Meshwary Ambassador today, political leader tomorrow

Shahd Naeem is only an 18-year-old but has the determination and commitment of a seasoned and active member of the community. Shahd was born in Egypt after her parents fled their country more than 20 years ago.

Shahd was an undergraduate when she joined the Meshwary training and skilling programme and she is now a proud Meshwary Ambassador.

“I feel so happy and proud when I engage with Egyptian and non-Egyptian children. I provide them with the life skills I have learned myself and seeing them develop every day and putting their differences aside makes me so hopeful for a future without discriminations.”

“As refugees and migrants, we are having our aspirations, our ambitions, we are having our dreams… we are always looking for safety and stability, like everyone. We are looking to have social connection with our neighbors and our community. We want to have a bright future. It was really thanks to Meshwary that I felt included in the Egyptian society, and that I overcame my fears.”

“I really changed over the years; you know… I used to be an introvert. And now I am a totally different personality, who likes to interact with others, I am capable of identifying my own ambitions and aspirations and to think about the best way to reach my goals.”

“My hope for the future is to become a political leader, but I also want to be part of a society where no one is – or even feels! – left behind. In that sense, for the self-confidence and the hopes, joining Meshwary programme was probably the best decision I made in my life so far!”

Led by the Ministry of Youth and Sports and supported by UNICEF in collaboration with Allianz Egypt as well as development partners, Meshwary aims at promoting young people socio-economic empowerment, through a package of skills that include life and employability, innovation, and social entrepreneurship skills in addition to career guidance services to contribute to young people’s employability skilling. Under Meshwary, the skills development programme has equipped thousands of young people, Egyptians as well as migrants and refugees.

Since Meshwary started in 2008, the programme has reached over 400,000 young women and men from 15 provinces across the country.

The network of adolescents and youth (A&Y) ambassadors of “Meshwary” that Shahd joined is gathering prominent young people from different nationalities, to promote their engagement as agents of change.