#CommunityStoriesMENA is a four-part series that tells the unique stories of four community leaders in Lebanon, Egypt, and Morocco
Beirut, Lebanon – February 21, 2023: Meta is celebrating community leaders who are creating a positive impact across the Middle East and North Africa [MENA] in its new campaign – #CommunityStoriesMENA. Centered around the stories of four agents of change, whose work has made a tangible positive impact within their communities, the campaign emphasizes the power of connection, and the role social media can play in helping individuals build communities around change and impact.
“Meta is proud to be home to community leaders in the Middle East and North Africa who strive to establish positive and empowering communities. 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,” stated Rawya AbdelKader, Communications Manager, MENA at Meta.
Among the celebrated community leaders is Hala Dahrouge, who founded Lebanon-based LibanTroc group on Facebook in 2019 in response to the debilitating conditions brought on by Lebanon’s severe economic crisis. From a barter platform (TROC in French translates to “barter”) to exchange goods and services, the group has transformed into an 85,000-member group that posts jobs, barters goods and services, fundraises and supports others. To-date, the group 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”, said Hala. “It’s a platform that has brought together people in need and people with the means to give, fueling an exchange that is helping heal our society during these times. Grassroots efforts like ours have been around for as long as we can remember, but online platforms like Facebook Groups have boosted our reach and our ability to resolve issues and create impact”. You can watch Hala’s full testimonial here
The celebrated community leaders from Egypt and Morocco are:
- Marouan Zitane, founder of Moroccan Travelers Community, champions sustainable travel. It encourages travelers to share their experiences, tips and inspire each other to discover Morocco and overseas. The group also encourages its members to travel in a sustainable way and promotes actions to preserve the environment and take care of the highly-visited sites. “Our Facebook Group connects our members through a culture of sharing memories, insights and advice. 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”, explained Marouan.
- In Egypt, Rania Atef created a support system for female entrepreneurs through I Make This!– a group for female-owned businesses to advertise their products. In exchange, the businesses invite their network to like the I Make This! page, thereby boosting market audience for everyone. Atef, a freelance photographer, kicked off the group when she found traditional marketing hard and expensive; in the process she built a community that has grown to 189,000 members. Rania stated: “Our Facebook Group is a 190K-strong village of fierce female entrepreneurs. As a freelancer, I needed more bookings but could not afford the massive marketing budget. I realized that I was not the only one in the same boat and created I Make This! to band together like-minded female entrepreneurs and their networks and promote each other’s businesses, thus amplifying our reach many times over”.
- Ibrahim Safwat of Cairo Runners created one of the largest sports groups and the first running troupe in Egypt, providing Cairenes with running experiences every Friday. The community organizes the Cairo Half Marathon, the biggest running event in Egypt with over 5,000 participants and stage mini-marathons, whilst promoting environmental sustainability in sports. “It has been a joy to build this community in Egypt and bring runners from different walks of life together”, said Ibrahim. “Through the Cairo Runners Facebook Page, we went from an online community to a real movement and one of the biggest running events in Egypt. As we grow, we are championing sustainability in sports with the aim of inspiring more environmentally-friendly sports events”.
You can access all campaign videos here. To learn more about Facebook’s Community Voices campaign and each of the four leaders, visit the blog.