1- Opportunities for members
a. To England with The British Council
b. Fellowship with AMIDEAST in Washington DC
c. Bader Technology hosts a contest with Berytech as mentor
2- WIT activities
a. Visit to schools
b. ICTDAR Rights and Responsibilities for Youth CD
3- Articles
a. DSL and the game of unfair competition
4- Announcements
a. Mrs. Mahassen Ajam appointed board member of the TRA
b. Mrs. Therese Saliba Khairallah, General Manager of IDM
c. A new group " Women in information technology"

The British Council in Lebanon is proud to announce its partnership with CRTD_A (Collective for Research and Training on Development-Action) headed by Mrs. Lina Abou Habib. The CRTD_A is an Ngo which focuses on social development of local communities and organizations through enhancing capacities particularly in gender analysis, gender and development, poverty and exclusion, for the purpose of contributing to creating a more just and equitable environment. It is to be highlighted that the scholar and acclaimed economist Dr. Mona Khalaf who has done extensive work on family dynamics and gender is acting as a senior advisor to the project. In Lebanon we have we have chosen to concentrate on professional women in the IT sector. The project has already been launched at the Crown Plaza on March 8th to celebrate the International Woman's Day and are now preparing for the next phase to take place over the summer. The main activity for the coming phase is a shadowing and mentoring visit to the UK which is envisaged as the focus for the project. For that, we are in the process of identifying 3 to 6 Lebanese women working in the field of IT willing to commit and engage in a personal development exercise and act as ambassadors to younger generations via a British Council programme of activity to be developed at a later stage.

All the details of the project + a comprehensive application can be found on our website http://www.britishcouncil.org/lebanon-women-at-work-page.htm. I hope that you will find the project interesting and that you would be able and willing to apply. Deadline for application is Friday 22 June 2007 and we are hoping to get as many applicants as possible. Please have a look at the documentation and feel free to come back to me if you have any questions. I look forward to receiving your application.

The National Endowment for Democracy is offering fellowship opportunities to all those who are interested in expanding their understanding of Democracy in the world. Established in 2001, the Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows Program enables democracy activists, practitioners, scholars, and journalists from around the world to deepen their understanding of democracy and enhance their ability to promote democratic change. The Program primarily intends to support activists, practitioners, and scholars from new and aspiring democracies; distinguished scholars from the United States and other established democracies are also eligible to apply. Projects may focus on the political, social, economic, legal, and cultural aspects of democratic development and may include a range of methodologies and approaches. A working knowledge of English is required. Fellows will be in residence at the International Forum for Democratic Studies, the research arm of the Endowment, in Washington, D.C., and will receive a stipend, health insurance, and travel assistance.

The deadline for fellowships in 2008-2009 is Thursday, November 1, 2007. For further information and application materials, please visit www.ned.org/forum/reagan-fascell.html.

Bader Technology hosts a contest with Berytech as mentor:If you have an idea or project in mind, bring it out of the dark and into the light by taking part in a contest held by bader, the NGO that promotes entrepreneurship in Lebanon.If you have a technology, fashion, agro- food or design idea, submit it to Bader and win the opportunity to get your business up and running. Bader helps in assisting, putting you in contact with the right people and most importantly, mentoring So, put that bit of an idea forward , well take the byte.

Women in IT made its second "Visit to Schools activity" program on 9th May 2007 at Chakib Ereslan Public High School.Two hours of Interactive presentation took place during 3 hours of Workshop organized by Women in IT with the cooperation of the School, the activity included two presentations: one about Careers in IT and Searching the Internet and Role models experiences, which were attended by 162 students (girls and boys). The first presentation focused on a breif introduction about WIT, Careers in IT presentation; the second presentation, saw four members from WIT taking the stage and talking about their experience in IT, and how IT improved their lives, work and families, followed by Search the Internet presentation , then a discussion between students and members ended the session.

UNDP ICTDAR has embarked on a project that aims to empower youth and raise their awareness of their rights and responsibilities as citizen through the development of an interactive CD. Several Arab NGOs will contribute to write the content of this CD. WIT has been selected to contribute to write the Civic Education and Working Women Rights and Responsibilities parts. WIT will also contribute towards the dissemination of the CD and to organizing youth circle discussions around it. Duration of the project is 6 months starting 15 June 2007.

An example of the different packages proposed by Ogero:

Mrs. Mahassen Ajam was appointed Commissioner, Board Member, and Head of Information and Consumer Affairs Unit of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) of Lebanon in February 2007. Ms. Ajam holds an MBA from Ecole Superieure des Affaires (Beirut), a Masters in urban planning (Paris I, Sorbonne) and a degree in engineering from the Lebanese University. We are very proud that a women in IT is part of the first Lebanese TRA board. We wish you strength and good luck Mahassen on this challenging position.

Mrs. Therese Saliba Khairallah was appointed General Manager of IDM in January 2007. Mrs. Saliba had joined the company in 1995 as Technical Director and has worked her way all the way to the top. Therese received her Engineering degree in Electricity and Electronics from the Lebanese University then continued her education inSupelec Paris to receive her Engineering degree in Computer Sciences. Good luck Therese in this new position, we know you will do just great.

A new group " Women in information technology" was recently created on Facebook, to help members better know each other. You are all invited to join the group and post your comments.