AlumniUM

Ayman Dandash : Programs and Grassroots Manager at the Lebanese Transparency Association-no corruption.

I graduated with a BA in Management Information System in 2013. I work as a Programs and Grassroots manager at the Lebanese transparency association-no corruption, national chapter of transparency international in Lebanon. I am also a trainer and consultant in matters of good governance, electoral processes and citizen engagement. I am a long-standing volunteer since 2006 with different civic society organizations. I have also founded and co-founded different social NGOs located in the peripheral areas of Lebanon. Additionally, I have actively participated in different workshops, seminars and fellowships.

Coming from a humble background and country where opportunities are scarce and highly linked to clientelism and political connections, pushed me to be a different case and a successful Lebanese citizen despite the challenges. My main motivation is to bring change and hope to my community and surroundings and to contribute in creating the country that my future children and I would want to live in.

My experience with the IAF has been an extremely fruitful and educational journey, which both enriched me and gave the opportunity to share my own knowledge and experience and further develop it. IAF experience has also been a field experience which took me beyond the theoretical framework and gave me a taste of the practical approach of things and acquired me with skills and good practices that I took and shared back home with other fellow activists and the public. The acquired methodology, discipline and system of work in the academy, in addition to the approach used with the participants and most of all the knowledge that was shared with us, made an important impact on my skills. It also helped to re-asses some practices in my profession and gave me important tools to facilitate and more efficiently work on a daily basis in the civic society field.