Our Founder, Mahmoud S. Rabbani
About Us: Fostering Dialogue and Connection
Our True Passion
Our mission is to foster meaningful exchanges that strengthen connections between Europe and the Arab region, recognizing their shared challenges and opportunities. At the Lutfia Rabbani Foundation, we believe that dialogue is essential for unlocking collective wisdom, passion, and creativity. We are creating spaces for open dialogue, where people can engage in constructive discussions, find common ground, and develop shared solutions. By promoting understanding and collaboration, we aim to build lasting connections and contribute to a more inclusive and cooperative future.
It is our sincere belief that through open and structured conversations, individuals and communities can fully tap into their potential, discovering common ground, shared solutions, and new opportunities that benefit all. Our commitment to fostering dialogue reflects our dedication to building bridges of understanding and cooperation between Europe and the Arab world.
About Us: Continuing a Legacy of Dialogue and Exchange
Our Mission
Our founding father Mahmoud Rabbani was a Palestinian refugee who was offered a scholarship to study in the Netherlands. Eventually, he felt at home in both parts of the world and was motivated by the belief that Arabs and Europeans still have much to learn from each other. Once they have come to a genuine understanding they will find that there is room in their mutual relationship for a much broader and stronger cooperation. This conviction drove Mahmoud to establishing the Foundation. We at the Lutfia Rabbani Foundation, are deeply committed to doing all we can, just as Mahmoud Rabbani did, to help build sustainable, inclusive societies in Europe and the Arab World by facilitating Euro-Arab dialogue and educational exchange.
Meet our Board members
Salim Rabbani (1962) is Managing Director of RTC Rabbani Trading and Consulting BV based in The Hague, The Netherlands. RTC is an international business development and strategy consulting firm specialized in developing projects, strategies, networks and partnerships for European firms in the Middle East and North Africa and vice versa. Mr. Rabbani is Chairman of the Netherlands – Middle East Business Council, the leading private sector trade and investment promotion organization in The Netherlands. In addition, he is Chairman of the Middle East Work Group, a Public-Private partnership initiated by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs together with the leading Dutch industry associations. Salim Rabbani was born and raised in The Netherlands to Palestinian parents. After finishing his secondary education in The Netherlands he completed his graduate and undergraduate studies in the United States (MBA, University of Southern California; BS in International Business, California State University).
Following her studies in Sociology and Public Administration in Toronto, Ontario, Yonet Schroder (1961) joined the Ontario Psychological Association, a professional organisation that helps to improve psychological well being through advocacy, education and support for the science and practice of psychology. Upon moving to the Netherlands in 1992, Ms. Schroder worked as a Research Consultant with the Butler Cox Foundation, an information technology research and advisory service firm. She has been active as Manager of External Affairs for RTC, Rabbani Trading and Consulting since 1993 and joined the Board of the Lutfia Rabbani Foundation that same year. In this capacity, she brings over twenty years of management experience.
Dr. Jan Donner (1947) was born in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and obtained his doctorate in law in 1978 from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He did his Ph.D. on higher education policies and management. He lived and worked in the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Latin America. Throughout his career he has worked in academic and entrepreneurial environments. At the Dutch ministry of Education he was in charge of the programme to replace the University Medical Centers in Amsterdam, Leiden, Utrecht, Maastricht and Groningen before being appointed vice-president of the University Medical Centre in Amsterdam, followed by appointments in senior healthcare management posts until 1991. He was appointed vice-president of the Vrije Universiteit in 1991 and president of the Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam in 2001. He participated in peer reviews in universities all over the globe, was amongst the initiators of the Arab European Universities Association in 1998 and started many SME’s in developing countries in Africa and Latin America. He retired in 2012 but is active in many national and international roles, chairing several boards of directors. He travels widely and continues to publish on higher education.
Joumana was born in 1975 in Beirut, Lebanon and is currently Director of the World Press Photo Foundation. Previously she was Director of the Lutfia Rabbani Foundation, Programme Coordinator for Grants and Collaborations at the Prince Claus Fund and later its director, and consultant in Development and fundraising for various cultural organisations. Joumana obtained her MA in Arts Administration from Columbia University, New York.
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