Ahmed El Maraghy

Ahmed El Maraghy is empowering and integrating the blind in Egypt by giving them a voice in society and creating a window for greater participation and employment through the media.

A journalist himself and a firm believer in the power of the media, Ahmed is using existing media channels and creating new media vehicles to break through the confinement the blind community experiences in Egypt. Through his work, he aims to help these individuals better communicate with the society around them, and to help that society recognize blind citizens' potential. In Egypt, blind people have no access to information, knowledge, services or employment, are isolated from the community and generally perceived as weak, dependent citizens. Despite these setbacks, they prove to be strong, persistent and resourceful individuals, and Ahmed seeks to build on that by fostering an independent, educated generation of young leaders in the blind community that will actively participate in society and mobilize their fellow citizens. Ahmed's strategy is based on using mainstream media, like print journalism, television and radio, as well as new ones, like magazines and online radio stations, to help the blind communicate with wider Egyptian society and each other. His plan is also grounded in the notion that blind citizens hold a great deal of untapped potential that can be utilized best by focusing on their strengths rather than their disability needs and rights, as the current charity-oriented culture has historically done. During his media campaigns Ahmed has succeeded in generating employment opportunities for the blind in the fields of journalism and media. He has also succeeded in mobilizing the blind's participation as active citizens in the community, and is building a network to link them with citizen organizations (COs) in Egypt which could benefit from their contribution.