I share, Therefore I am – MEM summit LUGANO
Traveling and attending international training was always a great way for me to best learning about myself and others as well as sharpening my skills and acquiring new ones. This is why when I received the letter of admission into the MEM summit; program funded by the Switzerland Government and implemented by Universita Della Siverizza Italiana (USI) I was thrilled, and my mind instantly filled with lot of questions. Switzerland was a dream country for me to visit and discover the other side of it other best chocolate and beautiful nature. I was selected along with more than 60 professionals, civil society activist, lawyers, teachers and young change makers from Middle East and Mediterranean countries with different experiences and backgrounds. The summit was a platform to exchange deas, experiences and mainly challenges in our countries and how to best address them to decision makers.
The summit targets the MENA region given that this is characterized by high political tension, conflicting interests, climate challenges, and refuges issues. Yet it complexity along with its richness made it a laboratory to produce new models of citizenship and fostering new democratic values by claiming a peaceful coexistence life.
The MEM Summer Summit is composed of two parts: an eight-day Seminar and a two-day Forum. It is designed to provide a free space and environment for a real and positive exchange across borders, cultures and languages. The Summit offers for us as young change makers a safe space of dialogue for to lay out our vision for our common future by starting from present. Morocco was represented at the Summit by 5 Young Moroccan Change-Makers who are working in impacting their communities through initiatives and projects.
I was so lucky to be part and joined the group of AMAZING Change Makers from the region. The MEM Summit approach is so creative and unique in a sense that it encourages the theory of young change- makers should have a word in the policy decision that shapes their lives. During the Summit I have learned so Much through workshops and focus groups and even more during the meals break. The other interesting aspect of the MEM Summit is as young Change-Makers we have to work in groups and come up with a project idea and turn it into project proposal; It was challenging as I was in a group of 5 different countries means five different contexts, cultures and issues but worth it as we familiarized ourselves with the political realities in our countries and the most important thing is that we are all young change makers in our countries. The most interesting part of this process is presenting our project proposal for Suisse Ambassadors in the Region. I was selected by my group to present the project
One of the Highlights and best moments for me during my participation at the MEM Summit was sharing the panel Change through dialogue with Mr. Ignacio Cassis, Federal Advisor to head of the foreign affairs department of the Confederation and Mr.Carmelo Abela, Minister of foreign affairs of the republic of Malta, to dialogue with young change-Makers an intense debate on global and regional issues during which we as young change-makers we have been able to expose their visions of the Mediterranean Middle East region and present our ideas to the two ministers.
Food is always an interesting thing to try in order to discover a country. The workshop “Resilient gardening and harvesting conversations” started with an interesting introduction by Pierluigi Zanchi (Tigusto). Afterwards the participants were divided in eight cooking classes: bread and tomatoes; not the usual salad; beverages atelier; pasta factory; dessert workstation; sauces laboratory; setting up tables; Luca’s oven. Also the President of the Swiss National Council Marina Carobbio joined the group. A special thanks to Afiordigusto Biobistrot and Cronoparty & Services for the important collaboration, to our special guest for her participation and to all young change-maker for their great motivation and delicious dishes.
