POMED-Safadi Foundation USA Event

You're Invited: New Media and Reform in the Middle East: The Case of Lebanon

Safadi Foundation USA and the Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) present:

New Media and Reform in the Middle East: The Case of Lebanon

The year 2009 witnessed an explosion of Internet-based activism in the political cultures of the Middle East. From the so-called Iranian "Twitter Revolution," which helped Green Movement activists mobilize and organize their protests on the streets of Tehran, to the recent imprisonment of prominent bloggers in Egypt and other countries, the Internet has finally become a force to be reckoned with in Arab politics.

The use of information and communication technology (ICT) in the Middle East has been a transformative tool in strengthening civil society and expanding the outreach of independent voices. In her remarks concerning Internet freedom last month, Secretary Clinton noted the power of the Internet and new technologies in helping to bridge divides between people of different faiths and help expand dialogue.

What types of U.S. assistance are needed to empower young reformers committed to non-sectarian politics? What is the role of ICT in promoting inter-faith dialogue and peace building? Can ICT help organize young voters in advance of the upcoming municipal elections? What is the direction of new media training in Lebanon?

Please join us for a discussion with:

Jared Cohen, Policy Planning Staff, U.S. Department of State

Elias Muhanna, Blogger, QifaNabki.com

Moderated by: Mona Yacoubian, Director, Lebanon Working Group, United States Institute of Peace (USIP)

Friday, March 5, 2010
11:00 AM
Rayburn House Office Building
Room 2255

Please RSVP here or by email to: rsvp@pomed.org

Safadi Foundation USA is a non-partisan registered 501 (c) (3) public charitable tax-exempt organization dedicated to promoting a national and strategic framework for Lebanon's development.

CONTACT: Lara Alameh of Safadi Foundation USA, +202-349-0890, lalameh@safadifoundationusa.org

Citizen Lebanon

With support from the National Democratic Institute (NDI), the seven partner organizations of Citizen Lebanon have engaged more than 7,000 citizens across the country in the last 18 months. Through intensive training of 67 community facilitators, NDI and its partners have supported community activists in 400 municipalities to hold discussion and debate groups. Many of these groups have evolved into "action groups" that receive training and guidance on advocacy techniques with the ultimate goal of enabling participants to work with other citizens, civic organizations, and government officials to address common problems for the benefit of their communities.

A very worthwhile program. Check it out in a municipality near you!

Event announcement:

Social Media Cafe is pleased to invite you to attend the Young Leaders Social Media Café in its Vol. 01- Beirut, atMarch 6, Zico House (Hamra) at 4.00.

Students, techies, geeks, social media enthusiasts, activists, journalists, entrepreneurs, investors, civic and business leaders, policy-makers and change-makers will be attending the event hosting more than 22 speakers from 22 Arab Countries and Sweden from the Key Social Media Projects, internationally, Regionally and locally.

The agenda is on the YLSMC blog here.

iLebanon

It was like some exclusive place in Soho back when Soho was cool, but there was an ocean between it and New York, a tumultuous ocean full of the wrath of winter. Concrete ceilings, water spots, black walls that probably receive a regular dose of paint, and art, much art, a red-faced Warhol and Superman Obama and marvel comics on canvas, an explosion of popart was right there on the walls of a warehouse bar in Beirut on a winter's Friday night.

The future of Lebanon socialized inside those walls, a mix of programmers, bloggers, photographers, musicians, social entrepreneurs, Twitterers, and civil society activists, all of them recognizing that in natural resourceless Lebanon, human resources are the way to progress, building a knowledge society through technology and ideas.

They called it Geekfest.

They had come out from behind computer screens to prove they are real, that they aren't just avatars but living human beings whose ideas are as real as they are. Lebanon could be a leader in tech, but its telecommunications infrastructure prevents it from being so. Instead, tech investment goes to Amman, and young Lebanese are left in the dark. Will the new government make good on his promise to bring Lebanon into the twenty-first century, or will corruption and ineptitude keep these "geeks" mired in the past, their ideas fading with each advance made by the world around them?

There are so many great initiatives in Lebanon, so many skilled developers and talented individuals, and most of them attended Geekfest at Art Lounge on Friday night. I wish them luck in their endeavors and hope we develop long lasting partnerships for the betterment of Lebanon's civil society.

SMEX post on Geekfest.

Fake Plastic Souks post.

fadynammour photos

Public Service Announcement

Developing Lebanon supports programs that further the cause of equality for women. I'd like to pass on this message.

MTV tv station is preparing with Hiyam Abou Chedid a program titled "w ana kamen ..lebnene"...(And I also...Am Lebanese).

If you are a Lebanese mother and facing nationality problems regarding your children and want to appear on tv and defend the cause, please send me a message.

The message must include name, problem description and phone number.

This message is addressed to women living inside Lebanon, in order to make the interviews.

The MTV program admins will chose among the candidates to the program.

Contact Antoine Yammine here.

Friday night in Cybeirut

Big tech event tonight in Cybeirut, Lebanon - Geekfest Beirut, starting at 8:30pm at Art Lounge.

Join the techies of Lebanon in what has been billed as "a social networking event UNORGANIZED for geeks, aspiring geeks and people who think that they might have a little geek in them!"

The mission? "To bring geeks together to exchange ideas, skills, stories and generally have some geeky fun."

In addition to the website, Geekfest Beirut is on Facebook and Twitter.

Lots of things going on, from presentations on all things tech to photography exhibits and some good old fashioned socializing and networking.

The agenda:

The Quality of Disintermediation
A millennium of disintermediation, how technology is challenging the world to change
Alexander McNabb

Creative Commons
Naeema Zarif, Maya Zankoul

CEDRO Sustainability projects in Lebanon
Elie Abou Jaoudeh, CEDRO, UNDP

Our Relationship with Information

How information has evolved and its effect on personal self-expression and business communication.
Ayman Itani, Telephone.com, LAU

The Potential of Mobile Applications

Elie Haddad, Ayna Corporation

What the F’UX?
User experience presentation. Using an everyday object to reflect the online UX and a simple guide to build a good ux.
George El Khabbaz, Cleartag

For more information, visit the Geekfest Beirut website.

Roy G. Biv on the Med

Today as I was type, type, typing away on a document aiming to help civil society in Lebanon, this rainbow appeared above the Mediterranean in full glory. It was a majestic thing, a miracle of science and nature, and I thought about all of the things a rainbow has come to symbolize to human beings. To Noah, a figure in each of the three Abrahamic faiths, the rainbow was God's promise to never again destroy the Earth. To Irish-Americans, if you go to the end of a rainbow, you'll find a little leprechaun and a big pot of gold to make all of your dreams come true, and if you're Polish, it's angels who leave the gold.

Speaking of angels, one civil society organization that operates in Lebanon takes as its name this light refracting phenomenon. Arc en ciel is celebrating its 25th anniversary of helping disadvantaged people. They help market agricultural products, improve the environment, and develop ecotourism in Lebanon, among other very worthwhile activities. They operate in many places across Lebanon. I encourage you to check them out.

Everything's gonna change our world across the Twitterverse

Last night, I had the good fortune of attending an open house for Social Media Exchange here in Beirut. There, I met real life people with whom I've previously had only online contact, whether it was through Twitter or email.

It's funny how you can instantly connect with people who live an ocean away.

I think Lebanon really has something here. Through technology, young people are coming together and shaping their own view of what the future of Lebanon should be (too bad they can't do it with a decent internet connection...) In Beirut, Twitter has brought together tech types in a way that could never have happened ten years ago. Through "Tweetups," young Lebanese get together to talk about tech, complain about Lebanon's slow internet, and just socialize and enjoy each other's company. True, Tweetups happen in other parts of the world, but not with the same frequency and intensity as they happen here. Friendships are forged, new projects develop, and activities have expanded beyond the Twitterverse. This weekend in Faraya, there is a snow Tweetup at a ski resort.

Imagine if individuals can get together like this what organizations can do with such a simple tool as Twitter. Instead of working individually, organizations can learn about each other's activities and work together to tackle a common problem, whether it be computer illiteracy, poverty, or the corruption in the telecoms sector that is to blame for the poor internet infrastructure in Lebanon.

If you are a civil society organization, sign up for an account at Twitter.com! Make sure you use your organization's name, and if you have one, use your logo as your avatar. Find a third party application like Echofon or Tweetdeck to facilitate the use of Twitter, and start tweeting about your projects!

You can follow us on Twitter at @SafadiUSA.

Strengthening the Role of Women in the Public Sphere

Moderating Extremism: Lebanese Leaders’ Perspectives

The Institute for Inclusive Security hosted a delegation of women from Lebanon in Washington, DC as part of their 2010 Colloquium. The women represent a cross-section of Lebanese society (see below for a list of the women).

The delegation met with a variety of think tanks and US policy makers, including Safadi Foundation USA. The delegation emphasized the need to increase female participation in the public sphere. While Lebanon appears to be a very free society on a superficial level, there are many barriers women must work through to obtain equality with their male counterparts. These barriers include patriarchy, confessionalism and cultural limitations imposed by religious clerics. In fact, Lebanon has one of the lowest percentages of women in policy or decision-level making positions. Currently, there are four women out of 128 parliamentarians and 2 female Cabinet-level Ministers out of a total of 30. The women that are present in public life in Lebanon have strong familial ties to male sectarian leaders with strong financial backing. What this shows is that women with strong financial resources and elite family connections are successful in making it to public office. However, there are many other women who are not able to share the same success based on merit alone due to institutional discrimination.

What these women are fighting for is to ensure that women’s rights are being accorded to them based on their national citizenship and not their sect and/or family status. With the assistance of Hunt Alternatives Fund, these women are working to strengthen their advocacy skills through coalition building, training and exchange programs, and technical advice. The delegation announced a set of recommendations specific to advancing the role of women in democracy and peacebuilding in Lebanese society. The recommendations can be viewed in their entirety at: http://www.huntalternatives.org/download/1918_new_solutions_for_moderating_extremism_lebanon.pdf

Safadi Foundation USA commends these women and will continue to seek ways to mobilize support for strengthening Lebanese civil society.

Participants:

Wafa Abed, President, Institute of Progressive Women Union;
May Akl, Foreign Press Secretary for MP Michel Aoun;
Dima Dabbous-Sensenig, Director, Institute for Women’s Studies in the Arab World, Lebanese American University;
Elissar Douaihy, Training and Mobilization Coordinator, Women Empowerment: Peaceful Action for Security and Stability (WEPASS);
Claudia Abi Nader, Professor, Military Academy; and
Lamia Osseiran, Vice president, Lebanese Council of Women.

An interesting social media initiative by...the Lebanese government?

That's right! The Lebanese government has rocketed into the Twitterverse with a new initiative @AskLEBGov. Have a question for the government? Ask away!

AskLEBGov says " Ask the Lebanese Government and help others ask. Leading e-Diplomacy Initiative to accounting & querying the Lebanese government through social media."

Prime Minister Hariri, too, has a team on Twitter, @PMHariri.

A response on social media

The following is a comment on our post on the use of technology by civil society organizations in Lebanon by the folks at Social Media Exchange. It is a good response and is useful knowledge for those outside of Lebanon who don't understand the infrastructure issues here.

I appreciate the mention of our work in Lebanon. It’s true, we’re trying hard to help civil society take advantage of what technology has to offer, and at the same time caution against thinking of technology as a solution in itself. As a new organization that has relied almost exclusively so far on project grants, we also understand the challenges that NGOs face with regard to resources, continuity of programming, and sustainability. But it’s not all their/our fault.

Let’s not forget that the Lebanese government hasn’t done much to improve the accessibility of the internet, either in terms of cost or infrastructure. When it takes overnight to upload a video, is it any wonder that NGOs don’t see the value of beginning to explore the possibilities of the web? Our internet connection—the fastest available at 2.3 Mbps—costs us $200/month, and that’s just for 8GB of upload or download. Every additional GB is $10.

That said, it’s true that may NGOs have yet to realize the importance, not just of the web, in general, but of strategic communications plans in particular. This is partly owed to the fact that extra-internet media here are very politicized. So it will take a while for civil society, journalists, and others to develop a new media literacy and internalize the possibilities so that they can use these new tools strategically to suit their needs and, we hope, in defense of the public interest.

We’ve also struggled to keep our website updated, and initially used a content management system (CMS) that was too complex for our needs. As a result, our website and blog often needed to be updated. My one best piece of advice that I’m giving these days: Don’t hire a web developer to build a website from scratch for you. Ask them to guide you through the selection of an open-source (free and customizable) CMS like Wordpress, Drupal, or Joomla. If they won’t do it, find a new developer (we can help with that). If you want a social network, check out Ning or Crabgrass. There’s really no need to pay for the creation of this infrastructure. Save your money for the person you’ll need to maintain the site and keep the content fresh. And remember, that person has to like technology. Get them some training, which is one of the things we do at SMEX.

In the past year, we’ve seen an amazing leap of awareness of the web and what it can do for civil society projects in Lebanon. That will only improve and expand as time goes on—as long as we don’t slide backwards in other ways, over which we may or may not have control.

You can find SMEX online here.