Presentation of the Program
Born in 2012, in the wake of the democratic uprisings that swept the Arab World, SafirLab is a program intended to support the civil society engaged in the issues of citizenship, local governance and the media.
Year after year, SafirLab offers assistance for about 20 project initiators (aged between 20 and 30 years) from the MENA region, committed to the issues of civil society and the media. This program provides them with a tools kit (training sessions on project management, pitching workshops, personalized mentoring, as well as professional meetings) aiming at developing and strengthening their initiatives in the long term.
Education, women’s rights, health, new media… The projects of the participants in SafirLab are distinguished by their ability to bring social changes to communities.
In 2016, SafirLab will bring together around 20 project holders in Paris, from October 26 till November 6. Three additional countries will be also joining this program in 2016: Algeria, Lebanon, and Palestinian territories.
Objectives of the Program
The objective of SafirLab is to create a sustainable dialogue with the youth, aged between 20 and 30 years, who are committed to the issues of citizenship, local governance and the media. Designed as a breeding ground for projects, it supports these young people in their journey to realize their professional or associative project by offering them mentoring and personalized tools and methods. SafirLab also strives to enable the emergence of a network based on common values and shared experience.
Social innovation, at the heart of SafirLab 2016
Since it fully matches the intrinsic values of the program, social innovation will be at the heart of this edition. Hence, the projects should include suggestions about social innovation and meet, fully or partly, the following criteria:
– Meeting a social or societal need
– Involvement of the relevant stakeholders
– Collective adoption of the values
– Strong links with the countries
– Innovation through the economic model
Participants
Project beneficiaries are young people aged between 20 and 30, from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestinian Territories, Tunisia and Yemen. The 2016 edition of this program will bring together a maximum of 25 participants coming from these 9 countries.
Calendar
Below are the key dates of the 2016 edition of SafirLab program:
• Launching of the online application platform : Monday May 17, 2016
• Closing the online application platform : Sunday, June 19 at 04:00 pm UTC
• Contacting the shortlisted applicants : Starting June 20
• Selection interviews (via video conference) : Starting June 20
• Publication of the final list of participants in SafirLab 2016 (25 participants from the 9 above-mentioned countries) : Monday July 18
• SafirLab Program in Paris : from October 26 till November 6, 2016
