Emna Mizouni

After successfully helping to prepare RightsCon Tunis, a public announcement was made in July 2019 that she was appointed to serve on the global board of directors of Access Now, the international non-profit human rights group intent on an open internet. In August 2019, at the Wikimedia Conference in Stockholm, she was honoured as Wikimedian of the Year 2019 as a result of the leading role she has played in the development of Arab and African communities as well as her success in promoting the history and culture of Tunisia.

Katherine Maher, Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation, complimented Mizouni on her efforts: "Emna is a tireless advocate and champion for free knowledge. Her work, collaboration, and passion to preserve Tunisia’s cultural heritage has opened Tunisia’s culture, people, and history to the rest of the world."

Following the Arab Spring, Mizouni came to realize that knowledge about her country's history and culture was sadly lacking. As a result, together with other collaborators, she founded Carthagina (based on Carthage, the ancient name of Tunis) which was designed to promote Tunisia's cultural heritage. Pr Safwan Masri, mentioned in his book «Tunisia an Arab Anomaly» that while meeting Emna, she told him about the "significance after the Jasmine Revolution of Tunisians' consciousness of their varied and Mediterranean history as they chart their futures". In 2017, as head of the project, she explained: "After the revolution, lots of people wondered about the country's identity. Differing presentations of our history and culture showed how little we really knew about our rich cultural heritage." Together with Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons, she organized photo contests focused on Tunisian heritage sites, succeeding in having participants submit hundreds of photographs in collaboration with Wikimedia's GLAM project. This led to Carthagina's project "MedinaPedia", allowing information about the Tunis Medina sites to be accessed on mobile phones via QR codes. Another GLAM project was set up by Mizouni's leadership; the Wikimedian in Residence in the Diocesan Library of Tunis, in partnership with the Library and the Archdiocese of Tunis signed by Tunisia's Archbishop Ilario Antoniazzi and delivered by one of the founding members of Carthagina and Wikimedian Zeineb Takouti. Mizouni also saw Carthagina as an incentive for young people to show an interest in their country in a dynamic way, rather than by just following boring history lessons at school.

Raised in Tunisia's capital Tunis, Mizouni matriculated from the Lycée Khaznadar in the Le Bardo district of the city in 2006. She then attended the École supérieure de commerce (ESCT) in Tunis where she first graduated in management (2009) and then went on to earn a master's degree in marketing, business negotiations, and communications (2011). After her studies, she worked in marketing and as a journalist and radio presenter. In June 2012, she was appointed Marketing and Communications Officer for the British Council.

Emna Mizouni (Arabic: آمنة الميزوني, born 1987) is a Tunisian online and human rights activist, free-lance journalist, communications expert and business executive. After successfully helping to prepare RightsCon Tunis, in July 2019, Access Now, the international non-profit human rights group intent on an open internet, announced her appointment to serve in their global board of directors. In March 2013, Mizouni co-founded Carthagina, an initiative designed to create interest in Tunisia's cultural heritage at home and abroad. In August 2019, at the Wikimedia Conference in Stockholm, she was honoured as Wikimedian of the Year 2019 as a result of the leading role she has played in the development of Arab and African communities as well as her success in promoting the history and culture of Tunisia.