Lebanon's Hala Dahrouge, Morocco's Marouan Zitane and Egypt's Rania Atef and Ibrahim Safwat. Four names that, if not already on your radar, will soon be. Because they are featured on Meta's hashtag "CommunityStoriesMENA", a video series that tells the unique stories of four Facebook community leaders in Egypt, Lebanon and Morocco.
The series, which was announced on February 21st on Meta's website, emphasizes the power of connection and the role social media can play in helping people build communities around social impact. The stories featured represent just a handful of the millions of community leaders who have stepped up to inspire and bring people together on Facebook and beyond.
Facebook Groups has a vast community of volunteers, donors and activists who come together to make the world a better place. Through our new campaign, "#CommunityStoriesMENA", we’re celebrating the stories of four community leaders in the Middle East and North Africa who have stepped up to create positive and empowering communities.
Rawya AbdelKader, Communications Manager, MENA at Meta said: "On a daily basis, we see stories that showcase the best of humanity. It may not always make the public spotlight, but every day people are using our apps to help others and support their community – becoming blood donors, connecting with people who need help or joining a collective movement to change and discover. In recognition of their efforts and impact, we have launched our new campaign, Community Stories MENA, to place a spotlight on the role of social media in building powerful communities that drive meaningful change.”
The four community leaders who kick off the campaign are:
Hala Dahrouge who founded Lebanon-based LibanTroc in 2019 to respond to the debilitating conditions brought on by the country’s economic crisis. The group has since grown into an 85,000-member organization that posts jobs, exchanges free goods and services, fundraises and supports others. It has helped more than 2,000 families by providing food, housing and even life-saving surgeries.
"LibanTroc is about the power that comes with unity and compassion." -- Hala Dahrouge, LibanTroc’s Admin
Marouan Zitane instead founded Moroccan Travelers Community, a group to encourage travelers to share their experiences and tips, and inspire each other to discover Morocco and overseas. Today, the community of more than 340,000 members encourages each other to travel in a sustainable way and promotes actions to preserve the environment and take care of the highly-visited sites.
Rania Atef has created a support system in Egypt for female entrepreneurs through I Make This! — a group for female-owned businesses to advertise their products. Atef, a freelance photographer, kicked off the group when she found traditional marketing to be hard and expensive; in the process, she built a community that has grown to 189,000 members.
"Travel is such a rewarding experience, and by bringing members across Morocco together to celebrate it, we have encouraged people not only to discover more but to do so responsibly and sustainably.” – Marouan Zitane, Moroccan Travelers Community’s Admin
And last, but not least is Ibrahim Safwat, who created one of the largest sports groups and the first running troupe in Egypt, Cairo Runners, to bring people together to run every Friday. Today, the community organizes the Cairo Half Marathon, the largest running event in Egypt with more 5,000 participants and stages mini-marathons, whilst promoting environmental sustainability in sports.
To know more about their initiatives and the founders themselves, check out this FB post.
