Videos

Mental Health - Desert Bloom CC

Desert Bloom for Training & Sustainable Development is hosting a Study Visit under KA2 Erasmus plus program in Jordan. The project is led by Jugendzentrum Perg – Austria in cooperation with 12 organizations from 12 European and Southern Mediterranean countries. 52 youth workers and civil society leaders have joined to learn about and contribute to the most needed competencies to handle the aftermath of COVID-19 and tackle current and future global challenges.

Erasmus Plus Cultural Café

Another great Cultural Café last Saturday (29th January 2022). In our most recent study visit group taking place in December 2021, organized by Jugendzentrum Perg in Austria and Desertbloom in Jordan, over 50 people gathered, discussing topics on “mental health” and “digitalisation”.This Cultural Café (29th January 2022) will recall some of the participants’ memories, stories and techniques learned during their week in Jordan.

International Youth Camp

Al Badiya for intercultural dialogue CC (Al Badiya Center for Awareness and Voluntary Work) and URI MENA Office hosted the second International Youth Camp 2021 in Jordan during the period from 11 to 15 July 2021. Forty-two participants coming from 12 countries, four continents took part in this camp. The camp was a mix of voluntary work & community service, social innovation & entrepreneurship, adventure, and experiential learning. 

Women Training

URI MENA along with its partners; UiL-LdV, Albania, TEKMED, Turkey, Have A Dream, Egypt & DRPDNM, Slovenia co-organized a five-day Train of Trainer workshop for 30 marginalized women from Albania, Egypt, Jordan, Slovenia and Turkey. The workshop, which was held in a hybrid style where young women from each country gathered physically and connected online with young women from other countries.

Resilience Training

URI MENA organized a Resilience & Coping Strategies Training Course in Amman from 27th to 30th September. Our Cooperation Circles Jordanian Association for Orphans and Widows Care as well as Debating Club CC were represented. Furthermore, we are happy to welcomed also individual members of URI MENA who are engaged and active in this topic.

Against Islamophobia

“Bridges no walls” is a program that aims to create bridges instead of walls between people. From 17th to 24th May Joveslides and Erasmus+ invited participants from Germany, Greece, Italy, Pakistan, Belarus, Egypt and Jordan. Desert Boom, part of the URI MENA network, has identified three Jordanian women to participate in the training. 

What our Yemen-members do

The ongoing conflict and civil unrest in Yemen left over 1.7 million children internally displaced in over 1,500 spontaneous, unplanned camps across the country. They require support to meet their basic needs. Spotlight CC in Yemen decided to do something meaningful for children on the International Day of Peace. Hence, they organized daylong entertainment activities for 70 displaced children in Kuhfeh camp in Taiz. The activities were carefully designed to bring out the children’s curiosity and playful nature, while also enhancing their social skills and confidence.

What our Tunisia-members do

Celebration of the international day of peace in Tunisia, Date 22 of September 2021 The leaders of “Peace for All” CC in Sousse Tunisia, Mohamed Kamoun and Amina Bouhlel, conducted a daylong Peace education workshop attended by 32 young people. The program included: – Presentation about URI organization – Why we celebrate the international day of peace with all the countries in the world? – The richness of diversity- the benefits of living in peace with others while appreciating our differences (religions, colors, believes, cultures, traditions etc.)

Building with bottles - Masar CC

At Alia Ecovillage they build mud houses with bottles! Watch this video and find out more about this beautiful place and Khaleds vision. Alia Ecovillage is incorporated with the Masar Assoziation for environmental development CC which is part of the URI MENA network. Alia is an Ecovillage project functioning as environmental education, activism and advocacy hub combined with socio-economic development dimension. It is located at a small village in Al-Balqaa called Alia. Distribute your glas bottles: Khaled 07 9554 5574 Get in contact with Alia Ecovillage: [email protected]

Stories from the field: refuge camp

Want to get an idea how URI MENA works and wat we do? This video will give you an authentic example from the field….watch & enjoy a very nice story about refugee children going the first time to school! When we randomly met this community of refugee and were informed that the kids had never been to school, we allocated a small budget and did something BIG! The first classroom for them and a lot of equipment.

Cultural Cafe: 3th July 2021

URI MENA Cultural Café (session No. 55)- Culture shock and the theory of cultural adaptation. On 3rd of July 2021 Desert Bloom’s ESC volunteers, Magdalena and Wiktoria, facilitated a Zoom session for URI MENA Cultural Café on “Culture shock”.
The session was designed in interactive workshop style ensuring the active participation of attendees whether they participated physically at URI Office or virtually via Zoom. Participants were from different countries including the MENA region, Europe and USA.

Cultural Cafe: 5th August 2021

In only three steps participants have developed and presented their own pitch after listening to the theory presented by Ms. Laura Schwiertz. As always, the Cultural Café took place as a hybrid event. Means URI MENA folks joining us on place in our office in Amman from where we connected with other Cooperation Circles (CCs) in the MENA region. As for yesterday, people from France, Egypt, Iraq, Palestine, Yemen and Jordan were following the interesting presentation of Ms. Laura Schwiertz (URI MENA communication & networking manager) about elevator pitches. “Elevator pitch is a beautiful technique to present your idea, your business or your project in around 30 seconds”, Ms. Laura Schwiertz kicked off the event.

Cultural Cafe: 7th September 2021

This cultural cafe focused on the connections between geography and human behavior, specifically looking at findings from research published by the American Psychological Association about regional personality differences in the US. The study found that Americans with similar personality types and temperaments are more likely to live in the same areas — to the extent that the country can be divided into specific regions marked by distinct personalities.