KUWAIT CITY, Oct 21: en.v, an organization dedicated to fostering social development and civic engagement in the Middle East, announces the launch of the first community building festival in the country which will take place on Nov 15-17, 2018 at Dar Al Athar Al Islamiyyah (DAI) Cultural Center in Yarmouk, Kuwait.AWAKEN is a three-day festival that will bring together individuals from diverse backgrounds and communities to develop creative solutions to pressing social issues in Kuwait. Activities will focus on promoting the exchange of knowledge and building a foundation for sustainable collaborations in the country. They will include interactive sessions led by international speakers, aiming to push people out of their comfort zones and spark critical thinking through pioneering methods.There will also be creative dialogue and storytelling platforms led by local community leaders, practitioners and civil society organizations (CSOs), as well as live performances and alternative food experiences. AWAKEN will kick off with a series of small, community collaborations in the weeks leading up to the actual festival, in an effort to reach and engage a broad and diverse audience.AWAKEN is part of the Promoting & Advocating for Civic Sector Enhancement (PACE) program, developed by en.v in partnership with Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), a German non-profit promoting civic education internationally. The purpose of the program is to strengthen the civil society sector in Kuwait through various initiatives geared towards increasing its collective impact and recognition amongst public and private stakeholders.Commenting on the event, Dr Annette Ranko, the Acting Head of KAS’ Regional Program Gulf States, said, “We are looking forward to be part of it. AWAKEN is a good opportunity for the CSOs to meet, coordinate, cooperate and exchange knowledge in a joyful atmosphere, which will increase their visibility and efficiency in promoting positive social development in Kuwait.”These efforts are also aligned with those of our two local partners, the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS), the leading non-governmental institution encouraging a culture of research and development within Kuwait’s society, and Burgan Bank, one of the fastest growing and youngest commercial banks in the State of Kuwait.Under the new KFAS 2017-2021 strategy, the foundation has renewed its commitment to play a leading role in supporting efforts to transform the country into a knowledge-driven economy.This will be achieved through investment in human resource development and national projects that provide innovative solutions to challenges of national priority.Loulwa Al-Ayoubi, Acting Group Head of Investor Relations & Corporate Communications at Burgan Bank said, “As one of the key pillars of our CSR strategy, we aim to promote the spread of knowledge through innovative platforms and initiatives whilst striving to drive the sustainability of our communities.  Today, it gives us great pleasure to partner with an established game changer like en.v through sponsoring the ‘Awaken Festival’; a collaborative platform that enhances social structure and networks, drives levels of output higher, and works on enhancing the standards of social responsibility.We share the same ideals and vision and we hope that, through this long-term dynamic exercise, we will help contribute to aiding civil society organizations to become more effective in addressing societal challenges, and to unite diverse community members that share different ideas, knowledge and insights to realize the new potential in a thriving and emerging market like Kuwait.”The collaboration between en.v and Burgan Bank will extend until 2020 to include a series of employee and community engagement initiatives focused on increasing the organization’s social impact and participation from stakeholders.Elisa Franceschinis, Managing Director at en.v, said: “We are very excited to be part of this collaborative, ongoing effort to foster the development of community-driven approaches to solve social and environmental challenges in Kuwait. Our goal is to create an inclusive space where people from diverse sections of Kuwaiti society can have their voices heard and contribute meaningfully to the country’s development”.