Summer 2024 has been transformational at AMEL, with more initiatives than ever before and over 1000 young changemakers building their knowledge and skills with us!

In June, the Spring iteration of the AMEL Institute wrapped up, with more than 220 young leaders from all over the Middle East & Africa (MEA) having taken part in training covering human rights, conflict transformation, Holocaust/genocide prevention and more. The Summer iteration launched in July and thus far has engaged more than 350 MEA changemakers (training will conclude in September).

Meanwhile, AMEL’s Sudan Democracy Action Project (SDA), supported by the National Endowment for Democracy, provided training on democracy to over 250 young leaders through a newly launched online course focused on democratic challenges and opportunities in the Sudanese context. Following conclusion of this course in June, a group of 150 young Sudanese activists began learning about human rights, peace & security and advocacy through the original SDA online course developed in 2020-1 (training will conclude in late August). At the same time, SDA’s program to empower Sudanese civil society activists as researchers is proceeding full steam ahead, with 7 Fellows continuing their empowerment journey with research assignments and coaching. As part of the final component of the current SDA program, an online training session was held for young Sudanese changemakers eager to more effectively engage with the international community. More than 300 took part in the session and follow-up capacity-building workshops will be held online with a select subset of this group.

We also broke new ground with the Mental Health Support for Displaced Sudanese project, supported by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Refugee-Led Innovation Fund. Piloting an innovative approach to assisting those displaced by the war, the project is leveraging online platforms and methods to build awareness, knowledge and well-being among young Sudanese changemakers. With a multilayered and carefully sequenced plan developed during the Spring and early Summer, implementation of the activities launched in July with an online awareness campaign and online lectures about mental health led by Sudanese expert. Hundreds of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) have taken part in the online sessions, tens of thousands have been reached by the online campaign thus far and more activities are yet to come. A similar initiative is soon launching to apply aspects of this new model to the challenge of building solidarity and well-being among Sudanese democracy and human rights activists who have seen their hard-fought democratic gains devastated by the war.

Energized by this Summer of action, empowerment and impact, we look forward to an inspiring Fall and beyond - stay tuned for news on these initiatives and more!