On 23 May 2017, the Children’s Museum Jordan hosted the 12th Meeting of NAMES Board of Directors (BoD) upon the request of NAMES newly elected Executive Director, Ms. Maissa Azab. Ms. Azab had proposed the re-initiation of standalone annual BoD Meetings to discuss the progress and development of the network in full depth. During the meeting, the Executive Director advocated for the necessity of launching, coordinating, and maintaining collaborative projects and initiatives among members, to be able to maintain and acquire memberships.
Consequently, the BoD launched the Mijbil Almutawa Award Program (MAAP) to commemorate the legacy of the late founding member and former president of NAMES by supporting young science communication professionals. The BoD also discussed the progress and development of the Euro-Mediterranean and Middle East Summer School for Science Communication (EMME) in collaboration with Ecsite.
The Executive Director proposed the launch of a “Starter Kits” initiative and the BoD agreed to start with two pilot kits; one about “Early Childhood Activities” to be developed by CMJ, and another about “Teacher Training Programs” to be developed by Mishkat and the Planetarium Science Center (PSC). Another proposal revolved around the development of original, as well as adapted or translated, online resources, as a service to members.