Rawan Barakat, born in 1986 in Amman, is a visually-impaired social activist and the founder of Raneen, a non-profit organization that produces Arabic audio stories to enhance children’s listening and communication skills. “Raneen,” meaning echo in Arabic, aims to engage youth with prominent stories from Arab culture through audio content for children aged five to sixteen. The foundation has established around 150 audio libraries in Jordan and the UAE, reaching over 20,000 children and training approximately 600 teachers and mothers in innovative storytelling techniques.

Raneen also prioritizes expanding its outreach to marginalized communities, aiming to shift traditional, memorization-based education toward a more interactive and inclusive approach. Barakat works closely with educators, families, and communities to support children with special needs, ensuring they have access to inclusive educational resources.

Growing up in a supportive family, Barakat’s mother read to her every night due to the scarcity of Braille books, inspiring her to establish Raneen. She later became the first blind Theatre Arts student in the Arab world, graduating from the University of Jordan in 2008. Her achievements have earned her the Synergos Arab Social Innovator award (2011), the Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Award for Globally Influential Arab Youth (2013), and the Order of Al Hussein for Distinguished Contributions (2015). She is also recognized as an Ashoka Fellow for her groundbreaking contributions.