MEPI Expands Alumni Network to Support Reformers Across the Region

MEPI alumni, numbering over 11,000, are contributing to the historic changes taking place in the Middle East and North Africa and regularly connect with each other to advance civil society and the cause of reform.  MEPI alumni include thousands of dedicated reform advocates, such as 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Tawakul Karman (Yemen), Egypt’s Dr. Azza Kamel, winner of the National Democratic Institute’s 2011 Democracy Award,  Egyptian activist “Facebook Girl” Esraa Abdel Fattah, and a number of elected officials dedicated to positive change.

In support of their efforts, MEPI has recently expanded the MEPI Alumni Network to develop an active cadre of linked civil society and private sector advocates.  The Network is developing local chapters in Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Yemen, and the West Bank and Gaza, to provide alumni with opportunities to hone their advocacy skills, link up with other regional alumni, and find ways to become involved in their communities as volunteers, leaders, and reformers.  MEPI plans to launch more local chapters in the future.

MEPI recently concluded its March training  workshop for newly hired Local Chapter Alumni Coordinators, who will guide the local chapters and MEPI alumni in their countries.  The workshop was designed to provide Alumni Coordinators with training and guidance on launching and running active Alumni Chapters that respond to the needs of MEPI Alumni.  Additionally, MEPI recently launched a website and networking platform to bring alumni from the entire region together in an interactive virtual space http://www.mepialumni.org.