Organizing a BIL Conference: A Discussion on Social Entrepreneurship in Gafsa, Tunisia By Nesrine Mbarek, Tunisia, YES 2012-2013 “Hey Nesrine… Why don’t we organize a BIL?” “A what?” Four months after this conversation, my friend Jacer and I found ourselves on stage welcoming 250 participants to the BIL: LPGafsa Conference in my home town of Gafsa in southern Tunisia. BIL is a set of conferences inspired by TED Talks. However BIL is participant-driven, allowing more interaction between the audience and speakers. Like TED this conference gathers inspiring individuals to share innovative ideas and address current issues. I thought that the concept was appealing, therefore we gathered a team of volunteers from my high school to organize BIL: LPGafsa (BIL at the Lycee Pilote Gafsa, Pioneer High School of Gafsa). Finding a suitable theme for our conference was challenging. I wanted to address the themes of entrepreneurship and leadership because of how crucial they are in a young person’s life. Our slogan “Dream.Think.Execute” reflects the urgency to take action with an entrepreneurial spirit. In fact, the economic crisis that Tunisia currently suffers from has mainly affected youth. Since the 2011 revolution that toppled a longtime dictator and ushered in a promising democracy, the country’s key economic indicators have been quite alarming. The situation has caused endless protests from citizens asking for sustainable change. However, the government has been particularly unable to address the issue of youth unemployment in Tunisia’s southern regions such as Gafsa. There are simply no jobs for the many qualified young people. Thus the youth can no longer wait for political reforms; they have to take action. As Tunisian high school students we believe we need to develop new skills. We need to create our own job opportunities. We are the future of Tunisia. During my exchange year with the YES program in Houston, Texas, I realized that people engaging in community service was extremely important for the health of civil society. In the United States I saw people from different socio-economic backgrounds come together and help the less fortunate by volunteering their time. The American high school I attended even required seniors to complete 100 community service hours to graduate. I completed more than 400 hours of community service in seven months and not only did I find great satisfaction in helping others, I really enjoyed it! When I came back home to Tunisia, I noticed an alarming contrast. Community service options are basically nonexistent. The 400 hours of community service experience taught me that nothing is impossible. I just knew that doing it in Tunisia would be harder than in the United States. The team of volunteers and I knew we had to work hard to make our BIL a success: Dream.Think.Execute! BIL:LPGafsa was the first BIL conference ever organized in the south of Tunisia so everything was new and we got to work. We convinced local sponsors to help and they provided extra funding. We invited national and international speakers and we set up the logistics to run the conference as smoothly as possible. We did not simply advocate the importance of entrepreneurial and leadership skills. We were the leaders and entrepreneurs. On September 20, the night before the event, there were 167 people who had signed up for the conference. The next day 250 people showed up. The speakers who came from different parts of Tunisia were there to share their stories and inspire. Whether they were engineers, professors, or businessmen, the speakers emphasized the responsibility of youth in shaping their future. They underscored the importance of awakening the entrepreneur inside each of the attendees. They shared their experience overcoming economic and social difficulties. I found the talks “The 5 ways to Succeed”, or “We are Smart, Just ask our Moms” to be particularly inspiring as I learned about what it means to be a leader in Tunisia. Kimball Gallagher, a well-known American pianist and musical entrepreneur, shared his insight with us. His talk on how conversation is the most important entrepreneurial tool https://youtube/watch?v=PuiPrxyvjoU is poignant. The BIL format includes open microphones so attendees can go on stage to voice their opinions on the theme of the conference. An open discussion is held at the end of the event where all speakers and participants continue to share their thoughts. The audience thereby contributes to shaping the conference. For BIL: LPGafsa that was certainly the case. A week after the event, we read the evaluation sheets. I realized that the attendees did not only benefit from the talks, but also from the organization of the event itself. The volunteers who participated in organizing the conference greatly enjoyed taking on the leadership positions they held. The BIL participants witnessed our high school students taking action and noted it. During the post event meeting, Ahmed Khaddouma, one of the team leaders, read to us from an anonymous evaluation sheet. The BIL: LPGafaa participant wrote that he once used a quote by George Bernard Shaw for an English test although he didn’t really believe in it: Everybody has some choice. People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I do not believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want and, if they cant find them, make them. He wrote, “I didn’t believe it at the time, I just wanted to get a good grade. After attending this event, now I understand what George Bernard meant. Thank you!” My thanks go to this anonymous participant who made my day! I also want to thank the YES Program for providing me the opportunity to participate in the six months Transformational Leadership Training (TLT) workshop for YES alumni, which helped me develop my leadership skills and provided small funds for the project. Thanks to my coaches at the Salam Institute for Peace and Justice, who provided the conflict resolution training content for the TLT and for mentoring me on throughout this journey. The BIL: LPGafsa website is: bil-lpgafsa/
Posted on: Wed, 17 Dec 2014 15:55:29 +0000
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