Dear Alumni, dear participants,

On behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), ex-Inwent now the 'Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)' Bonn- Germany, is organizing the 2nd Interdisciplinary Alumni Conference in the MENA Region on Democratisation: "Leadership in transition: opportunities for change".

The conference aims at gathering people from a variety of professional back-grounds and countries across the region. To respond to the on going situation in the MENA region which is a global challenge, the conference will underline the need for a democratic transition with discussions on the reformation of state structures, the role of the civil society, German-Arab dialogue and alumni Work in the MENA region. By providing an interdisciplinary dialogue forum where ideas and innovative approaches shall be dis-seminated and discussed, the conference gives participants the opportunity to intensify regional and in-ternational cooperation by exchanging knowledge and experiences on globally, regionally and locally relevant subjects. Furthermore, the conferences make qualified alumni more visible for representatives from the fields of politics, development cooperation, civil society and economy and thus strengthen their role as multipliers and "door-openers" in the respective national structures.

Workshops and lectures on methodological and topical issues are combined with the offer of a platform to engage in personal, professional and interdisciplinary exchange, to share and discuss ideas and jointly develop first ideas for joint projects and initiatives as part of ongoing, sustainable Alumni activities. The conference languages will be English and German with simultaneous translation into Arabic.

We are looking forward to welcome you to the conference and to interesting discussions and fruitful networking!