Lebanon is only one of several countries in the Arab World that have a wide communication gap between the citizens and their government. It’s usually an extremely difficult task to create some type of communication between the two in order to solve the country’s most pressing issues. But this new idea could be the first stepping stone to bridging this gap! Shortlisted for the Social Entrepreneurship Track of the 9th MIT Arab Competition, Jouwar believes that the best way to open the gates to this dialectic relationship is to start with the smallest, yet most important, of problems.
Founded by Elie Abou Saab, Jouwar, Lebanese for potholes, could be the best thing to deal with those pesky road hazards that never seem to be taken care of! Since its start in 2010, Jouwar has had some trouble getting it’s idea out into the Arab world. Nevertheless, it has won the Ashoka award as well as a social economic award in Lebanon and shortlisted for the Rolex award.
When Abou Saab received word that Jouwar has been shortlisted for the MIT, he realized that “this is the greatest opportunity that would meet the main goal of Jouwar which is to get the application out into the Arab world. The best thing about this application is that it is highly scalable meaning it can be applied everywhere, all around the Arab world.”
Abou Saab dearly hopes that his application “be adopted or integrated by the Lebanese government in order to close the gap between them and the population.” He believes that “this application would establish the relationship of trust that has yet to be formed. Having a platform that allows people to submit their complaints about road hazards and negligence will enable the two institutions to trust one another enough to expand from road hazards to more pressing issues.”
You can support Jouwar by contacting them at Jouwar.com or by email at elie@jouwar.com.
Don’t forget to wish them luck and leave a smile 🙂 !
