Anastasia Leontariti

I’m Anastasia Leontariti and I am 24 years old. I have studied Social Policy at Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences in Athens, Greece.

During my studies I have develop a vivid passion about social issues and mobilization of the civic society in Greece. In my academic years I have attended a lot of seminars about social issues like homelessness, poverty, migration and sustainability. Especially, during my internship at the last semester of my university studies, I have emphasized in the social issue of homelessness and its different shapes, through many projects and social street work.

Furthermore, in this period of time, I have taken part in the Lazord fellowship, and I am working as an Operations manager at Odyssea NGO.

Hamza Ben Maaoui

Hamza has a bachelor’s degree in physiotherapy from the Higher School of Health Sciences and Techniques of Monastir, and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in health law. He first started being involved in civil society during his early years in college, because he wanted to support and improve his community during the critical times that his country was facing. One of his first experiences in civil society was during the first year of the Tunisian Youth Parliament where he was part of the 60 young Tunisians who had been selected to discuss the main issues facing Tunisia during the first couple of years after the revolution.

In 2014, he participated in the legislative and presidential elections by volunteering with the Tunisian Association for the Integrity and Democracy of Elections, an organization that aims to promote and protect democratic values, particularly the right to vote. During the municipal elections of 2018, he participated in an exploratory mission organized by the high independent authority for elections in collaboration with other international NGO’s for representatives of electoral management bodies from different Arab countries.

Hamza has also worked for two other organizations. The first organization’s objectives was to make sports more accessible to the general public, and to raise awareness for the importance of sports for our physical and mental health. He was a member of the organizing committee of the second edition of his hometown’s half marathon and has volunteered for other big sporting events such as the African basketball championships. The second organization, Help Me Learn, is an educational, cultural, and social organization which tries to improve the level and conditions of children in disadvantaged schools by creating libraries and cultural clubs, and providing care for students with special needs.

For his placement, he works with the Fondation de France and the Association des Tunisiens des Grandes Écoles (ATUGE) on a program called Youth Solidarity in the Mediterranean, which consists of an annual call for projects that support professional integration of marginalized youth and the creation of sponsored activities for youth.

Qusai Tayseer Al Amayrih

Qusai studied business economics in college. His passion was to work with youth, so upon graduating from Tafila Technical University, he looked for an opportunity that would allow him to continue to work with young people. The Lazord Fellowship gave him this opportunity; through the fellowship and his placement at INJAZ, Qusai had real hands-on experience with young people, his work being to connect them with job opportunities. Since 2014, he has worked hard on decreasing the rate of unemployment in Jordan.

Salma Karem

Salma has a bachelor’s degree in political science, and has a passion for making a positive impact on people’s lives, especially those who are in vulnerable situations or living on the margins of their societies. This is why she focuses mainly on refugee empowerment and providing access to quality education for all.

Her passion for civic engagement and education drove her to participate in many activities during her college years, including being a student union member and leading a team to design a mini-curriculum for a series of workshops that targeted first year university students, aiming to engage them with their new environment in college. After graduation, she joined the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) to work on their educational projects funded by UNHCR to help refugee children have access to education in Egypt, and was highly involved with their projects regarding child protection.

Through the Lazord Fellowship, Salma was placed at the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. She is working on their Employment Promotion Project, where she is continuing her passion in creating opportunities by helping technical and vocational graduates access the labor market.

Ghaida AlQudah

Ghaida has over six years of experience working with nonprofit organizations in the area of youth development and engagement with a focus on civic education and youth employability. She has actively participated in community development activities and campaigns; Ghaida worked on a youth-focused mass media campaign with UNESCO Amman Office and other national campaigns with UNFPA Youth Network in Jordan. Through her work she has facilitated around 100 sessions on democracy, human rights, gender, and conflict resolution. In addition, she has trained youth on advanced advocacy skills to influence the public discourse by well-organized grassroots campaigns.

Ghaida has attended several trainings and workshops in the MENA region and Europe on the topic of civic engagement, debate, local governance, and strategic planning. She is currently working at a youth empowerment program for crisis-affected Syrian youth in Jordan with an INGO, providing learning pathways to improve livelihoods, increase social engagement, and further education.

Ghaida endeavors to support youth to become active citizens, and to provide them with the knowledge and tools they need to contribute positively to their communities.

Reem Bassem Fouad Mikhail

Reem is a young woman who has more than 8 years of international development experience. She is a professional consultant with a background in social-psychology, public policy, and administration, with a focus on the management of development programs, as well as economic development. She has worked on three different continents on projects pertaining to engaging the private sector in the development agenda, and recently specialized her expertise on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Reem recently returned to Egypt after a Fulbright exchange at Michigan State University.