Laila Rashed Iskander Kamel is an

Egyptian Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...

social entrepreneur Social entrepreneurship is an approach by individuals, groups, start-up companies or entrepreneurs, in which they develop, fund and implement solutions to social, cultural, or environmental issues. This concept may be applied to a wide range of o ...

and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. She is formerly Egypt's Minister of State for Environment Affairs in the

interim government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, or a transitional government, is an emergency governmental authority set up to manage a political transition generally in the cases of a newly formed state or f ...

of Prime Minister

Hazem El Beblawi Hazem El Beblawi (also spelled ''el Beblawy'' ar, حازم عبد العزيز الببلاوى ; born 17 October 1936) is an Egyptian economist and politician who was interim prime minister of Egypt from 2013 until 1 March 2014. Previousl ...

. Dr. Iskander has been working with Egyptian grassroots organizations for over 20 years. She acts as chairperson and founding board member of CID Consulting – an Egyptian consulting firm that "strives to create holistic growth solutions by bridging corporate and developmental objectives". She is well recognized internationally and locally as a consultant, researcher, and trainer in community development. Laila Iskander is also a trustee at Alfanar, the first

venture philanthropy Venture philanthropy is a type of impact investment that takes concepts and techniques from venture capital finance and business management and applies them to achieving philanthropic goals. The term was first used in 1969 by John D. Rockefeller I ...

organization in the

Arab Region The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western As ...

Education and early career

Dr. Iskander studied Economics, Political Science and Business at Cairo University. She acquired a Master of Arts in Teaching with a specialization in Near Eastern Studies from the University of California, Berkeley and later acquired a Doctorate of Education from the Teacher's College at Columbia University in New York. Iskander has worked as researcher, speaker and consultant with governmental and international agencies as well as with the private sector in the fields of gender, education and development, environment, child labor and governance. Her consultation work encompasses grass roots' issues and policy matters. She also served as consultant to the Egyptian Minister of Environment on waste management. Over the past 25 years, Iskander has worked on projects in “…institutional building, network creation, institution of public-private partnerships, and technology transfer…” in the fields of non-formal education, primary health care, community environmental issues, crafts, literacy and gender, among others. She also served as a jury member to UNESCO's International Literacy Prize and acted as UNESCO's UNLD Resource Person for the Arab region between 2005 and 2007. Dr. Laila also has a long track record and expertise in the area of formal and non-formal education techniques, and had managed several projects in this area in Egypt

Networks

Iskander sits on the Board of Trustees of the

International Institute for Environment and Development International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

. She is also member of the executive team of collaborative working group on solid waste management in low- and middle-income countries, better known as CWG – an informal knowledge network that brings together volunteers to share knowledge on

solid waste management Waste management or waste disposal includes the processes and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal. This includes the collection, transport, treatment and disposal of waste, together with monitoring ...

methods in

developing countries A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreem ...

Social entrepreneurship

On being a social entrepreneur, Iskandar stated that:

Authorship

Dr. Iskander acted as Director and Lead Author of the Business Solutions for Human Development Report 2007 on Egypt. In 1994, she authored a book titled ''Mokattam garbage village, Cairo, Egypt.''

Notable contributions

Mokattam Recycling School

Dr. Iskander's contributions include her notable work with the

zabbaleen The Zabbaleen ( arz, زبالين ', ) is a word which literally means "garbage people" in Egyptian Arabic.Assaad, Ragui. (1996) Formalizing the Informal? The Transformation of Cairo's Refuse Collection System. ''Journal of Planning Education & R ...

or garbage collectors, in Egypt, where she established an informal recycling school in 1982 to teach children basic literacy, health and hygiene - a project for which she received the

Goldman Environmental Prize The Goldman Environmental Prize is a prize awarded annually to grassroots environmental activists, one from each of the world's six geographic regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands and Island Nations, North America, and South and Central America. ...

in 1994. Her work with the garbage collectors includes a "learning and earning" rug-weaving program ("Kamel’s Rug-Weaving Center"), in which girls from the zabbaleen community weave rugs on a hand-loom using discarded cotton. The project integrated an educational program to teach the girls basic math and literacy and facilitated the sale of their rugs at handicraft fairs for profit.

Sinai Recycling Project

The know-how of waste management in

Manshiyat Naser Manshiyat Naser ( arz, منشية ناصر ; , "the Christian suburb", ) is a ward (''kism'') of Cairo, Egypt. It covers 5.54 square kilometers, was home to 262,050 people in the 2006 census, up from 168,425 in 1996 census, and borders Nasr Cit ...

on the outskirts of Cairo was transferred to the Egyptian tourist towns of

Dahab Dahab ( arz, دهب, , "gold") is a small Egyptian town on the southeast coast of the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, approximately northeast of Sharm el-Sheikh. Formerly a Bedouin fishing village, Dahab is now considered to be one of Egypt's most tre ...

and

Nuweiba Nuweiba (also spelled: Nueiba; ar, نويبع, ) is a coastal town in the eastern part of Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, located on the coast of the Gulf of Aqaba. History Historically, it is in the Asia, Asian Part of Egypt and the area was inhabited ...

in 1997, when Kamel cooperated with social entrepreneur Sherif El-Ghamrawy – eco-lodge owner and founder of environmental protection organization "Hemaya" (Arabic for "Protection"). The project involved separating and dividing

organic Organic may refer to: * Organic, of or relating to an organism, a living entity * Organic, of or relating to an anatomical organ Chemistry * Organic matter, matter that has come from a once-living organism, is capable of decay or is the product ...

and non-organic waste and delivering non-organic waste to a sorting and processing transfer station to be

re-use Reuse is the action or practice of using an item, whether for its original purpose (conventional reuse) or to fulfill a different function ( creative reuse or repurposing). It should be distinguished from recycling, which is the breaking down of u ...

d and

recycled Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the p ...

; organic waste was delivered to Sinai

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert and A ...

who used it to feed their cattle, thus preventing

environmental degradation Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment (biophysical), environment through depletion of resources such as quality of air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems; habitat destruction; the extinction of wildlife; an ...

caused by unorganized waste disposal methods. The processing transfer station was established to absorb the large volume of alcohol bottles, plastic, cardboard and other recyclable materials from tourism establishments and provide a healthy source of income from the re-sale of plastics and glass both locally and internationally.

Awards

In 1994, Dr. Iskander received the

for her early work with the zabbaleen At the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...

Sharm el-Sheikh Sharm El Sheikh ( ar, شرم الشيخ, ), commonly abbreviated to Sharm, is an Egyptian city on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, in South Sinai Governorate, on the coastal strip along the Red Sea. Its population is approximately 53,670 ...

in 2006, she and her organization – CID Consulting – received the Schwab Award for Social Entrepreneurship for their design and implementation of a "learning and earning" project for children of the zaballeen with

fast-moving consumer goods Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), also known as consumer packaged goods (CPG), are products that are sold quickly and at a relatively low cost. Examples include non-durable household goods such as packaged foods, beverages, toiletries, cand ...

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer hea ...

Egypt.

References

External links

Global X Interview Iskandar on Social Entrepreneurship

DW TV Interview Iskandar on Recycling in Manshiyat Naser

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20101010164450/http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2009/954/en1.htm Iskander, Laila, ''No time to waste'', Al Ahram Weekly, 2–8 July 2009, retrieved 04 Oct. 2010
UNDP Business Solutions' Report 2007, retrieved 04 Oct. 2010

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20101010083452/http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/813/sc10.htm Laila Iskander, ''Educating Working Children'', Al Ahram Weekly, 21–27 Sept. 2006, retrieved 04 Oct. 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Iskander, Laila Waste managers Living people Year of birth missing (living people) UC Berkeley Graduate School of Education alumni Teachers College, Columbia University alumni Goldman Environmental Prize awardees Environment ministers of Egypt