The East-West: The Art of Dialogue initiative organises an annual exchange program, the Gabr Fellowship, for young emerging leaders from the East and the West to join forces to develop and implement projects addressing critical issues in their countries.

Mr. Shafik Gabr, Foundation Chairman, encourages accomplished young emerging leaders from age 24 – 35 with an interest in cross-cultural understanding to apply to the Fellowship. The Fellowship provides an opportunity for highly qualified individuals to engage in a life-changing experience that will help them navigate the interconnected twenty-first century.

Each year, the Gabr Fellowship consists of 20-24 Fellows, of which are 10 Americans and 10 Egyptians, with an equal distribution of men and women in addition to Fellows from selected countries. In 2015 and 2016, Fellows from the UK and Lebanon participated. The program for 2017 is open to applicants from the United States, Egypt, the United Kingdom, France, Lebanon, and Jordan.

The Fellows are all selected for their achievement, passion to understand ‘the other’ and courage to challenge preconceived notions and stereotypes that have divided our regions in the twenty-first century.

As part of the program, Fellows create an Action Project, which may be a business enterprise, an institutional collaboration, or a civic program that will enhance understanding between the two regions and create enduring impact. The Fellows are selected in part by the creativity and uniqueness of their Action Project. Once selected, the Fellows will engage on a migrating exchange that starts in Egypt then finishes in the United States. During the course of this intensive exchange, the Fellows engage with prominent figures in think tanks, media, law, the private sector, history, civil society, technology, and the arts as well as senior level officials in security and politics. Throughout the exchange, the Fellows continually meet and reflect with their peers, learning of ways to combine their individual visions into group collaborated Action Projects.

In 2017 the exchange program shall take place between Thursday, 21 September – Saturday, 30 September in Egypt and will then migrate to the U.S. from Saturday, 21 October – Saturday 28 October.

An application for the Fellowship consists of a personal statement of interest, a resume, an analytical question, action project outline and two letters of recommendation. Applicants must be employed full-time. American applicants should have never traveled to Egypt, the Egyptian applicants should have never traveled to the US, and all other nationalities should have not traveled to the United States or Egypt. It should be understood that although travel fare, transportation, accommodation, and meals are covered by the Foundation, the Fellows are expected to cover all other expenses.

The deadline for receipt of the application is Wednesday, May 31^st, 2017.

For more information and to attain the application, go to: http://eastwestdialogue.org/fellowship/how-to-apply/
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