Former Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio has been keeping busy since leaving his UN job as High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations. He is the president and founder of Global Platform 4 Syrian Students, a unique initiative that aims to provide emergency scholarships and grants to Syrian students whose education has been interrupted by the country’s current turmoil – and he was interviewed recently by KUNA, the Kuwait News Agency to talk of the efforts that will see up to 10 scholarships offered in Portugal.
Speaking in Madrid last week, Sampaio praised the support for his project by Kuwaiti poet Abdulaziz Saud Al-Babtain.
“I am grateful and always amazed with the vision and generosity of Mr. Al-Babtain. Thanks to his decision to collaborate with Global Platform we will be able to offer 100 scholarships for Syrian students in Egypt and up to 10 scholarships in Portugal.”
“Most of the scholarships will be for Syrian refugees in Egypt – there will be 100 scholarships for the 2014-2015 Academic Year as well as up to 10 top up grants for Syrian students in Portugal,” he said.
Furthermore, all participants in this Scholarships Programme will be provided with training on dialogue, peace building, pluralism and building inclusive societies. This training will be prepared and provided through another multi-stakeholders project – called Dialogue Café Global Network – developed in cooperation namely with CISCO and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
Sampaio emphasised: “We need to work out our differences and develop common ground for dialogue and cooperation across divides.
“As ordinary human beings and citizens we can do little to stop the war in Syria. However, we can do a lot to start preparing peace now – and allowing Syrian students to resume their studies is one way of doing this. After all, to rebuild the country, Syria will need well equipped and high skilled qualified people”.
The former president concluded: “This is why investing now in higher education for Syrian students is so critical and will make a real and great difference.”
Sampaio invites others to join the Global Platform – donations and gifts can be small or large, he says, global or local, financial or non-monetary.
