2015-2016 Ruba Musleh and Dalal Iriqat The Cross Cultural Institute of Palestine Ruba is a development professional and certified employability trainer with more than 10 years of experience in internationally-funded development programs. Her recent work has focused on building capacity in institutions that serve Palestinian youth through training programs and mentorships. A Fulbright scholar, Ruba earned her MA degree in Conflict Transformation from Eastern Mennonite University in Virginia. She is an advocate for sustainable social change through tolerance and peace building efforts, and supports various peacebuilding organizations including Seeds of Peace and the Palestinian Center for Transitional Justice. Dalal is a research expert in public administration, diplomacy, and conflict resolution. She is a skilled university professor and has worked on coordinating conferences and international affairs at Birzeit University. Dalal has conducted a number of trainings on communication, leadership, diplomacy, and protocol. Her recent research has focused on the development of marginalized communities in Palestine as part of the UNDP’s Human Development Report. Dalal is passionate about bringing social change to Palestine by strengthening public administration and empowering younger generations. Currently, Dalal volunteers with various social change organizations and believes strongly in the influential role of the individual.
Fellows Project Summary The Cross Cultural Institute of Palestine aims to provide training and coaching to new members of the diplomatic corps and to all entities that represent Palestine at international conventions and conferences, including advocacy groups, politicians, and NGO workers. The Institute will follow the model of diplomatic institutes around the world, such as the Foreign Service Institute in the United States. Its main objectives will be to empower civil servants by enhancing their ability to advocate for their nation internationally.
Rasha Abu-Safieh The Gaza Gateway Rasha graduated first in her class in Information Technology Systems from the Islamic University of Gaza. She worked as a systems analyst and software developer for three years before moving into the academic sector to serve as head of information technology and registration at the University. After acquiring academic and private sector knowledge, Rasha stepped into the INGO world as the head of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) for Mercy Corps International’s education program, and as the lead for the advisory committee on education and training. Since starting her professional career, Rasha has been attracted to social change, particularly in difficult communities with few opportunities for women, and inspired by the significant role technology plays in creating change.
Project Summary The Gaza Gateway will create a bridge between ICT graduates and private sector employers. As a market actor in its own right, the Gaza Gateway will provide the first end-to-end solution for the ICT sector’s needs. The Gateway will create a solution to Gaza’s issues of private sector employability and marketing by hiring recent graduates that can deliver commercial outsourcing projects while thoroughly integrating skills and competency trainings into their daily work. Project participants will leave the Gateway after one year and bring employable resumes and sound entry-level skills into Gaza’s private sector. In order to overcome Gaza’s marketing and delivery challenges, the Gateway will provide a first-rate set of personal, project, and risk management skills. It will also transfer these skills to Gazan firms through commercial SME training. As each group of participants leaves the enterprise for employment in local companies, the Gateway can subcontract to the participants’ new employers. The Gateway will introduce new outsourcing buyers to Gaza through this two-stage process, first delivering and then handing over projects—as well as a skilled workforce—to Gazan firms.
HAIFA STAITI Empathy for Peace Haifa was born and raised in Palestine before moving to Norway at age 17 and then Canada at age 19. Growing up during the First Intifada, Haifa received first hand experience of the conflict in the Middle East. Her childhood experiences, as well as a formative summer as a participant in the Seeds of Peace program in 1997, fueled her desire to work with others to achieve long lasting peace between Palestine and Israel so that no other person has to live through the same conditions that she and her family endured. Haifa has an International Baccalaureate diploma
from United World College-Red Cross Nordic, a bachelor’s degree in political science and economics, and a Graduate Diploma in Business Administration—both from Simon Fraser University. She currently works as a project manager for a Toronto software company that provides an electronic grants management system to foundations and philanthropic organizations. She is on the board of Peace it Together, a Vancouver based peace building organization, and a senior volunteer with the Spark of Hope Foundation, an organization that supports the higher education of young women in developing countries.
Project Summary Cognitive empathy is the recognition of another’s mental state. Affective empathy entails responding with an appropriate emotion to another’s mental state. The social neuroscience and molecular biology of empathy are increasingly well delineated. Empathy is a natural resource for conflict resolution. Empathy for Peace is a two phased project. Phase one will be a scientifically focused conference in London in 2016 that will gather Arab and Jewish (including Palestinian and Israeli) psychologists and neuroscientists, as well as peacebuilding groups from the Middle East, to discuss the latest empathy research and its translational relevance for conflict resolution. The Conference will be documented by filmmaker Alex Gabbay, who created a documentary on the topic of the science of empathy in 2011. This will ensure that the outputs of the meeting are not only scientific articles in Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, but also a free-to-watch YouTube channel. Phase two will see the planning and launch of a philanthropic foundation focused on raising and distributing funds for further research into empathy. This research can then be applied to grassroots peace initiatives that will use this knowledge to build their programs.
Ruba Huleihel
Aneeta Bukhari
Birdsong
Love Indigenous Ruba is one of the three cofounders of Birdsong, an online fashion marketplace. She completed the Year Here Fellowship in social innovation, working at a homeless hostel and consulting on children’s services for Camden Council. She has experience in executive search for private banking
and education. Ruba holds an MSc in Comparative Politics from the London School of Economics and a BA in International Relations and Business Administration. She serves on the Seeds of Peace UK Steering Committee. A Palestinian with Israeli citizenship, Ruba grew up in Jerusalem.
Project Summary Birdsong is a feminist online marketplace that sells clothing made by women’s groups. Believing that all bodies are beautiful, Birdsong is committed to photographing a diverse representation of models and refuses to alter their appearance. With a mission of “no sweatshops and no Photoshop,” Birdsong aims to make the fashion industry fairer for women. By curating an eclectic range of stylish products at affordable prices, it aims to make ethical fashion an easy choice. Its lifestyle blog and on social media, the organization hopes to put creators in the spotlight and spread positive messages on women’s empowerment. Its business model offers suppliers tailored support in exchange for a commission from sales. Many organizations that provide holistic support and vital services to women struggle with funding. By lowering the barriers to selling online, Birdsong enables enterprising women’s organizations to stand on their own two feet. UK based suppliers include jewelry makers recovering from eating disorders and addiction, elderly knitters, and skilled seamstresses from migrant communities. International makers range from a women’s collective in Malawi to a social enterprise bringing together Palestinian embroiderers and Israeli seamstresses. Birdsong’s impact is measured in the revenue it generates for suppliers and for the women it works with.
Aneeta is the founder and CEO of Love Indigenous, an ethically conscious profit sharing social enterprise based in Pakistan that creates bespoke luxury ensembles and fabrics. Love Indigenous employs fair trade practices and supports women’s empowerment through the generation of income opportunities. The business started with one woman and, within a year’s time, expanded its commerce by engaging 30 women across Pakistan. Aneeta holds a double major in Economics and Political Science from Manhattanville College in New York. She is a former reporter for Newsweek Pakistan and covered numerous issues of national concern during her time at the weekly. A passionate Sitar player, Aneeta vociferously supports creativity as a means of self-expression.
Project Summary The goal of Love Indigenous is to create a shift in the mindset of patriarchal societies to not only accept that women can earn a living but to also encourage it. It aims to support women with the skills and talents to make a living that can contribute to their household income and fulfill basic needs such as food, shelter, education, and health for themselves and their families. By empowering women, Love Indigenous aims to empower future generations. A source of sustainable income can give a family the opportunity to uproot themselves from the cycle of poverty that can trap both current and future generations. A wholesome upbringing means fewer chances of a child engaging in activities considered criminal. It also means that in the lowest rungs of society, where poverty is rife, the message spread is one of liberation and respect for women. Psychologically, this can have tangible ripple effects.
Liat Berry
Arab-Israeli MBA Network Liat is currently pursuing an MBA from Harvard Business School. She has worked as a Hardware Engineer at Apple, EZChip, and Mellanox, and has taught linear algebra at the Technion Institution of Technology, amounting to seven years of work experience. Liat served on the board of directors of the Council of Volunteer Organizations in Israel and led its Fundraising and Innovation Committees. She was a mentor and team leader at the Paamonim NGO. She is passionate about peace, for the Middle East in particular, and is an advocate for civil rights.
Project Summary Liat aims to create a network that will bring together MBAs and MBA students from the Middle East with the common goal of exploring how entrepreneurship, infrastructure development, skills-based training, and education can play a role in laying the groundwork for eventual and sustainable peace in the region. Upon acceptance to Harvard Business School, Liat was instantly connected with a vast network of Israeli MBAs studying in the US. Her Arab classmates shared similar experiences with their respective nationalities. However, there was no existing network to connect MBAs across nationalities and religion. Her vision is to form a network that will nurture an ongoing dialogue and organize peace related conferences and activities to inspire its members to initiate projects that create positive progress in the Middle East. Success will be measured by the number of members that choose to identify with the network and collectively work on the initiatives.
Christina Hawatmeh
Qasim Aslam
Nousha Kabawat
Scopio
The History Project
Project Amal ou Salam
Christina Hawatmeh is the CEO of Scopio. She received her Master of International Affairs at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, where she focused on Technology. She launched Scopio, formerly Protestify, at Columbia Business School’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program. She is an Amazon Web Services two-time Grantee, a Mozilla Firefox Fellow, and a Tech Boss Finalist. Christina earned her BA in Middle East Studies and International Affairs from George Washington University, and has work experience at Columbia University’s Global Center in Amman. She is passionate about social movements online, and visualizing them in a more innovative way, making them not only more interesting, but also more accessible.
Qasim is a 2014 Laureate Global fellow with the Sylvan/ Laureate Foundation and a former TEDx speaker. He has travelled to 26 countries across five continents for trainings, speaking engagements, workshops, conferences, and sporting competitions. In 2013, Qasim launched the History Project, an initiative that looks into how governments tamper with history in textbooks to breed a specific brand of patriotism. The first in the series of books was published in India and Pakistan and received an overwhelming response as it was featured in local and international media outlets. After the success of the first book, the team is working on elaborate plans for a second book to follow in 2015. The initiative has received acclaim around the world, and Qasim has been invited to speak at institutions like Brown and Duke Universities, and Williams College. Professionally, Qasim is a tech entrepreneur. He is also a member of the British Council’s Global changemakers, the US State Alumni networks, and is a partner at Arbisoft, Pakistan’s third fastest growing IT software services company and the ninth fastest growing company in Arabia 500 Companies.
Nousha Kabawat is the Founder and Director of Project Amal ou Salam and the director of the Syrian Center for Dialogue, Reconciliation and Peace in Toronto. Nousha has implemented trainings for Syrian activists in Amman and Istanbul in conflict resolution, negotiation, civil society building, and transitional justice. She has also worked with refugee children in Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria to empower the future leaders of Syria through education, intervention, and trauma-based care. As the Program Officer for Syria at the Center for World Religions, Diplomacy, and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University, Nousha has designed programmatic content for overseas courses and civil society trainings across the Middle East. Her work has been recognized by the United States Institute of Peace and featured in National Geographic, BBC News, USA Today, and the Peace and Conflict Monitor. She holds a master’s degree in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University and a graduate certificate in Global Journalism from the University of Toronto.
Project Summary Through high-technology, Scopio efficiently tracks the impact and influence of images and videos posted online across the globe. Scopio empowers citizen journalists and ordinary users to create their own accounts of world events in real time, and connects them to locations and news outlets through pictures, real-time data visualization, data services, and hashtag analytics. Scopio focuses on hashtag-driven campaigns and events in multiple languages, including the effects of socially-driven conferences, natural disasters, upcoming elections, and more. Scopio is pushing the future of visual information into the present, communicating the impact of events in real-time and globally through a groundbreaking form of data: image and video data from social media. A platform called Protestify is under the umbrella of Scopio, and deals with global social movements that miss the eye of mainstream media. Users are able to create and upload media with the hashtag #protestify. The site then allows users to connect with news outlets. Success includes clients using visualizations in global socially driven conferences to amplify their messages online, and for major NGOs to use this new form of “storytelling” when a major event occurs.
Project Summary Project Summary Project Amal ou Salam is a volunteer-run grassroots The History Project looks into how biased history organization that sponsors schools and provides textbooks can teach young, impressionable minds a workshops for Syrian refugee children. It uses music, version of history that promotes intolerance in societart, sports, photography, and team-building activiies. More specifically, the Project researches history ties to teach kids about trust and unity and help them textbooks and curates materials that juxtapose narra- deal with the trauma they have sustained. tives from both sides of a conflict. Workshops provide open dialogue, giving the kids The Project’s first initiative focused on India and a safe space to tackle the issues that they face, and Pakistan. Teams consisting of equal numbers of Indidevelop their own ideas and visions for the future of ans and Pakistanis conduct workshops and distribute Syria. In addition to running workshops in refugee materials to schools across both countries. The main areas in Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, and inside Syria, objectives of this initiative are to teach future genera- Project Amal ou Salam also sponsors schools in these tions the art and science of critically analyzing the countries and responds to urgent needs of the Syrian information they are given, specifically starting with refugee community, believing that every child has the the discipline of history, and to learn to process this right to education, to a childhood free from trauma information and form their own opinions. The History and violence, and to the hope of a peaceful tomorProject also aims to make history education more fun. row.
Lior Lapid
Micah Hendler
Ore to Excellence
YMCA Jerusalem Youth Chorus
Lior Lapid is the Executive Director of Ore to Excellence, one of Israel’s leading educational nonprofit organizations. Since January 2013, Lior has been a member of the Israeli Presidential Advisory Committee, working alongside President Shimon Peres in a host of areas. In 2009, he was chosen to be a Social Entrepreneur Fellow at the Israel Venture Network. Lior attended the Seeds of Peace International Camp in Maine, both as a Camper and as an Educator. He holds an LL.B. degree from Tel Aviv University Law School and studied the history of the Middle East and Computer Science at Haifa University. He is currently completing his Master’s degree in Public Policy at Tel Aviv University, where he also teaches. Lior has been awarded the Seal of Excellence by the Minister of Education, the Prime Minister Shield, and the Minister of Welfare Award.
Micah Hendler is a musical peacemaker working in Jerusalem with Palestinian and Israeli youth. A graduate of Yale University in music and international studies, Micah has pursued the connection between musical communitybuilding, youth empowerment, and Israeli-Palestinian conflict transformation since his first summer at Seeds of Peace in 2004. As a musician, Micah has founded, directed, sung with, or played in dozens of musical ensemble. He studied choral conducting with Jeffrey Douma at Yale and community song leading with Ysaye Barnwell (formerly of Sweet Honey in the Rock), focusing on the use of vocal music from many global traditions to empower people from all walks of life to join together in song, build community, and sing out for change. Specifically, Micah has focused on how collective music-making can create community even across boundaries of conflict. His paper on the subject, “I am a Seed of Peace: Music and Israeli-Arab Peacemaking,” has been presented at several national conferences, has been published, and has provided the basis for his thesis on musical peacebuilding with youth in Jerusalem. The YMCA Jerusalem Youth Chorus is the fruit of this work and research.
Project Summary Ore to Excellence is an Israeli nonprofit that works to promote striving towards excellence and a commitment to volunteerism among children and teenagers from Israel’s social and geographic fringes. Ore operates on a multi-tiered approach: offering personalized trainings for teen mentors, weekly mentoring sessions, group activities, and monthly mega-events. To date, Ore has fundamentally changed the lives of over 2,000 children and teens with more than 150,000 hours of volunteering.
Project Summary The YMCA Jerusalem Youth Chorus is a choral and dialogue program for Israeli and Palestinian high school students in Jerusalem. Through the co-creation of music and the sharing of stories, the chorus seeks to empower the youth of Jerusalem to become leaders for equality, love, respect for difference, and mutual understanding in their communities and inspire singers and listeners around the world to work for peace. Since its founding in 2012, the Chorus has met weekly in Jerusalem for musical rehearsals and has facilitated dialogue at the Jerusalem International YMCA, providing a safe space for singers to meet one another at eye-level even through the war and violence of the summer of 2014. The Chorus has given countless performances in
Jerusalem and beyond, inspiring audiences from Tokyo to London to New York both live and through its music video, “Home,” created with Sam Tsui (which currently has more than 300,000 views). The group’s work has been featured in The Washington Post, Huffington Post, The New York Times and many other media sources, as well as on both of Israeli artist and activist David Broza’s recent albums. As the Chorus creates a home for all, it seeks to show what Jerusalem could become.
Tooba Fatima Rabtt
department will undertake a randomized control trial in order to assess the effectiveness of Rabtt’s current work. Improvement will be assessed in four core metrics: empathy, critical thinking, creativity, and confidence. Measures will also be enforced to test the usefulness of Rabtt’s training programs for its volunteers, as well as to determine how school teachers and administrators respond to the programs. Data from the findings will be used to identify both strengths and weaknesses, and make improvements to Rabtt’s curriculum.
Jouna Khalil Hiya-Tech
Tooba currently serves as the Director of Academics and Assessment for a local social enterprise in Pakistan called Rabtt. She is responsible for developing curriculum and designing assessment for the organization’s programs which are meant to increase empathy, critical thinking, creativity, and confidence in students. Tooba recently graduated from Forman Christian College with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and English Literature. Her psychology senior thesis explored the link between disrespect and aggression. Her other research interests include empathy and justice. Under Seeds of Peace’s banner, she organized an Interfaith Harmony Camp engaging youth from various faith groups in Pakistan in dialogue and tolerance building. Her work at Rabtt is inspired deeply by her experiences with Seeds of Peace.
Project Summary Rabtt develops independent thinking, critical analysis, tolerance, and empathy in Pakistani youth through educational camps and workshops. As Rabtt invests in its cause, several stakeholders invest in Rabtt. The target audience, the volunteers, as well as the donors trust Rabtt with their time, effort, money, or all three. Social enterprises are morally obligated to ensure that they deliver the change they claim to create. To this end, Rabtt’s goal is to establish an independent Research and Development wing to assess the effectiveness of its programs. This
Jouna is a Palestinian biomedical engineer living in Israel. She earned her B.Sc. at the Technion Institute of Technology and has been based in Haifa ever since. Alongside her work at Microsoft as a productivity solution specialist, Jouna is a social activist combining technology with education. She is a co-founder of Hiya-Tech (in Arabic: “She-Tech”), a grassroots initiative aimed at promoting Arab women and increasing their ranks in the high-tech industry. Hiya-Tech’s vision is to lead the community to a place where no boundaries are too hard to cross.
Project Summary Hiya-Tech looks to promote the participation of Arab women in one of Israel’s most prestigious and successful fields, the high-tech industry. The Hiya-Tech initiative was established by a group of pioneering Arab women who have succeeded in developing careers in the high tech sector and are now seeking to help others do the same. By helping Arab women develop a sense of self–efficacy, break stereotypes, and improve their economic status, the work of Hiya-Tech can greatly influence the way that these women perceive themselves, and are perceived by their society. Hiya-Tech will reach out to groups of young female Arab high school students, mentor them through their studies, and assist them in finding positions in the high-tech sector upon graduation.
Hagit Yaari Singing Together Hagit Yaari was born in Jerusalem and became aware of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at an early age, becoming active in numerous anti-Occupation initiatives. At the age of 21, Hagit was appointed the spokesperson for the organization Peace Now. She held the position for three intensive years, working with Israeli and foreign media representatives. After graduating from Hebrew University, where she studied art history and political science, Hagit began working in the Israeli television industry, focusing on the documentary field. She established a unique project called “Moms@Work” within the feminist organization Israel Women’s Network. Hagit leads the program, which allows both Jewish and Arab mothers to create social change projects, as well as impact their community and the Israeli public sphere. She joined a group of Arab and Israeli parents in Jaffa to create a bilingual community. The community established a bilingual, binational, multi-cultural public educational system for 150 children. Hagit is part of the steering committee and leads public relations initiatives and resource development.
Project Summary Singing Together is a musical project comprised of children’s songs written in Arabic and Hebrew and performed by the children of the joint bilingual community in Jaffa. The project is intended to raise funds for the first bilingual, binational public school in Jaffa. In order to make bilingual education public and accessible to all children, increased funds are required to maintain the additional manpower and learning aids that will help fully realize the bilingual structure and methods. In addition, music allows the joint community to raise awareness about their initiative and become a stronger voice against the segregation and racism found throughout the education system in Israel.
Though the main purpose of “Singing Together” is to raise funds, it will also allow the joint community to break down the walls of racism and hatred in Israel. Seeing children, as well as Arabs and Jews living, singing and creating together will have a great effect on the public and on potential stakeholders. The project hopes to raise the funds needed for production via a crowd funding campaign that will share and involve potential contributors in this unique community.
Rama Humeid Women’s Empowerment Through Storytelling Rama was born in the Palestinian refugee camp in Yarmouk, Syria. She now lives in Gaza with her family. Rama studied computer engineering and her professional focus is communications. Rama has been a humanitarian worker for six years and feels blessed to be part of the humanitarian community despite the daily challenges she faces.
Project Summary Rama’s initiative aims to train fresh university graduates, primarily women, on how to produce stories, videos, and artwork that raise awareness about specific issues that concern women across Gaza. More than 80 percent of the population in Gaza relies on assistance to cover daily living needs. Despite a talented pool of recent graduates, unemployment rates are extremely high. After the recent conflict in the summer of 2014, the situation in Gaza has become even worse and depression rates and suicide attempts have increased. Young women in Gaza need to be encouraged to use their inner strength to make substantial changes. Rama’s goal is to create a generation of women that are able to express themselves, explain their problems, and seek out solutions. She plans to create a space for women to be creative and productive, as well as to begin to generate their own income.