As winter turns to spring, we're delighted to share the latest updates from New Silk Roads. In 2024, our work to support a just green transition continues, including:

Launching the Green Growth Summit, featuring flagship one-day events in Tunisia (April 30, 2024) and Egypt (May 14, 2024), with support from Hivos and in partnership with Changelabs.

Partnering with Flat6Labs to implement the 4-year Green Growth and Jobs Accelerator Project (GGJAP) in Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, and Morocco, on behalf of UNDP

Gathering key learnings from Hivos’ GreenWorks job creation program, which were presented to the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Hague in November 2023

Providing technical capacity support to green and impact-driven incubation and acceleration programs across North Africa, as well as to emerging green businesses in the region.

Developing research-based knowledge products on innovative financing for energy access, on behalf of EnDev and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) | Partner in Sustainable Development

We were also thrilled to facilitate another futures thinking session for Impact Europe (formerly EVPA), this time at their headquarters in Brussels.

Then, across the Mediterranean, we’ve been imagining the future of work with ReBootKamp (RBK) in Tunisia, including developing courses on leveraging AI for professional communication, co-creating strategies on gender inclusion within the tech sector, and exploring how to measure decent, fulfilling work for young people in emerging economies.

In a recent gathering in Egypt, our team came together for a retreat that united both seasoned and new members. This gathering strengthened our bonds and focused on defining our values, strategy, and future direction. We are excited to carry forward the learnings cultivated during the retreat into all our future projects and collaborations.

Follow us on social media for more updates on our activities, and events, and see you along the silk roads!

As winter turns to spring, we're delighted to share the latest updates from New Silk Roads. In 2024, our work to support a just green transition continues, including launching the Green Growth Summit, featuring flagship one-day events in Tunisia (April 30, 2024) and Egypt (May 14, 2024).  We partnered with Flat6Labs on a 4-year program, together with UNDP and we developed a research product with EnDev and RVO.

We blinked and it’s almost March. It’s been a busy start to 2023 as we kick off a number of new projects, both with longstanding partners and several new clients.

As part of our business development services, we’re working with ReBootKamp to scale its operations across Tunisia (and beyond), under the Challenge Fund for Youth Employment. 

On the fundraising side, we’re providing leverage support for the Climate Fund for a Just Transition with Hivos. We’re also working with the Finnish Embassy in Egypt to provide program design and fundraising training for 6 grantees working on green transitions in Upper Egypt and the Delta regions.  

Meanwhile, we’re continuing to imagine futures, from climate futures to the future of digital technology geopolitics. In the Sinai peninsula, we convened our final Futures Lab of 2022, “What If Climate Adaptation Were Local?”, which produced 4 future scenarios accompanied by original work by an emerging, Egypt-based artist. Read more about the Lab here, here, and here.  

Finally, we wrapped up Vertical Atlas—a tool that enables comparisons, connections and contradictions between diverse visions, realities and worlds—through a book launch and exhibition at the Het Nieuwe Instituut. 

Up next, we’re launching our first-ever online fundraising course designed for impact-oriented organizations, businesses, and collectives. Meanwhile, we’re offering a few more futures thinking deep dives to select clients: stay tuned for more soon!

It’s been a busy start to 2023 as we kick off a number of new projects, both with longstanding partners and several new clients. Some of the high lights are our work with Hivos under the Climate Fund for a just Transition, our support to the Finish Embassy in Egypt, the Sinai Futures Lab and the launch of Vertical Atlas.

In the spirit of the old silk roads, we recently designed and implemented a learning journey to bring together impact entrepreneurship pioneers from eastern Europe and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) for the EVPA’s “Impact in the Neighborhood” event in Tbilisi, Georgia. Now, we’re developing another learning journey (and celebration) with Hivos to capture and share the outcomes of the GreenWorks program in the Netherlands next month. 

Turning towards new(er) silk roads, we're also taking our training programs into the digital realm and recently launched a Program Design and Fundraising (MOOC) designed for impact-oriented organisations and businesses. We’re currently offering this MOOC to community-based initiatives in Upper Egypt in partnership with the Finnish Embassy in Cairo and to scaling green businesses under GreenWorks. 

We're also continuing to explore climate-positive futures, including a creative collaboration with a young, Egypt-based artist around the question: "What if Climate Adaptation Were Local?"

In a similar vein, we’ve been commissioned by RVO to conduct a research report on the future of innovative finance within energy access initiatives around the world. 

Last month, we convened a Futures Lab in Egypt, “What If Real Estate Accelerates a Green Transition?” where business leaders, investors, policymakers, and researchers imagined how the Egyptian real estate sector could adapt to the realities of climate change. We also launched our online “Futures Talks” series, published the scenarios from the Futures Lab in Tunisia on "What If the Future Were Rural?'' and facilitated several workshops on the future of social entrepreneurship in the Mediterranean. 

On the fundraising side, we raised over EUR 6 million with our GreenWorks and Madar partners in just six months. Under GreenWorks, we also conducted three programme design and fundraising workshops for the Tunisian Center for Social Entrepreneurship (Tunis, Tunisia), Athar (Minya, Egypt), and Bayt Alkhyata (Minufiyah, Egypt).  

Vertical Atlas Book Launch - Oct 27, 2022 at 7pm (UTC)

Join us for the upcoming launch of Vertical Atlas: a book, digital publication, and exhibition. Tune in online via live stream or join in person at Het Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam2

What If Climate Adaptation Were Local? Exploring the Future of Just Green Transitions in Africa  - Nov 17, 2022

On the heels of the high-level COP27, we are convening a 3-day Futures Lab in the Sinai (Egypt) around just green transitions and decent employment creation in Africa.

Fundraising Support for a Just Climate Transition: 2022-2024

Under the newly formed Hivos Climate Fund for a Just Transition (CFJT), we will provide fundraising support to the partners  in Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia. That’s a wrap! Keep following our work and we hope to meet you along the new silk roads.

For over ten years, we have been guided by the values embodied by the old Silk Road: trust, connectedness, and international solidarity. Amidst all the disruptions and uncertainty of the previous years, these values have continued to guide our work. In 2021, New Silk Roads convened several futures thinking programs in Egypt and Tunisia which produced bold, localised visions for our shared futures. With our partners, New Silk Roads also raised EUR 2.5 million, including partners under the GreenWorks Alliance and Madar.

In 2022, we’re also launching Futures Talks, an online series which invites the intellectual travelers of today to share how they utilize futures thinking within their respective work. For an overview of all our current and past projects, we invite you to visit our portfolio.

We wish you all a healthy and inspiring 2022 and hope to meet you along the new silk roads!

New Silk Roads latest news

Winter 2023-2024 Updates

Fall 2022 Updates

Winter 2022 - 2023 Updates

Winter 2021 - 2022 Updates

Fall 2023 Updates