It’s a project to create awareness about the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) among the Youth that makes them able to achieve it as it only possible with their voices.

It is not in the United Nations that the Millennium Development Goals will be achieved. They have to be achieved in each country by the joint efforts of the Governments and people.

—Kofi Annam, United Nations former General Secretary

Through this project, we are encouraging youth to understand the importance of this initiative and to be involved in actions that helps to achieve one specific goal or all of them. The awareness has been made in rich and poor communities and there are some successful experiences around the world. Some youth are developing really good activities and are helping their communities to increase their development in this global world. This project intends to increase the awareness among youth around the world regarding the Millennium development Goals, encouraging them to be involved in activities inside their schools, families and communities and helping each other to make this world a better place to live.

Our Goals

1. Raising awareness about MDGs in Egypt
2. Discovering the real rates and resources in each goal in Egypt through researches
3. Creating a learning process that lead to change agents
4. Inspiring students to start their own initiatives
5. Adding more MDGs that concerned to Egypt
6. Having a fun environment

The Students’ Role

This year, the students will have a great space to express themselves and be effective citizens towards their country. The project will start by each team creating a workshop about the Millennium Development Goals, raising awareness about them to their surrounding community, which can be school or family.  Then, they will have the chance to choose an activity from which they can know more about their goal. Examples of such activities are: A case study, a talent show or a simulation model.  Student will also have the chance to experience the loveliness of goodwill through taking place in community service. This is besides the field trips and other activities that they will enjoy throughout the year.

Shaimaa Salem,  iEARN Egypt Local Youth Representative

Definitely you should have heard your teacher saying “You have to use the forums” or one of your colleagues just got his user name and password and willing to send an introductory message on the youth forums. Have you ever wondered what the forums were there for or what was the urgent need for you all to be active on the forums?
The forums are not only a place for us to know other people and to post messages just for the sake of being there.”NO”! The forums meant to be a place to connect youth all over the world to learn together and complete each other. It meant to be a place where you can express your opinions, thoughts and ideas positively. It meant to connect people who can understand you and help you achieve what you want. It meant not to connect you only with people in your community but with the other world to give you a chance to learn about others differences and RESPECT them. The forums is like a family gathering when any of us feels pain we all do and if any of us is happy we all share it with him.
That’s why when you are willing to send a posting be very effective, start you message with a short greeting then let the body of your message interesting, effective and deep. Try to end your message with a question for people to think of when they come to respond to your message. I want you to watch out the words you use, don’t use abbreviations but write your message as if you are writing a formal email then end the message with your name, school and country.
iEARNERS, the interactive forums is a real opportunity for you to learn so GRAB IT!
I am looking forward to see your positive role in the iEARN community and your effective discussions on the interactive forums.

Best Regards,
Nanis Yousry

It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all

—Edward De Bono, Writer

So start with working on the eight goals using untraditional methods, study each goal with your own perspective considering the community around you .And begin with simple questions like: what are the reasons of these problems in the first place? What are the best solutions? How can we apply it? …etc.
Then make your own MDGs, not just for your community and country but also for yourself. Put a list of everything you want to accomplish in your life, this list will be an important source of motivation for you, like candle lighting your way in life.
And just remember that creativity is a habit, and the best creativity is a result of good work habits, so always maintain good work and keep it up!!

Mohamed Magdi

—Ben Stein

Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value.

—Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955)

You see things; and you say, “Why?” But I dream things that never were; and I say, “Why not?”

—George Bernard Shaw (1856 – 1950)

It’s not that some people have willpower and some don’t. It’s that some people are ready to change and others are not.

—James Gordon, M.D.

Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me.

—Carol Burnett

I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.

—Bill Cosby

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing.

—Abraham Lincoln (1809 – 1865)

Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.

—Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862)

Noha Nader

The Secondary boys’ team seek for achieving clean water in Egypt, so they have presented some solutions to the problems surrounding this cause. Also, they decided to cooperate with El-Orman language school, in order to come out with a great collaborative project and for making their vision clearer and more comprehensive. The i-FAW campaign is a new initiative for this year.  It stands for “iEARN First Awareness Water campaign”, which is an online campaign hosted by iEARN to discuss and share opinions, ideas and solutions in relation to their project.
The secondary girls’ team chose “geothermal energy” to be the main idea for their project. They explore the facts about this type of energy. Their conclusion is that it is a preferable source of energy since it’s renewable and does not contribute to environmental problems.
The theme for the preparatory boys’ team’s project is environmental health concerning four main problems: water and air pollution, black clouds and car vehicles.
The preparatory girls’ team focuses on new, clean types of energy. It discusses the advantages and disadvantages of energy sources and the good ways of producing energy.
Apparently, environmental themes and issues take the priority on the minds of the students. They are passionate about reaching towards a sustainable and healthy environment in Egypt.
Some changes took place this year, for instance, the number of teams increased, and students outlined a new vision and goals. Zahran students make a personal choice to participate in iEARN. The reasons of their participation are that they get interested upon knowing the importance of iEARN and how they can help by being a role in achieving a better world in the future. Other reasons include iEARN’s great achievements in the last years, in addition to the limitless experience, the friends, the knowledge and benefits from iEARN, which they describe as “without borders”.
The school also gets involved in other activities and programs, such as UNESCO programs, Peace Trip 2008, Oracle and Microsoft programs, as well as computer courses. This is one busy school, which recognizes the importance of extra-curricular activities for the development of youth.
This is a model for a successful school. This is a challenge for all Zahran students and teachers to aim towards more accomplishments and higher objectives, and I believe we will hear of it all this time next year.

Yasser Alaa

Nader Osama

1. The road of preparedness starts long before the exams, rather from the starting of the year. You need to be standing on a strong ground academically, and you should exert maximum effort to be on track with your studied material throughout the academic year. It is best to review the material right after class when it’s still fresh in your memory.
2. Time management is your key to success in your whole life, not just in exams. It’s a challenge, however it’s necessary. Organize your tasks, prioritize them, and set study goals which you insist on reaching. Avoid urgent tasks, and make sure you’re doing the right thing in the right time, and leave procrastination out of your life (don’t delay duties until they accumulate). Everyone has a time of the day which suits them the best, just know yours.
3. Don’t try to do all your studying the night before the test, instead space out your studying, review class materials at least several times a week, focusing on one topic at a time.
4. Have all of your study material in front of you: lecture notes, course textbooks, study guides and any other relevant material.
5. Find a comfortable and quiet place to study with good lighting and little distraction (try avoiding your own bed; it is very tempting to just lie down and take a nap).
6. Start out by studying the most important information.
7. Learn the general concepts first; don’t worry about learning the details until you have learned the main ideas.
8. Take notes and write down a summary of the important ideas as you read through your study material.
9. Take short breaks frequently, you memory retains the information that you study at the beginning and the end better than what you study in the middle.
10. Space out your studying, you’ll learn more by studying a little every day instead of waiting to cram at the last minute. By studying every day, the material will stay in your long-term memory but if you try to study at the last moment, the material will only reside in your short-term memory that you’ll easily forget.
11. Make sure that you understand the material well, don’t just read through the material and try to memorize everything.
12. If you choose to study in a group, only study with others who are serious about the test.
13. Test yourself or have someone test you on the material to find out what your weak and strong areas are. You can use the review questions at the end of each chapter or practice tests the teacher may give out as well as other materials.
14. Listening to relaxing music on a low volume can relieve some of the boredom of studying.
15. Don’t study later than the time you usually go to sleep, you may fall asleep or be tempted to go to sleep, instead try studying in the afternoon or early evening. If you are a morning person try studying in the morning.
16. This might sound weird, but your health is also a tool to utilize during studying. Your body will function better if you take good care of it. Eat a nutritious, well-balanced diet and devote time for exercise. Getting plenty of sleep refreshes your mind and relaxes your body. Believe it or not, laughter is positively the best medicine for stress. Moreover, choose an activity for some personal time. All this help you maintain memory and concentration, in addition to help you relief stress.
17. Reward yourself!
18. Nothing is perfect! Remember this all the time. Perfectionists never get things the way they want, try the best you can not to be a perfectionist.
19. Whenever you fall into a trap of stress don’t force yourself to go on while your stressful, you will end up in a panic attack. You can’t focus while being under stress. Under pressure, the results are opposite to what people want, so have a stress relief plan (some examples were mentioned above).
20. Be self-confident. You made a great effort, so there’s no need for the fear. You’ll do great and you are just an exam away from your goals.

Good luck is not the right expression for this occasion; apparently, luck has nothing to do with it. It’s all about persistence, time-management and how serious you are about studying.

Dina El Sheikh

When it comes to self-development, which means improving yourself and always trying to become a better person, it can never be enough. No advice can be complete, telling you what you should exactly do to become the best person ever alive, it can never be practical unless you discover it and believe it, and it can never work being spoken, its fuel isn’t wisdom words or experience, however, it’s action which can only be dug out from yourself. The key to your self- development is you! It all begins by you, when you start with yourself, so, are you willing to start on the road?

One … Smile and enjoy life!

Positive thinking and optimism keeps your determination alive, while negative thinking and pessimism makes you weak. Your words and thoughts should always be positive, and avoid words like “I can’t”, “it’s impossible” or “I’m afraid”. Optimism isn’t lying to yourself pretending that your life is going on great; optimism is making your life great. The next time you find yourself saying something negative, smile and switch it with 3 other positive thoughts.

Two … Discover your MDGs

Imagine a road without a destination, weird, isn’t it? That’s exactly a person who has no purpose of life, no mission, no goal. You have to discover your Millennium Development Goals, they can change the world and they can change you too, they are not decided by the UN but it’s you who decide them. It can be your future dream, it can be breaking a record, it can be breaking a bad habit, and it can be anything! But remember, a goal without a plan is a dream, start planning how to get there, it needs discipline, perseverance and having strong principals and values. At the end, you’ll look back at the steps you’ve taken, and you’ll feel proud.

Three … Appreciate yourself

Everyone is born unique and special, like a statue of gold, if you believe in that, and then you are on the road of success my dear. You have a special gift or skill, and it takes courage and wisdom to discover it. When you discover this gift, you need to know how to make it grow and the right way of using it to influence and make a difference. Sometimes people won’t appreciate you as much as you appreciate your work, but that shouldn’t discourage you. In case you wonder what that gift can be, it isn’t playing a musical instrument or being in a sports league, it can simply be your power of smiling, your leadership personality, or being good at collecting staff! Appreciating yourself gives you self- confidence that could make you jump off a plane and fly!

Four … Appreciate others

As much as you’re special, all the people around you are. Never misjudge a person, give yourself enough time to know the person, because sometimes your eyes may lie on you. Understand people before seeking them to understand you, give time to listening, this makes people trust you and love speaking to you. The best way to change people is to change yourself first, so never have the look forward to changing people.  Respect people’s differences. Encourage people; give them your support, and you’ll find a lot of changes going on in your life.

Five … Complete the puzzle

Puzzle pieces are different, but when they get together, they form a picture. Same as people, when they stand side by side, shoulder to shoulder, they form the picture of the world we dream of. Teamwork helped in building the pyramids and civilizations, guess how teamwork can help you reach your goal?

Why are you still reading this? This is just a beginning, imagine what you can be able to do if you have this amazing energy, why imagine? Jump and start discovering the potential in you, develop your personality and be the man/woman you wish to be.