhD candidate at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (S-CAR), George Mason University. During her doctoral studies, Fakhira specialized in ethnic identity, power, and narrative, examining how these intertwine and play a role in intractable conflicts.
Fakhira is also a fellow researcher in the Narrative and Conflict Center at S-CAR, involved in a project aiming to map the narratives of the different ethnic identities in the conflicts in Syria and Iraq.
Fakhira has acquired considerable professional experience in conflict transformation, and specializes in facilitating dialogue between groups in conflict. She has also worked with teams evaluating various conflict transformation projects. Before beginning her doctoral studies, she had worked for many years educating for democracy and human rights, and developing the discussion about democracy and shared citizenship between diverse ethnic identities.