Menna Moustafa
Menna received her bachelor’s degree in political science and economics from Cairo University. Since 2013, she has been involved in the development field through various voluntary and professional work assignments. She also participated in a number of extracurricular activities such as Enactus, AIESEC, and TEDx. She gained a diverse set of skills in research, facilitation, projects, event management, and intercultural dialogue as a participant of the Erasmus+ exchange program and Safarni initiative. After graduation, she worked with INJAZ, Banati Foundation, and the Egyptian Center for Public Policy Studies before recently joining GIZ Egypt through the Lazord Fellowship. She is also an entrepreneurship guru, being the co-founder of Career180, a startup which was amongst the top 5 at an INJAZ Egypt women entrepreneurship competition. She has also succeeded in implementing the, “Egypt Career Summit,” an annual summit in the field of career development. Menna aspires to pursue her post-graduate studies in sustainable development.
Bishoy Sadek
After high school, Bishoy was selected among 50 students to receive a scholarship, fully funded by USAID, to pursue his bachelor’s degree in political science from the British University in Egypt. As part of the scholarship package, he was selected to study abroad in the USA. Accordingly, he was placed at University of California, Davis, where he co-authored a research paper outlining the externalities of civil wars in Syria, Myanmar and Sudan. This research was presented by the professor at the United Nations Office at Geneva. Afterwards, he volunteered with Catholic Relief Services, Egypt, and worked on an educational project funded by UNHCR. Ever since he started studying political science, he realized how politics negatively affect the destiny of many people who are caught in the crossfire between different ideologies, beliefs, interests and leaders. Thus, he believes that it is his duty to make use of his education and knowledge to help relieve those who have been negatively impacted. Through the Lazord Fellowship, he is currently placed at Save the Children International in Egypt where he is providing refugees and asylum seekers with appropriate job opportunities to enhance their economic and social resilience in an attempt to reduce the risk of unsafe migration.
Ayman Al-Husseini
Ayman has a bachelor’s degree in political science from Cairo University and a degree in liberal arts from Cairo Institute for Liberal Arts and Sciences. He is interested in different forms of learning experiences, and has been involved in a number of alternative educational and research projects. One of these projects is Mubtadaa’, which aims to use alternative pedagogies to introduce social sciences and humanities to teens between the ages of 14 and 18. He has been working as a translator for more than two years, and believes in the beauty of the translation process.
Amany Shalaby
Amany is a Lazord Fellow at the John D.Gerhart Center at AUC. She has a passion for education and public health. She is a program specialist at the health management and research unit at the Center for Development Services (CDS). She has more than 5 years of experience in several development sectors: health, education, refugees, and entrepreneurship.
On the public health side, she managed campaigns about HCV and donating blood and facilitated many workshops focused on health awareness. She was a manager of the campaign, “A village free from virus C,” in cooperation with the Egyptian Liver Hospital in Port Said governorate villages.
Regarding the education field, she is a freelance facilitator and coordinator for children’s camps focusing on science, life skills, and self-directed education. She has worked in this field with many organizations working in development such as CARE International, John D. Gerhart Center (AUC), SUIP, FARD Foundation, and Goethe Institute. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from the Faculty of Science at Port Said University, graduating with a grade of excellent with honors. Amany’s dream is to, “Make a small impact to make people’s lives better.”
Amal Abdelmoneim
Amal hails from Beheira Governorate in the Egyptian countryside. She is interested in development and wants to be part of changing her society and country. She sees that the potential for change lies in the hands of young people. She has been active and experienced in the field of education. Throughout her life, she has faced situations that have helped her discover her passion in this field. She believes that life always fascinates her with challenging situations that shape her personality, change her thinking, and make her become a more rational person. Her father gave her the tools she needed to fight for what she believed in; she learned that work was not only for men, but also for women.
In 2015, Amal volunteered for 11 entities, including local and international development institutions, charities, student activities, and youth initiatives. In 2016, she launched her, “step by step,” initiative to empower youth from Beheira Governorate for college life and to prepare them for the job market thereafter. In late 2016, she discovered that she was interested in all aspects of empowering women and defending their rights. Through Y-PEER Egypt and Save the Children, she trained more than 4,000 people of both sexes on issues of gender-based violence. She has travelled to 16 governorates in Egypt to raise awareness of development issues such as education, peace building, reproductive health, adolescent health, and youth rehabilitation for the labor market between provinces, cities and rural areas. In 2017, she was accepted as a participant of a training that was organized by the German Foreign Ministry, on project management and the empowerment of girls in Germany . She was selected as the role model for girls in Beheira Governorate and was invited on the Alexandria Channel on Egyptian TV.
Amal has obtained many volunteer and scientific experiences and expertises through her affiliation with 4 different universities. She graduated from the Faculty of Sharia and Law at Al-Azhar University; she obtained the diploma of non-governmental organizations at the Faculty of Politics and Economics at Cairo University; she is currently in her first year of her master’s in public policies and evaluation of development projects at the Faculty of Commerce of Assiut University; and she is a fellow of the Lazord Fellowship at the American University in Cairo. Thanks to her job placement through the Lazord Fellowship at CARE International, Amal is continuing her career in empowering women of different nationalities and defending their rights as she works with CARE’s Women’s Rights Program.
Abdallah Esam
Abdallah has had a long-standing passion for development in the field of disability. In March 2018, Abdallah founded the first cerebral palsy football team in Egypt; its aim is to support people with cerebral palsy to reach their life potential through sports and active recreation. He hopes to be a social entrepreneur and initiate changes that achieve huge and sustainable impact in the community. He saw the Lazord Fellowship as a great opportunity to gain more experience in the civic field. Through the Lazord Fellowship, he is currently a program assistant at Rise Egypt, a new kind of organization – one that believes in the capacity, creativity, and ingenuity of Egyptians, and those who love Egypt, to unleash innovative solutions to the country’s biggest development challenges.
Nourhan Refaat
Nourhan graduated from the English department at the Faculty of Education at Ain Shams University. She believes that the development field consists of work by the people to the people. Nour works from her heart. She works for youth empowerment on many levels by working with different INGOs. She defines herself as adventurer who seeks to discover this world, but according to her, the best adventure that anyone can ever experience is to discover oneself. Nour started her career very early during college. She thought that she was working to help people and to satisfy their needs, but what she discovered was that work feeds one’s soul and make each one of us more human. She loves talking with people from different backgrounds, experiences, and nationalities. Everyone has a story that deserves to be heard. You can find Nour working with youth of varying ages, helping them to map out their future by determining their needs and assets.
Mosaab Mahmoud
Mosaab is an electrical engineer who believes that engineering is an art of understanding the world we live in and a way to solve its difficulties. In 2016, he graduated from the Faculty of Engineering at Al-Azhar University, and since 2013, he has worked as a field researcher on a cultural documentation project with the border tribes who live south of the Red Sea. He was involved with two different civil society associations and had the chance to attend Namaa’ School for Sustainable Development during the summer of 2012. As a student of Namaa’, he developed his ability to understand the different political and economic maps that shape our society. He is an avid reader who is interested in poetry, anthropology, and literature, and aspires to become a professional writer.
Menna Roshdy
Menna Roshdy is a human rights and women’s rights activist. She graduated with honors from the American University in Cairo (AUC) with a degree in Political Science and a double minor in Arabic and Islamic Civilization and History. She is currently pursuing her Master’s degree in International Human Rights Law at AUC. She is a socially engaged student, participating in several organizations and working with different university offices. She was one of the organizers of an anti-sexual harassment campaign, a CBL project between AUC and Resala Association for Charity. She worked at the Office of Student Well-being assisting disabled students with their academic lives. She also assisted disabled students as a volunteer with the Helm organization. She is currently working on a project at the Center of Egyptian Women Legal Assistance (CEWLA).
Maxwell Botrous
Throughout Maxwell Botrous’ career he has joined various institutions at home and abroad that operate locally, regionally, and/or internationally. These experiences have helped him form new skills and sharpen already existent ones. On the top of the list of his acquired skills lies working with different nationalities, the capacity to communicate in diverse settings, and cultural sensitivity. Majoring in political science was a natural fit for him. While in high school, he started a journey of career discovery by creating his own political discourse channel through rap music. This channel caught the attention of regional organizations such as the League of Arab States, and eventually even reaching international organizations such as the United Nations’ World Food Programme. Through his communication skills and interest in politics he finds great joy in working in the field creating new bonds and relationships with people from different backgrounds while, at the same time, applying analytical research and reporting skills. He is passionate about having an impact on society and regards it as a self-rewarding process that fulfills his aspirations and achieves dual goals of personal and communal interests. His future goal is to create an NGO that focuses on conflict resolution and spreading a culture of tolerance and diversity appreciation.