INELI-MENA is an e-training leadership program, implemented by AFLI and funded by Global Libraries Initiatives (GL) at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). It aims to:

1. Supports future Arab leaders in public and national libraries by developing, improving their skills & competencies, which will contribute to enhancing the level of services in public libraries throughout the region.
2. Building an active regional e-learning network of emerging leaders in libraries in the Arab region by the end of the program.
3. Encouraging the cooperation between regional library associations and specialists in the field through a cooperative project.

The program consists of Convenings (two convenings were held); Skills development modules (an online platform was created); Forums (a number of forums have been allocated through the e-learning environment); Evaluation (the program was assessed by external consultants).

The e-training pogrom succeeded in building connection between Arab professionals around the MENA region, enhancing the skills & competencies of emerging public library leaders in Arab region; six projects were implemented by innovators in their community: Homeless Children, Human Library, Marketing Plan (1), Marketing Plan 2, Adapting Talents, Pre-school program, proposed plans for how the network will be sustained after the program ends.

http://ineli-mena.org/

• Africa
• Asia and Pacific

• Youth
• Librarians; Public library; communities

1. Innovators graduated from INELI-MENA program leads the e-training in their countries under the voluntary supervision of INELI-MENA staff.
2. Organizing workshops in a number of countries to introduce the network and its implementation mechanisms by INELI-MENA staff & innovators graduated from the program.
3. Use the e-training platform to train public librarians in the MENA region on national levels.

The project is currently replicate on national levels in Tunisia, Egypt; Sudan; Palestine.
Other e-training networks are under construction and will be available soon in Morocco; Bahrain; Algeria & Lebanon, Libya.

1. Organizational Sustainability: INELI-MENA Manager developed a guide & templates for innovators on how to build their own e-training network on the national levels.
2. Financial sustainability: INELI-MENA staff works voluntary to supervise the national e-training networks and to ensure a steady flow of maintaining and continuing the program.
3. Programmatic sustainability: the Moodle platform is available for innovators graduated from the program to use in building their own national e-networks; and also the modules in Arabic language - that can be reused as it occurs under the Creative Commons license to train public librarians on the MENA region on national levels.

This project has been guided by WSIS key principles for information society and promotes WSIS values in the Arab countries and within each country through the following: - Improving professional library and information practices which apply new innovative ideas in their communities. - Make use of open source system to build a sustainable educational platform, which give opportunities for continuing education and improve access to information resources for library professionals all over Arab countries equally, especially for those how suffer from lack of professional training due to the unstable conditions recently (i.e. Yemen and Palestine). - Maximize knowledge sharing among Arab librarians through virtual forum within the educational platform, which leaded to generate new ideas ready to be adopted regardless of the cultural context (i.e. Homeless Children library initiative in Sudan). - Involving in e-learning experience improved Arab librarian’s ICT skills, readability to engage, and enroll in various professional courses available on the web. - Cooperation and partnership among all stakeholders on national level to build capacity in library leadership and technology driven training. - Promote new interactive relationships between professional innovators and society members and start to think out of the box and apply new ideas in educating the community and raise the information awareness level, in addition to - Promoting modern information literacy skills that would support the concept of self-learning in the community which help in creating a true information society. - New professional innovators will play the role of advocates for change and teachers of new young leaders. - This project creates and support professional leaders who believe and promote open access of information, equal rights to information access, ability to self-evaluate information, and seek support for new projects and how to apply advocacy methods within the community.