What Do You Think Your Role Is?

One of the most important things I learnt during my internship with Intel Company is that to develop our societies and the world, we should unable all people reap the full benefits of the knowledge economy. At that time I didn’t know how this can be achieved until I started studying Entrepreneurship and social-entrepreneurship at Kelly School of Business, Indiana University, USA. There, I remember one of my professors of Business Ethics telling us: Nowadays, no entrepreneur can succeed without having this attitude of waking up every morning and asking what’s in my business for the people.

It’s undeniable that social-entrepreneurship and innovation are changing the world now better than any former kind of business simply because social-entrepreneurs don’t only sympathize but innovate to get people involved in this process of change, self and community empowerment. To talk about the role of national, regional and international institutions in stimulating innovation in social entrepreneurship we should first define what these institutions are.  For me, they are individual innovators, businesses, academia, organizations and governments. In fact, it’s high time these agents begun to collaborate in new ways for inclusive innovations to enrich people lives. Communities thrive in a sustainable way only if innovation expands the circle of options for social-enterprises to better solve problems and here comes the role of schools and universities to teach students and prepare them to bring about change via new approaches driving access, new thinking and new skills to inspire disruption. It’s doable through enriching their curricular, updating them, and creating the suitable environment to do so.

Development is about propelling powerful economies as well as promoting strong societies. In other words, empowering innovative social enterprises and help creating more and more of them which is actually the role of both government and businesses. They should reduce barriers to social change and foster market-creating innovation. If this happens, it will for sure have a profound effect on the efficiency of social-entrepreneurial practices by shifting to a mature step of impacting the world while investing in our generation and fuelling our passion to make of the earth a better place to live.

In order to improve the quality of social entrepreneurship, democratizing innovation is a terrific way to give more space for innovators to bring out what they have to the planet. Organizations play a key role in making people connect to their potential as creators of new solutions to the whipping social issues. By advocating for the necessity of having a social part in every business and creating more social innovators, organizations are simply creating a ripple effect, widely expanding opportunities to larger scope of people and nations allowing innovation to evolve any action.

To realize all that and make sure to stimulate innovation in social entrepreneurship, a strong commitment of all the stated partners is required along their innovation and learning transformation work. The fusion of the civil society, academic institutions, business and states leads to creating a better world.

why should we educate women?

1991 marks the beginning of the Black Deceny in my country. Civil war, restriction of mobility, terrorism… Etc and for sure women were to  bear most of the great suffering of that period _and still_. Education was one of the sectors that declined because of the war. Girls were prevented from going to school. When some people were so afraid that their girls will be killed or kidnapped, thing that happened so often at that time; others  _mainly those who were supporting the Islamist regime_ didn’t allow their daughters to attend their classes claiming that learning is not for women and that it is dishonourable to let your daughter go outside.

I was enough lucky to be born to highly educated parents who knew very well how to take me out of that bloody cocoon. They were aware that only education is the key to protect me and make of me an effective citizen. Yet, my father insisted on teaching me more than what I took in school. Volunteering, traveling, learning about what my academic curriculum didn’t cover like women’s rights made of me the woman I am today. Now, I do realise how important it is to provide an inclusive education for girls and women for a stable and prosperous world.

• A HEALTHIER FAMILY? THEN, EDUCATE WOMEN!

In Algeria _just like in the other MENA countries_, sex education is considered as a taboo. Hence, it is not taught in schools. Parents, decision makers and almost everyone in my community neglect the relevance of such kind of education to better girls’ understanding of their bodies and gender roles and know how to protect themselves. With such an education, we are preserving the human part of us, valuing life, setting about family and community values, building a safer world for girls and founding healthier families.

SO LET’S INCLUDE SEX EDUCATION IN OUR SCHOOLS AND TEACH WOMEN ABOUT THAT.

• A STABLE FAMILY? EQUALITY? THEN, EDUCATE WOMEN!

In the Algerian family, women _especially mothers_ play a central role in protecting their families’ stability. Defining each member’s rights and duties, reconsidering women’s rights in the family and practicing them is a terrific way towards a stable family.

A women living in a patriarchal society is never aware of her rights and always afraid of raising her voice unless she is well_educated. Due to the wrong interpretations of religious texts, the patriarchal nature of our families, the harmful traditions and poverty, so many women didn’t get access to education. They had never been introduced to their rights. All what they received was the inherited fear and unconditional submission to the unfair family and social norms. A woman is never independent. She is always inferior comparing to man even if she is better. A son’s sin is a pride but daughter’s is a crime for which she deserves being barbarically killed. HIS success is a great achievement but HERS is never remarkable. 

The bright version of this terrifying image of the Algerian family also exists. A version where a mother is the pillar of the home, the effective agent and the first educator; a daughter is equally important as her brother and have the same opportunities. It only needs to educate women about their rights.

IT IS ALL ABOUT THE FAMILY’S STABILUITY WHICH IS FUNDAMENTALLY ABOUT EDUCATED WOMEN. SO LET’S EDUCATE THEM ABOUT THEIR RIGHTS FOR MORE STABLE FAMILIES.

An aducated woman means a peaceful world.

An educated woman means less poverty.

An educated woman means more production.

 

How Does The Freedom Traveller Change My Life?

In December2013, I took part of the BMENA Initiative 2013 in Amman, Jordan where I actively helped putting recommendations for the G8 and the BMENA governments to economically, socially and politically empower women. The room was full of energetic Arab activists at different levels who are contributing to shape a better world for women. Listening to what they are doing in their countries was so inspirational but none of the initiatives was really as attractive as Momal Moshtak’s. A young Pakistani woman (probably the only non-arab participant in the Women Empowerment Committee) who thought of all those girls who cannot step outside their homes or cannot travel freely and safely. She was enough courageous to confront the problem and boosted her creativity challenging all the social and religious norms that limited women’s right to mobily. She travelled the world, baked around Europe and created the Freedom Traveller: A platform where female travelers can map their travel experiences, inspire and support each other.

• THE ME BEFORE JOINING THE FREEDOM TRAVELLER:                                                                               Before participating in the BMENA Initiative, I was already so active in EWA ( Empowerment For Women In Algeria). As a partnership officer and program manager, I worked in creating and developing non-formal programs, trainings and workshops aiming to foster girls’ capacities and raise awareness about human and women rights. I almost thought of all what concerns us: forging a generation of women entrepreneurs, incorporating them in political life and protect them from all kinds of violence (domestic, verbal, physical… Etc). Yet,I never tackled this issue of women mobility though I myself suffered from it.  I was born during a harsh bloody period in Algeria where traveling was kind of impossible even for men. My family lost two daughters who were assassinated in their way back from university. Everyone was terrified to the point that they restricted me and my cosins. I still remember how sad I used to feel evey time my father prevented me from joining my friends in my school’s summer camps. Growing up, I had to drive every day for more than half an hour to reach my university. Sometimes, I had to take the bus early in the morning. Whenever I am alone in the street or in public transportation there is someone harnessing me. I never traveled alone till the age of 18.
• THE ME AFTER JOINING THE FREEDOM TRAVELLER:                                                                                         Momal opened my eyes wide on a critical issue I never considered before. I officially joined The Freedom Traveller in 2014. I created the Algerian club. Doing exactly like Momal was a bit hard on me because I live in a small city with nearly nowhere to go. Alternatively, I Went for traveling and sharing my travel stories through my university magazine or EWA’s regular meetings.Everywhere I go, I tell people about the TFT and enjoy the fact that I am travelling not merely for fun and getting knowledge but to advocate a fundamental right of mine and all women of the world. TFT changed my perception on traveling. Today, I am not a traveler but a COURAGEOUS FREEDOM TRAVELLER.✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈
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how to become a global CITIZEN

I was born to a Berber family that taught me to love my Thamazgha more than anything else. I never got exposed to the out side world though I was well_traveled during my childhood. Yet, the places I had been to weren’t that different than mine. I discovered the world through my grand mother’ stories about my ancestors and the Romans.

• LEARN LANGUAGES AND LET THE WORLD COME TO YOU!

I was raised in a bilingual family. I learnt Arabic at the age of 2. I saw Paris even before being to France through Ernest Hemingway’s books. Edward Said and Jurji Zaydane took me to the Middle East, to the magic Amman and Damas, the happy Beirut and Biblus, to the mysterious Pyramids and Petra and to the holy Mecca and Jerusalem. Guess what! I even had been to New York, London, Scotland and so many more by learning English.

• VOLUNTEER IN A DIFFERENT COUNTRY AND EMBRACE ITS CULTURE!

I never traveled alone till the age of 18 when I volunteered in an English teaching project in Tunisia. That wasn’t the first time there but definitely the first time being fully responsible for my own safety. I always believed that Algeria and Tunisia were so similar especially that I live near the Tunisian borders. A month and a half btween Leswek and Mennouba was enough to make of me a new person with a new nationality. I even started authentically belonging to it. I could get incorporated into the Tunisian society and tried how it feels to be a Tunisian. Since that summer, I never missed a chance to travel and try new cultures: from North Africa to Europe, America, Asia and the Middle East.

• NEVER HESITATE TO TASTE NEW FOOD!

Food, yeah! I can’t tell how many cities I fell in love with through food: Pizza, Pasta, Maklouba, Pain perdu, Kimtchi….etc This paved the way for me to know way more than gastronomy. So, start by enjoying a delicious exotic meal, dig more into its origins and earn the the Global Citizen passport.

“You are here to Enrich the WORLD”, that’s how you can really be a global citizen. It’s way more than traveling the world. It is feeling the world, tasting the world and offering it all you can to make it better.