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Project Summary

The Cross Cultural Institute of Palestine aims to pro-vide training and coaching to new members of the diplomatic corps and to all entities that represent Palestine at international conventions and confer-ences, including advocacy groups, politicians, and NGO workers.

The institute will follow the model of diplomatic in-stitutes 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 abil-ity 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 Uni-versity 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 aca-demic 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 train-ing.

Since starting her professional career, Rasha has been attracted to social change, particularly in dif-ficult communities with few opportunities for women, and inspired by the significant role technology plays in creating change.

2015-2016Ruba Musleh and Dalal IriqatThe Cross Cultural Institute of Palestine

Ruba is a development professional and certified employability trainer with more than 10 years of experi-ence 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 peace-building organizations including Seeds of Peace and the Palestinian Center for Transitional Justice.

Dalal is a research expert in public administration, di-plomacy, and conflict resolu-tion. 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 com-munication, leadership, diplo-

macy, 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 adminis-tration and empowering younger generations. Cur-rently, Dalal volunteers with various social change organizations and believes strongly in the influential role of the individual.

Fellows

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 sec-tor’s needs.

The Gateway will create a solution to Gaza’s is-sues 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 chal-lenges, 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 com-mercial SME training. As each group of participants leaves the enterprise for employment in local com-panies, the Gateway can subcontract to the partici-pants’ 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 STAITIEmpathy 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 partici-

pant 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 econom-ics, and a Graduate Diploma in Business Administra-tion—both from Simon Fraser University. She currently works as a project manager for a Toronto software company that provides an electronic grants manage-ment system to foundations and philanthropic organi-zations.

She is on the board of Peace it Together, a Van-couver 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 dis-tributing 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 HuleihelBirdsong

Ruba is one of the three co-founders 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 execu-tive search for private banking

and education. Ruba holds an MSc in Comparative Politics from

the London School of Economics and a BA in Inter-national Relations and Business Administration. She serves on the Seeds of Peace UK Steering Commit-tee. 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 pho-tographing 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 empow-erment. 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 mea-sured in the revenue it generates for suppliers and for the women it works with.

Aneeta BukhariLove Indigenous

Aneeta is the founder and CEO of Love Indigenous, an ethically conscious profit shar-ing social enterprise based in Pakistan that creates bespoke luxury ensembles and fabrics. Love Indigenous employs fair trade practices and sup-ports women’s empowerment through the generation of

income opportunities. The business started with one woman and, within a year’s time, expanded its com-merce 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 house-hold 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 engag-ing 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 BerryArab-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 Technol-ogy, 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 Com-mittees. 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 to-gether MBAs and MBA students from the Middle East with the common goal of exploring how entre-preneurship, 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 na-tionalities. However, there was no existing network to connect MBAs across nationalities and religion. Her vision is to form a network that will nurture an ongo-ing dialogue and organize peace related confer-ences 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 mem-bers that choose to identify with the network and collectively work on the initiatives.

Christina HawatmehScopio

Christina Hawatmeh is the CEO of Scopio. She received her Master of International Affairs at Columbia Univer-sity’s School of International and Public Affairs, where she focused on Technology.

She launched Scopio, for-merly 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 passion-ate about social movements online, and visualizing them in a more innovative way, making them not only more interesting, but also more accessible.

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 con-nects them to locations and news outlets through pic-tures, real-time data visualization, data services, and hashtag analytics. Scopio focuses on hashtag-driven campaigns and events in multiple languages, includ-ing the effects of socially-driven conferences, natural disasters, upcoming elections, and more. Scopio is pushing the future of visual information into the pres-ent, 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 glob-al socially driven conferences to amplify their mes-sages online, and for major NGOs to use this new form of “storytelling” when a major event occurs.

Qasim AslamThe History Project

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, work-shops, conferences, and sport-ing 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. Profes-sionally, 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.

Project Summary

The History Project looks into how biased history textbooks can teach young, impressionable minds a version of history that promotes intolerance in societ-ies. More specifically, the Project researches history textbooks and curates materials that juxtapose narra-tives from both sides of a conflict.

The Project’s first initiative focused on India and Pakistan. Teams consisting of equal numbers of Indi-ans and Pakistanis conduct workshops and distribute materials to schools across both countries. The main objectives of this initiative are to teach future genera-tions the art and science of critically analyzing the information they are given, specifically starting with the discipline of history, and to learn to process this information and form their own opinions. The History Project also aims to make history education more fun.

Nousha KabawatProject Amal ou Salam

Nousha Kabawat is the Founder and Director of Proj-ect 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 build-

ing, 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 Con-flict Monitor. She holds a master’s degree in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason Univer-sity and a graduate certificate in Global Journalism from the University of Toronto.

Project Summary

Project Amal ou Salam is a volunteer-run grassroots organization that sponsors schools and provides workshops for Syrian refugee children. It uses music, art, sports, photography, and team-building activi-ties to teach kids about trust and unity and help them deal with the trauma they have sustained.

Workshops provide open dialogue, giving the kids a safe space to tackle the issues that they face, and develop their own ideas and visions for the future of Syria. In addition to running workshops in refugee areas in Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, and inside Syria, Project Amal ou Salam also sponsors schools in these countries and responds to urgent needs of the Syrian refugee community, believing that every child has the right to education, to a childhood free from trauma and violence, and to the hope of a peaceful tomor-row.

Lior LapidOre to Excellence

Lior Lapid is the Executive Director of Ore to Excellence, one of Israel’s leading educa-tional nonprofit organizations.

Since January 2013, Lior has been a member of the Israeli Presidential Advisory Commit-tee, working alongside Presi-dent 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 Edu-cator. He holds an LL.B. degree from Tel Aviv Univer-sity 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.

Project Summary

Ore to Excellence is an Israeli nonprofit that works to promote striving towards excellence and a commit-ment to volunteerism among children and teenagers from Israel’s social and geographic fringes.

Ore operates on a multi-tiered approach: offer-ing 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.

Micah HendlerYMCA Jerusalem Youth Chorus

Micah Hendler is a musi-cal 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 community-building, 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 sub-ject, “I am a Seed of Peace: Music and Israeli-Arab Peacemaking,” has been presented at several nation-al conferences, has been published, and has provid-ed 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

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 lead-ers for equality, love, respect for difference, and mu-tual 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 To-kyo 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 Wash-ington 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 al-bums. As the Chorus creates a home for all, it seeks to show what Jerusalem could become.

Tooba FatimaRabtt

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 empa-thy, critical thinking, creativity,

and confidence in students. Tooba recently graduat-ed 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 inter-ests 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 toler-ance 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

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

Jouna is a Palestinian bio-medical engineer living in Isra-el. 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 tech-nology 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 them-selves, 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 YaariSinging Together

Hagit Yaari was born in Jeru-salem 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 televi-sion industry, focusing on the documentary field. She established a unique project called “Moms@Work” within the feminist organization Israel Women’s Net-work. 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 pub-lic 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 com-munity 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 ac-cessible 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 Is-rael. Seeing children, as well as Arabs and Jews liv-ing, 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 Pales-tinian refugee camp in Yar-mouk, 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 gradu-

ates, primarily women, on how to produce stories, videos, and artwork that raise awareness about spe-cific 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 tal-ented 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 at-tempts 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.