en.v: Promoting Social Activism & Youth Engagement in Kuwait

A reader asked me to post this, so here goes.  It sounds like an interesting group and I'm all about promoting efforts that I believe in - especially if it is for the betterment of Kuwait, my second home.  (Call it my "give back" after  previous posts in reference general drunkenness and debauchery.  ROCK ON!)  On a more serious note, I find it  little sad that grass-roots groups like this working for the betterment of their own country, can get grants through the US Department of State and not their own governments.  More should be done to that end.  (Perhaps I'm wrong and there are grant initiatives going on in Kuwait that I'm not aware of - if you know, write to me.)

Voice for Success: Promoting Social Activism & Youth Engagement in Kuwait

 

What is “success”? For most people, success is having a high-paying job, a fancy car, or a nice house. But at en.v, we believe in a different definition of success. It’s undeniable that Kuwait today faces many challenges. Yet, most of us tend to rant rather than take decisive action. There are, however, a growing number of committed individuals and young organizations who are ready to take up the challenge for a better tomorrow. Voice for Success, a program initiated by en.v in collaboration with The Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), aims to celebrate these people’s achievements and give them greater visibility in hopes of inspiring others, particularly Kuwaiti youth, to follow in their footsteps.

Through the Voice for Success program, en.v has been developing short videos and articles illustrating initiatives that contribute to the social development of Kuwait. en.v then promotes this content on its online news portal as well as through Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube amongst others. Let us begin our journey with Faisal Al Fuhaid, founder of EQUAIT, who in his video report tells us about how and why he decided to get involved in the fight against bullying and discrimination in Kuwaiti schools. PhD Candidate Dalal Al Abdulrazzak also tells us an insightful story about the devastating consequences of practices like shrimp trawling and over-fishing on Kuwait’s marine life. Eighteen-year-old Hiba Arshad is the founder of I AM Challenge Kuwait – an initiative in which young people commit themselves to wearing the same T-Shirt for a whole year! Through their volunteering efforts, Abdullah al Khonaini and Mohammad Al Mulla of Sout Al Kuwait educate the general public about their constitutional rights and the role of civic participation in protecting them. In a series of Voice for Success Articles, we feature Shamlan Al Bahar, a young Kuwaiti social entrepreneur who has dedicated his professional career to the promotion of youth entrepreneurship. Fajer Qasem, creator of the Goodwill Calendar and the Green Habits Campaign, is also a model citizen that tirelessly attempts to promote greater awareness and activism amongst her fellow Kuwaitis.

Show your support for these inspiring young activists by sharing their achievements with your network of friends and family!

Want further inspiration? Check out all of the videos and articles created to date for the Voice for Success program at: www.voiceforsuccess.envearth.com

About Voice for Success

Voice for Success is a program initiated by en.v in collaboration with The Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI). It aims to promote social activism in Kuwait by giving promising young activists greater visibility through targeted media platforms and campaigns throughout the course of 2011 and 2012.The main objectives of the program are to raise awareness about the most pressing social and environmental challenges of our time and encourage creativity, innovation and greater civic participation amongst the younger generations.

About en.v

en.v (a subsidiary of El Boutique Creative Group www.elboutique.com) is an initiative dedicated to social responsibility in the Arab world. en.v’s primary objective is to seek out public sector bodies, private sector and civil society organizations in the region, document their efforts, and create interactivity between them towards developing a more thought-conscious society. Using formats that are appealing to the masses, en.v strives to develop mediums that entities can utilize as platforms for communicating their social efforts and engaging their respective stakeholder communities.

About MEPI

The Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) is a unique program designed to engage directly with and invest in the peoples of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). MEPI works to create vibrant partnerships with citizens to foster the development of pluralistic, participatory, and prosperous societies throughout the MENA region. MEPI partners with local, regional and international non-governmental organizations, the private sector, academic institutions, and governments. More information about MEPI can be found at: www.mepi.state.gov.

To Learn More:

Visit:

www.voiceforsuccess.envearth.com

Join en.v online:www.envearth.com

Join the en.v Facebook Fan Page:

http://www.facebook.com/envinitiative

Follow us on Twitter:www.twitter.com/env_initiative

Watch us on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/envearth

For more information please contact:

The en.v Initiative
Tel: +965 2252- 4614
Fax: +965 2252-4615
Email: env@envearth.com
Web: www.envearth.com