Change Your World

Women from all over the globe are using social media, tech and the Internet to change their worlds in extraordinary ways. This month, we're highlighting changemakers in the Middle East in celebration of our Change Your World event on May 10th in Amman, Jordan. Get inspired. Be part of the change. Let us know what you are doing to #changeyourworld. Top tweets will be shared on event day!

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Women of Gaza, Tanya Habjouqa

"Women of Gaza" depicts a different side of Gaza. Despite the devastation, a community spirit and elegance prevails. 

Life continues, and so do the traditions and self-respect--a resistance to letting suffering be the standard definition."

- Tanya Habjouqa, photographer

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Conflict Map via Syria Deeply

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...And that's a wrap! Thank you for joining Yahoo Change Your World Amman 2014!

There is nothing more powerful than a group of women using their passion, talent and dedication to influence our society. We are grateful that you joined us today..this is only the beginning! Change Your World is creating an influential, global and bold network of women through these events and you're an integral part of the team. Stay updated through our site and Twitter as we provide more opportunities to work together in our mutual quest to create a more peaceful, equitable world. 

Pictures and videos coming soon as well.

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'Take the Risks': Nadine Toukan invests in films that face Jordan's social issues head-on.

Nadine Toukan, executive producer of When Monaliza Smiled and the upcoming film Theeb, creates films to bring taboo issues to the forefront. Her advice to those who want to create change through the arts? "Take the risks. Invent new formats and solutions. Redefine the metrics of what success is."

What motivated you to produce your latest film When Monaliza Smiled?

When Fadi Haddad sent me his script, it was entertaining, and read like the kaleidoscope that makes up Jordan which is seldom represented in the arts. It featured strong and vulnerable female and male characters without breaking one gender at the expense of the other. It bravely exploded onto the pages several narratives that we've intentionally muted over the years, and did so with humor and authenticity. Many Jordanians would see themselves and people they know in the characters, and would be entertained as we put our ingrained prejudices and complexes front and center. It would also provoke a much needed conversation beyond the film. All excellent ingredients for good filmmaking. And I'd been tracking Fadi since his undergrad years. He's talented and hard working. I had no doubt he'd deliver.

Can you tell us about the film?

The story features a single, thirty something Jordanian woman (Monaliza) who falls in love with the migrant Egyptian worker (Hamdi) she meets at a defunct public sector bureau. Egyptian workers in Jordan have built this country with their hands, are part of every street, building and service, and between documented and undocumented are around 400,000-500,000 in population. We deny ourselves, and them, this reality with huge unkindness. Jordanian women who marry non Jordanians fall prey to a broken social and legal system that discriminates against them, their foreign husbands and children. A Jordanian woman who chooses an Egyptian migrant worker as a partner is double taboo.

What advice would you give to young women looking to follow a similar path as yours?

Read everything you can get your hands on. From published novels to news, draft screenplays, blogs, and twitter commentary. Understand what talent is, and couple that with determined, hard work. Be resourceful, and look around what's familiar to you. Some of the least likely people end up being your best allies and connectors. Take the risks. Invent new formats and solutions. Redefine the metrics of what success is.

What motivated you to begin using film as a way to tell stories?

My own love for screen narratives that stir our imagination and urge us to reflect on issues while being entertained. And the fact that Jordan hasn't built a cultural archive in film for decades. I sensed, and continue to, that in order to process some issues, we needed a way to laugh and cry together, to celebrate as well as to confront. Film is an incredibly powerful medium for inducing that.

Follow Nadine's journey to change the world on Twitter .

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The Syrian War's Private Donors in the Gulf Lose Faith

Since the Syrian revolution began, private Kuwaiti donors have been among its most generous patrons. The private funding however has greatly impacted the overall direction of the Syrian War. Change Your World panelist Elizabeth Dickinson uncovers the effect as well as the recent donor disillusionment of financial contributors.  

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Join us and our inspiring list of panelists tomorrow for a day of celebration and provocation. Follow @yahoobhrp and use the event hashtag #changeyourworld to join the discussion. We will be highlighting a range of stories in the region, from the rise of digital entrepreneurs, to people advocating for peace in Syria to women using photography and film to tell stories behind stereotypes in Palestine. Don't miss out! Add your voice to the conversation. Discussions with our panelists begin 9:30 AM GMT+2. #changeyourworld

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The team at Gaza Sky Geeks (GSG) understands the power of entrepreneurship to lift a region. GSG is the first and only startup accelerator in Gaza. The program identifies top technology startups in the region and then provides seed investment and networking opportunities to help its investments achieve global growth. One of its startups, Wasselni, is a carpooling and taxi ordering network founded by Mariam Abultewi (pictured above).

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Power of Media: Yahoo UK recently developed Zaatari: A Day In the Life  - an exclusive series depicting life during a typical day in what has become one of the largest temporary cities in Jordan for Syrian refugees. The videos are powerful at going past the headlines and bringing insight into the very real day-to-day lives of Syrians whose lives have been uprooted.

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Only 22 and already creating ripples around Africa and the Middle East-- World, meet Evanna.

Evanna Hu, CEO of g.Maarifa, is using technology to exponentially increase the human capital in emerging markets. g.Maarfia just expanded services in MENA and Evanna shares with us initial insights into the region as well as what's behind her unrelenting dedication to change the status quo. 

What inspired g.Maarifa to begin work in the Middle East? 

We saw that the MENA region, for various and unique reasons, has the biggest problem with high youth unemployment. 26.5% of youths don’t have jobs in the region as opposed to the global average of 12%. 

What has surprised you the most since launching in the Middle East? What have you noticed when working in this region and how does it differ from other areas g. Maarifa has worked in?

I’m surprised by the number of women in high powerful positions in companies and in tech. I always knew that Jordan is more liberal than most other Muslim countries in the region, but it still shocked me the first few months when I would walk into a potential client or investor meeting and meet with a female. Especially coming from East Africa, where I can safely say that 90% of my meetings are with older males, it is been refreshing to say the least.

I am continuing to be amazed by the passion and humanity in the Middle East (I’ve only spent a lot of time in the Levant). People genuinely want to improve society and are open to talking to people who are trying to affect change. This was especially true in North Africa, specifically in Tunisia, where I am impressed by the number of people who have heard of my idea and have gone above and beyond to help us set up legally and connect us to key people. The implementation of the changes can definitely be faster, but that will come with time.

What has inspired you to use technology to create change?

We chose tech as our platform because of its scalability. The biggest complaint about human capital development is that it’s very hands-on and can only reach limited number of people. We want to increase people’s access to quality information and enrichen their learning experiences as much as possible. So tech made sense as it can reach out to a massive number of people. At the same time, however, we don’t view technology as a panacea. In fact, for g.Maarifa, we see the best results and biggest impact when our technology is used in conjunction with occasional in- person training sessions. 

What has been your greatest challenge and what advice do you have for other women who want to use technology to spur international development?

Our greatest challenge has been to stay focused. Technology is multipurpose and we have had a hard time deciding what to focus on while saying no or delaying other opportunities. This is especially true for startups or a new initiatives, when the world offers so many opportunities and you want to do everything at the same time.

Has there been someone who has inspired you? If so, can you tell us about it?

My mom and Madeleine Albright. My mom’s journey from an impoverished village in the China countryside to her current work position with a Ph.D. AND a MBA in the States has set an example for me to never give up and that there is always a solution to a problem. She’s the one who taught me to be optimistic while still being realistic. Most importantly, though she comes from a conservative background and is traditional in some aspects herself, she has never forbidden me from doing anything. And my journey and things I have done haven’t exactly been “normal”. I’m 22 and we are super close, so I still long for her opinion whenever I do something new. So the fact that while she might disapprove of something, she doesn’t forbid me has allowed me to explore life and the world without much burden on my shoulders.

Madeleine Albright inspired me because of her amazing accomplishments and because we come from a similar background. Both of us are first generation immigrants to the States and are interested in foreign policy and languages. She also fought and worked hard for the Secretary of State position and broke the glass ceiling more than once in her ascent. I really admire that. 

How can companies get involved with g.Maarifa? What does a partnership look like?

We have two layers of partnerships: clients and strategic. A client partnership means that we work with the client on customizing its content for the mobile platform and the client uses our two way interactive system to train their end users. A strategic partnership is more diverse and can be with an academic institution, an aid agency, and/or an association. For example, we are partnered with an association of telecommunications operators because it is beneficial for both parties to be aware of each other’s work and how the technology can be adapted to other uses. We are also partnered with MIT Sloan School of Business through a program where they send students to help us with the business side while students get exposed to running a startup and emerging markets. We are definitely open to partnerships, regardless of its size and context. Just contact us! 

Follow Evanna on Twitter to learn more about her journey.

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In Beirut, Syrian Refugees Cook to Survive—and Remember.

These 5 brave female Syrian refugees cook in order to protest the status quo, and hope for a fuller tomorrow.

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#changemaker: Rama Kayyali Jardaneh is the co-founder and creative director of Little Thinking Minds, an Arabic early reading app for children.

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Annemarie Jacir went from rejection to global success and now the world is spreading her stories.

What influenced you to get into this line of work and to use film to tell stories?

I love the way cinema brings together everything I love in the arts — photography, poetry, dance, music, theater…I was playing around between all these mediums before finding cinema. What I love most of all is that I am always learning, always researching. It keeps my mind awake and able to explore so many other things in life.

Your film Like Twenty Impossibles was the first Arab short film in history to go to the Cannes Film Festival. Was there anything that surprised you about the global reaction?

That is the moment that changed my career in fact. It was ten years ago. Everything changed for me. I had been making films for years and sharing them at festivals and on TV, but there was something very different which happened when I went to Cannes.

Doors opened up for me which I only dreamed of. But more than that, I felt that despite all the attempts to silence, to ignore, and to whitewash the Palestinian story, that there was a global audience out there who appreciated the films. People who appreciated art and cinema and this Palestinian story. Mostly I knew that despite all those attempts to block us or misrepresent us, it was possible to break through those cracks and tell a story of Palestine exactly as I wanted to and without compromise. For me, the glass ceiling was broken.

How was your experience different when making When I Saw You and was there a specific message you were trying to send with this film?

I don’t try to send messages with my films. Making When I Saw You was a totally different experience than making Salt of this Sea for example, because of the changing landscape of cinema. When I started making films, there was no support whatsoever for Arab cinema. There wasn’t a single fund “for Arab cinema”. I raised every penny for all those films from regular people. Some donated $5 and some $2,000. It was before crowd-sourcing was streamlined via the internet. When I started to work on Salt of this Sea, I was rejected from every Arab producer and financier I approached because of the political tone of the film, and because it was never going to be a box office, commercial film. So I found 8 European co-producers and 17 sources of small funding that allowed us to make the film. The European producers told me from the beginning that financing was going to be the biggest challenge as I was a young female director, and that is always the hardest group to raise money for in cinema. When I Saw You was a whole other ballgame. The production was entirely financed by Palestinian financiers and the producers were all Palestinian. No one thought we could do it.

Has there been a moment that you can recall which made you realize that the work you do has an effect on others?

I’ve had a lot of those moments. They are almost always very private and personal moments with people who are either working on the film, or most often, watching the film. My heart swells… these moments are the most emotional times in my life and are not easy to explain. 

What would be your one piece of advice to future female filmmakers especially in your region?

Follow your instinct about everything. About people, about projects, about how you like to work. There is no right or wrong way to do things. There is only finding the way that works for you. 

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Shaden Khallaf is a lecturer on human rights, refugees, and migration. She is a policy expert and speaks extensively on the Syrian refugee crisis. 

The image above shows Syrians crossing the Jordanian border, an everyday occurrence. 

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Oasis500 is the #1 startup accelerator in the Middle East and offers entrepreneurship & business training, funding & investment, and mentorship. Photo source: Oasis500.

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Source: VitalVoices

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Randa Habib has spent a quarter-century covering war, politics and economic development in the Middle East. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Jordan Media Institute (JMI), a non-profit organization aimed at improving standards of journalism in the Middle East. 

Source: AFP Foundation

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Panelist Laure Chedrawi is the Communications Officer for the UN World Food Programme in Syria. WFP has been working directly in Syria to take care of the food shortages in the region. Latest reports say lack of rain during this year's winter could hit crop production and push millions more into hunger.#getthefacts