Dar Al Salam - Al Basatine - Al Ma'adi
Cairo
Palestinian Territories
- Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Creativity Lab for Empowerment and Innovation is an Egyptian non-governmental organization dedicated to creating the next generation of innovators and changemakers through creativity and entrepreneurial learning. The lab was founded by Egyptian experts with extensive experience in the fields of creativity, social innovation, and entrepreneurship.
The goal of Creativity Lab is to empower young people and women to grow their innate creative abilities in order to identify and anticipate the diverse needs of society. Moreover, it empowers them to think entrepreneurially in whichever area they choose to pursue.
We are certified by global platforms that work to achieve and promote the Sustainable Development Goals.
Creativity Lab is committed to innovation with a purpose. It is our goal to develop knowledge not for its own sake but for practical application.
The creativity lab has more than 25 members on its team. The organization also has more than 100 volunteers from a variety of backgrounds, nationalities, religions, and industries. The Creativity Lab team is very diverse and inclusive. As part of this diversity reference, there are different dimensions such as age, task skills, political preferences, and gender equality. Members of the team range from 18 to 55 years. Women make up +45% of the Lab's team when gender is disaggregated. Among the members of this team are both individuals who hold high educational certificates and practitioners. There are four members of the team who are physically disabled. There are team members from all regions of Egypt.
The Creativity Lab's mission and vision align with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of the United Nations (UN): Leave No-One Behind, as articulated in its vision: “We are committed to empowering the next generation to address society’s needs,” and mission statement: “We provide innovative youth programs as well as corporate training and consulting services to foster creativity, social innovation, entrepreneurship, and civic engagement”. Moreover, the Lab connects, inspires, trains, and mentors young change agents and innovators to become global problem solvers guided by the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. In addition, the strategy envisions the Lab taking on new programmatic roles as a catalyst, enabler, and facilitator to maximize impact and create social value.
The below summary gives a broad overview of the activities implemented during the last three years.
Young Social Entrepreneur: A young social entrepreneur program has been developed by the Creativity Lab with funding from local donors to "promote social innovation education in Egyptian schools." As a result of this project, Palestinian young people can use their creativity to address social issues and build a more caring, egalitarian, and fair society. We achieve this by providing a customized program to empower and support young people to realize their potential as social innovators. This program provides the skills and confidence they need to address the social issues facing them, their communities, and society as a whole. Students in different Egyptian districts were targeted for the 12-month initiative. The students worked in groups to explore and develop creative solutions to social problems that concern them. It also targets teachers who assist the participants in developing new practices that meet the needs of their communities. As a result, it is important to conclude that the project has contributed significantly to improving the students' psychosocial well-being and increasing their resilience during COVID-19. Sub-objectives of the project include:
SO1: Empower and support school students to become social innovators and entrepreneurs, providing them with the skills and confidence to tackle social issues facing them, their communities, and society in general.
SO2: Guide Egyptian teachers in developing new practices that respond to the most complex needs and problems of society
SO3: Enhance the quality of the Egyptian educational system, taking into consideration the main pillars of social innovation education.
SDGs Market Place The SDGs Market Place is a series of workshops for Egyptian and Arab youth and entrepreneurs. Workshops are designed to: Introduce the Sustainable Development Goals and Design Thinking. Provide participants with an opportunity to explore community needs and connect them with the Sustainable Development Goals. Provide participants with an opportunity to design solutions and build prototypes. The marketplace allows participants to pitch their ideas. 5 marketplaces were conducted in 2021. 150 youths were involved (80 young women and 70 young men). Creativity in Hard Times A creative person is no different from a non-creative person; there is only a difference between those who use creativity and those who do not. Every individual is born with creativity, but too many individuals and companies prevent it from flourishing. It is impossible to develop an innovative organization that can deliver improved services and products while maintaining sustainable competitive advantages without creativity. There is a new era of disruptive innovation sweeping the globe that promises to transform every workplace and sector of society. Creativity is the new literacy, and adaptation is the emerging norm. Learn how creativity can be strategically used by entrepreneurs to solve problems and to increase motivation, job satisfaction, and engagement. Learn how creativity can be harnessed at the organizational level and, with the right processes in place, serve as an engine of innovation.
The Creativity in Hard Times is a series of workshops for Palestinian youth and entrepreneurs. The workshops aim to define innovation and creativity and identify the 4 components of creativity. Supporting the Egyptian youth and entrepreneurs to recognize their creativity, and build their creative environment. Explaining the importance of creativity and innovation in organizations Recognizing elements that foster an innovative and creative work environment Use individual and group techniques to help generate creative ideas Implement creative ideas.
Focus: The Focus program, provides technical assistance to Palestinian and Arab entrepreneurs and assists them in obtaining financing and investment. The Lab works with 20 entrepreneurs (10/Egypt, 8/Palestine, 1/Jordan and 1/Lebanon).
Creativity Lab is one of the few Egyptian organizations specializing in social innovation. It is our belief that joining Anna Lindeh Network (Egypt) will allow us to utilize our techniques in order to establish a physical space and/or process where collaboration between different actors can be supported in order to develop new projects, processes, models, products, regulations, etc. The use of Human Centered Design and Design Thinking will enable us to work with the Egyptian network partners on developing solutions to the most complex problems we face and supporting the Egyptian network's efforts in raising awareness about the importance of intercultural communication through public awareness campaigns.
The Anna Lindh Foundation runs the largest network of civil society organizations involved in intercultural dialogue promotion across the Euro-Mediterranean region. The foundation empowers youth voices by providing platforms for young people to build more open, inclusive, and resilient communities. As a result of the network, other civil societies can be inspired and we can multiply our impact in this way. We believe that these purposes and values are in line with our vision and mission. The wide range of partners also provides a great opportunity to exchange knowledge and experience and establish future collaborations.