Our mini-grants winners were invited to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in July, 2016 to present their project ideas. The meeting in Alexandria was both an opportunity for youth to present their project ideas and receive their mini-grants. It was also a space for the youth to attend a series of workshops on topics such as social entrepreneurship, pitching, marketing, problem solving, social networking, big data and analytical techniques, group-based mentoring, business model innovation, and new product development methodology. The purpose of these workshops served to enhance the project management abilities and capacities of participants to better develop and lead their respective projects.

A number of other opportunities were available to the youth involved such as creating a greater sense of unity, diversity, and understanding between the different Arab cultures present at the meeting. One noteworthy social event hosted as part of the July meeting program was the “cultural night” which sought to showcase the varying and different cultures across the 10 participating countries. This event, through its attempt to bring together the participants in a more social rather than educational setting, symbolized the great diversity of cultures that exist in the Arab region. Through such social events, the YFC meeting in July also created an opportunity for youth to create friendships that now span across the Arab world.