Recently, our partners at Amideast shared that two of our Fulbright alumnae from Jordan have recently been awarded the Alumni Community Action Grant (ACAG) funded by the State Department.

The ACAG program supports Fulbright Foreign Student Program for the Middle East and North Africa alumni to develop and implement projects that utilize their Fulbright experience to give back to their communities. In honor of the Fulbright Program’s 75th anniversary this year, Amideast launched a special edition competition only available to prior ACAG grantees. Through this program select alumni were eligible to receive up to $10,000 USD towards implementing a community-based project that builds on the experience of their initial ACAG project. Out of a total of seven awards, two were projects that will take place in Jordan. The projects will be implemented over the course of FY 2022.

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Nour El-Bashiti and Rand Abdul Nour both received the Fulbright Foreign Student Scholarship through Fulbright Jordan back in 2008 and 2013 respectively.

Nour's project is titled: Speech-Language Pathologists of MENA Region Website. She explains it as follows:

We will create an online platform for speech-language pathologists (SLPs) for the MENA region to connect and exchange expertise. A website and application will serve this purpose. This information will be presented in a way that a non-professional can understand and utilize. Information will be provided in both Arabic and English languages.

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When we asked Nour what are the key benefits you are most excited about through the implementation of this project? she said:

Fulbright was always a source of support for intellectuals who are pursuing higher degrees and for innovative ideas that are designed to make a difference. My project aims to build a bridge between professionals in my field in the MENA region. It is an opportunity to exchange expertise, document success, and give a chance for young professionals to have a platform where they can share their ideas and contribute in advancing the field.

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Rand's project is titled The Box: Art as a mechanism of expression and coping. And she shared the following details covering it:

The idea of this project is to provide a simple, intuitive and highly adaptable art kit that can be picked up and used by anyone, irrespective of their previous exposure to art. This kit is the core of a series of workshops across Jordan designed to help communities break any barriers that stand between them and creative self-expression.

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When we asked Rand about what it means getting this grant she said: the thing that makes the ACAG grant a great opportunity is it's inclusion of ACAG Alumni as participants. We were extremely grateful to have received the first round of funds which allowed our project to commence on solid grounds, where the base of the project was established and all preliminary challenges tackled. And now, with that strong foundation, this grant will help us move forward into finessing the implementation and reaching the full potential of our project. This fund will allow us to recognize and tweak all of the issues we faced during the first round, and move our initiative further towards more success, ensuring a sustainable and expanding initiative in the future.

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We want to wish both Fulbrighters the best of luck implementing these inspiring projects in the coming months.

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