Since 2000, Creative Encounters has been engaged in a series of exciting and rewarding educational efforts with various organizations and groups in the Middle East, primarily in Egypt.  For Eva Montville, this has been a special privilege -- an opportunity to work in a region she loves and lived in for many years.

This work started with the 2002 Middle East and North Africa Youth Leadership Initiative, an intensive two-week leadership development experience that targeted young people from all over the Middle East and aimed to nurture their ability to create change and have a positive impact on their schools and communities.  Creative Encounters remained involved with the Cairo based Ma’an Foundation, an outgrowth of MENA YLI, and Eva returned to Cairo during the summer of 2004 to assist with strategic and operational planning and program development for the organization.

Then in 2006, Creative Encounters was asked by the Institute of International Education (IIE) in Cairo to assist with a new semester-long leadership program for students from Cairo universities.  This Student Leadership Discovery Program aims to impact the ability of Egyptian national university students to assume leadership roles with confidence and act as student role models at a university and community level and within the national and global arena. Creative Encounters and Keys to Effective Learning (another IIE partner) have been a part of this Ford Foundation-funded program for the past 3 semesters and will continue to be involved in this ongoing project. 

In addition, Creative Encounters will be working with IIE as a part of a team of providers for the new Peace Scholarships Program administered by the USAID Office for Middle East Programs in Cairo.  The US Peace Scholarships Program will help develop young leaders of the future who have the potential to contribute to the social and economic development of the Middle East and North Africa.  We will be working with these students, from all over the MENA region, for the next 3 summers, during their month long orientation in Cairo, prior to their departure for a year of university study in the United States.

Our partnership with the IIE has continued to grow and we have recently begun working with corporate clients in the region as well.  Our approach to working with people using experiential learning methods is relatively new to the Middle East, and we are delighted to see that this way of learning through self-discovery appears to be universally enjoyed and effective.  We believe that this also contributes to understanding and connection between people of the MENA region and the United States.