MEPI Alumni Events Flourish in the Region

This February might well be called “Alumni Month,” as more than 350 past and present participants in MEPI programs and activities convened at two large conferences in the region.

In Marrakech, Morocco, more than 100 university students from 15 Middle East and North African countries and territories gathered February 4-8 for an alumni conference of the 2007 MEPI Student Leaders program.

The following week, at the Dead Sea in Jordan, more than 250 people from across the region met February 12-14 for the first MEPI Alumni Summit, titled “Building a Network of Reformers.”

The Marrakech conference was the fourth such event for participants of MEPI’s Student Leaders Institutes program, which each summer provides select students an opportunity to take part in a six-week program at leading universities in the United States designed to develop their leadership skills and expand their understanding of American civil society and the democratic process. 

Past alumni conferences have been held in Tunis, Abu Dhabi, and Cairo.  These conferences enable participants to demonstrate what they learned in the summer institutes and how they have implemented or intend to implement these skills once they return to their local communities.

This year in Marrakech, students were reunited with fellow participants and university representatives from the five U.S. host institutions – Dickinson College, Montana State University, Benedictine University, Georgetown University, and the University of Delaware.  They also heard from speakers, learned how to write grant proposals, and presented their ideas for civic engagement projects.

Meanwhile, the MEPI Alumni Summit in Jordan brought together not only students and other future leaders throughout the region but also directors of local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other seasoned civil society activists.  The Summit offered MEPI alumni members an opportunity to meet and share innovative ideas and practices with their counterparts in every country in the Middle East and North Africa.

During the Summit, participants took part in panel discussions with expert speakers and engaged in working groups tailored to their individual interests and expertise.  They also devised strategies for action around a core of democratic reform objectives, including civil society development, NGO laws, entrepreneurship, and women’s empowerment.

MEPI hopes that these and other alumni members will continue to stay active, both on their own and through the newly developed MEPI alumni chapters, promoting democratic reforms in each of their home countries.