Yaumena Group
11, Place Saint Julien
06500 Menton
France
- Arts
- Democracy and community development
- International/Cultural relations
- Research
- Youth and education
The Yaumena Dialogues are the first step towards making the voice of the youth
heard on the most pertinent issues in the MENA region. Our team has completed
a comprehensive analysis of debate, conference, and talk formats in order to
include and synthesize the aspects that will be most conducive to a reciprocal
dialogue between the parties involved. The planned dialogues will set the stage
and tone for a larger conference to be hosted in the second half of 2014.
Our main goals and objectives are :
• Develop Yaumena at universities in the MENA region : include several participants of
partner universities in the dialogues and Forum in order to share and compare points
of view.
• Create a « document of action », a collection of solutions suggested and discussed
throughout the year, which will be submitted to various institutions, including NGOs
and research centres.
• Develop the branches Yaumena Press and Yaumena Art, by increasing the number
of articles published and by organising events for different art forms (music, dance,
painting, etc.).
The main topic that the partner universities of Yaumena are going to tackle throughout the academic year 2014-2015 is Education in the MENA region. If we take a look at the majority of the issues within the MENA, it is possible to link them to the drawbacks of the educational system in these countries.
The format of the dialogue is designed to enable such interaction; it creates the opportunity
for the audience to orient the conversation as opposed to excluding it to the invited speaker.
• Plan of a Yaumena Dialogue :
Participants : 1 spécialiste, 2 students who are directly involved/linked to the subject of the
dialogue, 1 moderator.
First Part :
• presentation of the subject in question by the 1st student
• presentation of the main thesis question by the 2nd student
• comments and reaction by the expert
Second Part :
• Division of the audience into groups of discussion
• The members of Yaumena, who have conducted extensive research on the topic, will
moderate those discussion groups .
• The discussion in the smaller groups will be held in English, French and Arabic
Objective : in each group to raise the issue or ask the question they deem most important.
Third part :
• Presentation of the questions asked by the discussion groups to the experts.
• Discussion of those questions and issues by the expert
• Conclusion by the mediator
Here is an outlook on our previous conferences:
First conference held the 5th of april 2014 : «L’armée est-elle l’avenir de l’Egypte ?»
Guest Speaker : tewfik ACLIMANDOS, an egyptian reseracher associate of the Chair of
Contemporary History of the Arab World at the College de France since 2009.
Research Question : « is the army the future of egypt ? »
Language of the conference : French
Student Speakers : Agathe MADELINE et Pierre EL SAYED YOUSSEF, students of
Sciences Po
Mediator: Lamiss AZAB, professor at Sciences Po
Second conference held the 17 avril 2014 :
«Militias vs the state? Youth responses to insecurity, a Libyan case study»
A second conference held the 17th of april 2014, entitled ?
«Militias vs the state? Youth responses to insecurity, a Libyan case study»
Guest speaker : Fawaz GERGES, Professor at the LSE, holds the Emirates Chair of the
Contemporary Middle East at the LSE
Research question : Militias vs the state? Youth responses to insecurity, a Libyan case
study
Language of the conference : English
Student speakers : Fatima HEWADI student at UBC & Vukasin POTIC Student at Sciences Po
Mediator: Aminata KONÉ, student at Sussex University
The principle remains the same : to provide youth with a platform on which to discuss freely. Activities during the upcoming academic year will centre on an overarching
theme : education in the MENA region. In order to address its different aspects, various
conferences and workshops will be organised around this theme. This should ultimately
lead to a two-day Forum on the topic of education, in which professors, professionals and
students come together for a series of dialogues.
A pillar of our plans is expansion. With SciencesPo students on exchange serving as
intermediaries, a series of conferences can be organised at universities abroad (Lebanon,
Jordan, Palestine, the United Kingdom).
This upcoming year, the Yaumena Group team is planning three Dialogues for the 2014-2015 Academic year. Each Dialogue will be preceded by two Workshops which are Pre-Dialogues preparations.
Each discussion will be closed by a report summarizing most of the tackled elements during
discussion, the issues and the proposals submitted. The paper will be public, and will be
used as a starting point for all the participants of the forum, which will close our research.
FIRST SESSION
Workshop 1.1 : Second week of September
Workshop 1.2 : First week of Octobre
Dialogue 1 : First Week of November
SECOND SESSION
Workshop 2.1 : Third week of November
Workshop 2.2 : First week of December
Dialogue 2 : Second week of January
THIRD SESSION
Workshop 3.1 : Last week of January
Workshop 3.2 : Second week of February
Dialogue 3 : Third week of February.
All that will lead to the Yaumena Forum, the cornerstone of this year's missions and objectives, that will be held by the end of april. For three days, intervenants and students from the entire planet will get to discuss during several joint conferences the importance of the educational issues and pressing matters in the region.
Yaumena Group as the potential to go outside the boundaries of a mere university and is actively working on expanding its network through the largest and most prestigious universities in France (such as HEC, La Sorbonne, l'ESAM, ESCP and so on). By that, the Network could benefit from a position of choice inside the country where several conferences are attracting more and omre students from these universities, as well as academics and students from the MENA. All in all, Yaumena Group's network could benefit strongly from ALF and vice versa.
Being part of such a large network could not only expand possibilities for our Group but also open so many more opportunities for the ALF network to reach larger audiences and get a prevailing spot in partner univerisities as well as Sciences Po, home of the project. The project itself holds such potential that it can outgrow the limits of academic activities and expand to larger scales, eventually becoming one of the regions' most valuable and viable ideas in terms of creating discussion plateforms for the MENA. The region suffers from lack of understanding, and lack of commitment from their own citizens and their own people outside the region itself. Being based in France not only creates the adequate atmosphere for a constructive talk but also connects the people who share the same interest for the pressing issues discussed.
By that, we will expand, share, and live through the Anna Lindh Foundation and inherently shine together.
