On May 10, 2016, the Mandel Program for Local Leadership in Baqa al-Gharbiyye held a round-table event at Elkasami College. Approximately 150 of the city's residents attended, including Mayor Morsi Abu Mukh, who gave a speech praising the members of the group for their important work. Also in attendance were municipality department heads, educators, and community activists in various fields.
The purpose of the event was to acquaint Baqa's local leadership and residents, as well as members of the local authority, with the work of the fellows of the Mandel Program and to mobilize interested parties in the social, educational, and municipal fields to promote the various projects that were developed over the past two years, when the program has been underway in the city.
At the meeting, group members presented posters that they designed to describe their projects and social activism. An exhibition of installations depicting the city of Baqa al-Gharbiyye in the present and in the future was also mounted. Lastly was the meeting's main event: round-table discussions on five topics: sustainability and volunteerism, young people and informal education, early childhood, women in the public space, and Baqa: A Child-Friendly City.
At each table sat 12 to 15 participants who had been invited by the program fellows. The organizers considered the event, which was facilitated ably by group member Nura Sharif Abu Husien, a bridgehead for action on a wider scale with the cooperation of the entire population of Baqa al-Gharbiyye.
