Bio

As an activist, facilitator, learning designer and community organizer in the broader field of alternative learning and regenerative living, I have 10 years of experience in the fields of education (democratic/critical/civic), social innovation and social development. I use different community arts methods, participatory research, adaptive leadership methods and agile tools to facilitate emergence, network/movement creation and policy change processes. I am based in Cairo, Egypt where I previously co-founded and directed Mesahat: Liberating Learning Spaces, as well as the School for Education Pioneers with Education Square, in addition to being a board member of the Cairo Institute for Liberal Arts and Sciences (CILAS) where I teach Alternative Pedagogies. I serve on the working groups of several international networks in the field of re-imagining, decolonizing and justice-based education, notably the Ecoversities Alliance, comprising more than 150 higher education institutions around the globe that aim to revive and reclaim diverse knowledge ecologies, with a focus on the global south. I completed my Master's degree in Education Science from the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University. My element is water and my life's encounters are crafted around the River Nile and its flow.

Current Career Focus:

In the next phase of my career, I am looking to take my grassroots work and some policy experience more into the fields of policy analysis, advocacy and research to design, lead and create system changing projects centering social justice, regenerative lifestyles and human dignity. I am opened to a myriad of sectorial focuses around the globe within the social domain.

Speaking and Delegation Engagements:

  • Panel Moderator: Unlearning within Structures of Certitude (higher education) | & New-Ancient Research Methods, Re-imagining Education Conference by Ecoversities Alliance, 2021

  • Speaker: On the Alternative Education Movement, Ecoversities International Gathering, Ecoversities Alliance , Mexico 2019

  • Keynote Speaker, How to Create Self-Organized Learning Environments and Cities Using Agile Tools, European Democratic Education Conference, Greece 2018

  • Speaker: 6 reasons why we need less schools not more, TEDxMinia, Egypt 2016

  • Speaker: Design Thinking in Education, RISE UP summit, Egypt 2015

  • Panel Moderator: hybrid social business models, Global Entrepreneurship Week, Egypt 2014

  • Speaker: using social innovation in Refugees Integration, Migration and Inclusion: Towards collaboration between Euro-Mediterranean Countries, Italy 2014


  • Delegate, Mujawaarah with teacher Munir Fasheh, Jordan 2019

  • Delegate, Study Trip, Innovative Education Initiatives, Mexico, 2019

  • Delegate, Adult Education and Lifelong Learning Movements - Study Trip, Danish Egyptian Dialogue Institute, Denmark 2018

  • Delegate, Civic Education Study Trip, Goethe Institute, Germany 2018

  • Fellow, Nahdet El-Mahrousa Social Enterprise Incubator, Egypt, 2018

  • Fellow: Social Innovation, IDEX Social Innovation Accelerator, India, 2016

  • Fellow: Hacking Education, Shikshantar: the People's Institute for Rethinking Education and Development, India, 2016

  • Egypt Youth Ambassador, FIKR 12 th Conference: Citizens and Governments, Arab Thought Foundation, United Arab Emirates, 2013

  • Egypt Youth Ambassador, FIKR 11 th Conference: Youth and Economic Participation, Arab Thought Foundation, United Arab Emirates, 2012

  • Egyptian Delegate, Education Reform and Best Practices in the Euro-Med Region Conference, University of Catania, Italy 2011

  • Egyptian Delegate, Two Months Intercultural Exchange Internship, AIESEC organization, Malaysia 2011