BELGIUM

Abdinasser Rezkallah is a second generation immigrant of Algerian descent, born in Belgium, living and working in Ghent. He works as a social worker at youth-centre Kaarderij and works with adolescents and their community. Abdinasser runs youth programs, new immigrant programs, career guidance and skills trainings, youth solutions in schools, language and homework support programs and creative musical programs. Mr. Rezkallah is an active participant in the Belgian American Muslim Dialogue Project since November 2005. He has been a speaker at various conferences about the social problems and solutions facing Europe's Muslim first through third generation immigrant communities. He is committed to working on practical solutions for social problems of Europe's immigrant population. Mr. Rezkallah has not won any awards yet but he is very interested to win sponsorship for his project working to advance solutions for the immigrant and Muslim communities in Europe. At the moment he is combing his social work and other activities.

City: Ghent

Gamila Dahri is the General Secretary of Présence Musulmane, Belgium. Founded in 1996 by Tariq Ramadan, Présence Musulmane Worldwide is a network focused on engaging in discourses around Muslim issues in French-speaking countries. Gamila Dahri is also a representative member of the FEMYSO (Forum of European Muslim Youth & Students Organizations, a non-profit) in Brussels and at several European institutions. She is the co-founder of the project "Women from Minorities & the Media" at the European Youth Council in Budapest, which will be showcased at next year's European campaign 'All differents, all equal+10'. The research conducted through this project is the first of its kind in Europe, and is supported by the Council of Europe. Through an academic background in Journalism and Infography, Gamila Dahri has acquired experience in proofreading and correction of writings for several publishers and has created brochures for various companies and advertising agencies. Born in Brussels and of Morocco origin, Gamila Dahri worked at the international headquarters of the prestigious brand "Le Pain Quotidien" for 4 years, where she concentrated on the development of the brand abroad. This year she is finishing an MBA on 'International Business Management' in Brussels. The subject of her thesis is Franchising and Master Franchising. She is also the Belgian co-director of the Annual "Week of Muslim-Christian Encounters", based in Paris, with 40 participating cities in Europe. Within the framework of her interfaith work, she recently received an award for best inter-religious project in Greece. Her project was an inter-religious calendar which, with the help of their teachers, was made by students themselves. Since its debut in Greece, the calendar is now also being made by students in other European countries. Finally next August, a first of its kind interfaith summer camp for teenagers will be held in Brussels and Gamila will be the Muslim partner in this project.

City: Brussels

Imane Karich is the General Secretary of the CEREI (Cercle d'Etudes et de Recherches en Economie Islamique), a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and developing Islamic Finance in Belgium. She is also collaborating on two other projects: French-speaking magazine respecting Islamic values and Belgian Muslim Professionals Organization (ABPM: Association Belge des Professionnels Musulmans). She has also published two books on Islamic Finance : Le Système Financier Islamique, de la Religion à la Banque, Editions Larcier, 2002, Finances & Islam, Editions Le Savoir, 2004. Her new publications will be released in 2007 and are titled: Guide des Affaires en Islam; Guide de l'Investissement en Islam; Guide de l'Assurance en Islam. To be issued in 2007. She also published articles on Islamic Finance and Economy in the main French-speaking Belgian economic newspapers "l'Echo", in the main banking revue, the "Revue Bancaire et Financière" and in the French newspaper "Le Monde". She also appeared on Belgian and French radios (Vivacité, Radio 21, Europe 1). Born in Brussels, Belgium, she graduated in Business Administration from the HEC of Brussels. She acquired Certified Financial Analyst and Financial Risk Manager certification. She is currently working as Internal Auditor on Financial Markets and Risk Management departments in the ING Bank.

City: Brussels