Previously we promoted the innovative learning tool of Simulation Games in 10 major governorates, which led to the establishment of the “Simulation Gamers Club – Egypt” [“Nadi el Mohaa’kah”] at the end of 2014. This year we created a Vision for Egypt with the input of approximately 230 youth from all over Egypt. Therefore we developed together with our local trainers an adequate simulation game, that allowed the participants to think out of the box and outline an Egyptian society, which managed to overcome today’s social conflicts.
Target Group
Directly we were targeting local trainers and facilitators. Together we developed the simulation game, which was then implemented by themselves. During the loacal workshops (implementation phase), we targeted youth in general from 18 to 25. Here we put special attention to the have a diverse group of participants. First because we wanted to create channels of communication between the participants, in order to get to know each other and to start a trust-building process. Second, because we tried to include many different opinions and views into the vision. Further we established contacts to other sectors (Business, State, Religion and Media) and started to partner up, in order to increase the impact of this project.
Project Goals
The main goal of this project was to set a starting point to find common ground and to rebuild trust among different parts of the Egyptian society. All workshops, during which the simulation game was applied, had a heterogeneous group of participants, in order to include a variety of opinions into the vision. Accordingly many participants put themselves in the shoes of others during the simulation game. Due to this change of perspective, the participants were inspired to recognize their mutual interests and positions. Based on this experience they were ready to discuss and formulate a common and shared vision for Egypt. Furthermore this vision is supposed to serve as a milestone to continuously think about a transformation of the Status Quo. Therefore we prepared a basis for actors from different sectors to easier identify opportunities for mutual reinforcement and thereby synergies that allow to join forces. In an enhanced cross-sectoral cooperation we see a key element for further development. Despite the intricacy of the task of creating a shared vision coupled with the highly polarized political and social climate in Egypt, the participants managed to find a common basis. Thus the vision consists of a set of core-values, which the participants identified as most crucial: honesty, humanity, justice, equality, and freedom. These values should serve as a point of reference that guides future developments. Certainly the realization of the vision is a great challenge. Thus it is absolutely important to convince many actors from several sectors, to come together, to shape the vision further and to join forces, in order to let the vision become reality. Therefore the participants created a set of possible cross-sectoral actions, which would assist a realization of the vision and would contribute to peaceful coexistence among different parts of Egypt’s society. In the focus are the public, as well as the business sector, but also the media, civil society and the religious sector. Therefore the participants ascribed each actor a set of different measures, geared by the identified values.
