Here's what it looks like...
We teach young people to Think Unlimited.
Emerging research shows that one of the most powerful determinants of a young person’s future is their mindset about their own potential. We teach students that their success is determined by their effort, not their family connections or a set of fixed traits. We challenge their often-deterministic beliefs about what is possible, and inspire them to dream big.
We also teach students that self-determination—the highest aspiration of the Arab Awakening—begins not only at the ballot box, but in the daily decisions that direct the course of their lives.
We strive to spark students’ curiosity, encouraging them to explore, try new things, and actively engage with the world around them. And we challenge them to develop empathy through experiential learning that pushes them out of their comfort zones.
Finally, we cultivate resilience and grit in our students as we challenge them to work for change against all odds.
We build innovation ecosystems on university campuses.
Universities worldwide have always been places where next-generation thinking is nurtured. However, with a higher education system that is just a few decades old, and with ever-growing numbers of young people to educate, Middle Eastern nations are struggling to move universities out of the rut of rote learning.
Our Solutionaries course is modeling a new, experiential and project-based way of teaching and learning. It’s opening college campuses up to the idea that students can produce, not just reproduce.
We mobilize our students to take action on their campuses, and to create (not just demand) a more energized, active, and engaged learning environment. We also organize ongoing club meetings, speaker series, and other events to nurture ideas, action, and innovation on campus.
We’re creating a global network of Solutionaries.
When a student joins our course, they are joining a movement not only demanding change, but actually creating it.
When a student leaves our course, we connect them to ongoing educational programs, training courses, funding opportunities, and support communities that will continue to nurture them on their path to Solution-making.
We are building partnerships the world over to bring Arab social innovators out of obscurity and connect them to the growing global movement promoting social entrepreneurship as a new way of doing development.
We train students to become Solutionaries.
Problem solving is always driven by passion. We help students identify the issue that concerns them most, and take them through a project-based process of exploring its root causes, generating unique and innovative solutions, and designing an initiative to address it.
Along the way, students learn core research skills, techniques for idea generation and divergent thinking, community-based development strategies, and the basics of human-centered design.
Our students leave the Solutionaries course ready for action, with a plan for a community initiative that is different, desirable, and doable.
We turn Arab diaspora youth into transformational leaders.
Solutionaries is one of the only programs in the Middle East mobilizing diaspora talent for peer-to-peer youth development.
Every year we conduct a global search for the best and brightest Arab youth who have already experienced the transformative power of education. We recruit, train, and bring them to Jordan for a year of service as Solutionaries facilitators. They bring a vital cultural fluency and instant rapport into the classroom, expanding their students’ vision of what is possible in ways that adult professors often cannot.
Our Transformation Team develops deep relationships with students, serving as powerful role models and leaders. They not only teach, but show their students what Solution-making looks like.
Check out our Solutionaries in action!
What students are saying...
