Josef Garvi grew up in Niger, where at a young age he became passionate about regreening the drylands through food-bearing, naturally drought-resistant plants. After serving for 17 years as a volunteer in a reforestation NGO, he founded Sahara Sahel Foods in 2014. This social enterprise supports the regreening efforts of a network of 1,500 rural smallholders, by processing and marketing the produce they gather from 18 indigenous, genetically wild, tree species.
My name is Aseel Soboh and I am a 16-year-old Palestinian refugee living in Lebanon. I study in one of the schools operated by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). My dream has been to become an advocate for the rights of Palestinian refugees. In 2018, this dream came true when I was elected as a member of UNRWA’s Agency-wide Student Parliament. The Creative Leadership conference is a big opportunity for me to tell my story and inspire others to advocate for what they believe in!
Asmaa Sleem is Egyptian and believes that the main hope of any nation lies in the education of its youth. She is also convinced that hope for this world means spreading peace, mindfulness, justice and moral integrity through people’s education, raising awareness, living consciously and the power of togetherness. She sees herself as a lifelong learner and has worked in peace facilitation and conflict transformation.
Shadi Malak is a highly motivated global citizen who believes in the power of volunteering, self-development, compassion, and leading by example to promote human dignity and create a more peaceful world for all living beings. For many years he worked with refugees in Egypt as a legal assistant and educator, and currently works for a programme that offers capacity-building training to refugees. He holds a Master's degree in International Law and has a background in youth empowerment, curriculum designing, and development.
Anne Sofie Nielsen is studying to become a Free School teacher, specializing in Theatre, English Language and Arts. She wants to rethink what school can be and create holistic, intercultural learning environments that can empower, with a focus on connecting with nature, changemaking and joyful creativity. She is passionate about the transformative power of the arts, regenerative community projects and learning by doing. She believes in the importance of global citizenship, poetry, laughter, kindness and singing loudly in community.
Lázaro Valiente is a muldisciplinary artist, musician, meditation guide, and mindfulness and creativity coach. Currently, he is the mental health coach of the Los Capitanes professional basketball team from Mexico City. He is a leadership consultant on Mexican and international projects, a researcher and a facilitator of Circulo HE, which offers a space for critical reflection about the concept of masculinity.
Anatasiia Yakush is a project manager at X23, with specific expertise in economics and business administration. She is involved in EU-co-funded programmes related to the social inclusion of migrants and refugees, with longterm and high impact scopes. She manages the EUStartGees programme and had an active role in the creation of the ME4Change Coalition (Migrant Empowerment for Change), working in close cooperation with Marika Mazzi Boém, Co-founder and Innovation Strategy Director at X23.
My name is Sarah Soussi and I'm an MS candidate in International Studies and Public Policy at North Carolina State University and a visiting student at Duke University under the Fulbright Programme. I have served as a community developer at Open Startup Tunisia and was the lead in the organization's first fundraising round. I have also worked as a Venture Capital trainee at Africinvest, which specializes in investments in Africa. I first came to Caux in 2016 as a trainee, and later became a member of the Caux Peace and Leadership Programme team.
Harmen van Dijk is a former Dutch diplomat who worked for 13 consecutive years in The Hague, La Paz (Bolivia) and Berlin before leaving to pursue a new dream and training as a human potential coach at the MMS Institute in Amsterdam. Passionate about spiritual politics and certified by the International Coaching Federation, he now works as a coach, trainer and facilitator.