| Help needed to establish the "Youth & Training Center" at Zico House |
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WIT is in need of computers and other donations to open a Youth and
Information
Technology
Training
Center in Zico House. Zico House has agreed to generously donate the space. We need to secure computers in order to open the center in October 2009.
If you can donate your time, money, relations, or expertise to make this project a reality, please contact Madeleine El-Helou director@wit.org.lb
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| Dates to remember |
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-4/5 September
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WIT co-hosting the women at work workshop
As part of its collaboration with the British Council on the Women at Work programme, WIT is co-hosting the Regional Meeting of Women at Work which will be gathering women working in the ICT field from the Arab countries and the . These women will meet for a 2 day workshop to discuss common issues of concern and identify opportunities for success and women advancement.
If interested in attending the workshop, please contact us.
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11SEPTEMBER
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WIT Iftar in honor of leila serhan
WIT is proud to celebrate with the Professional Computer Association and the ICT community at large the success of one of WITs own members. Leila Serhan has been promoted to the position of Microsoft Lebanon Country Manager and will be replacing Khalil Abdel Massih who has moved to a regional role in Corporate Citizenship.Come join us celebrate this achievement and network with your peers from the ICT field and fellow WIT members.
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NEWSLETTER OUTLINE
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| 1- 4/5 September, WIT co-hosting the women at work worshop |
| 2-11 September, WIT Iftar in honor of Leila Serhan |
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3- WIT Rewards Hiam El-Khachen, Nada Hamzeh, and Elie El-Khoury
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4- WIT invited to present at Regional ESCWA Conference
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5- WIT Partners with Relief International to Empower Women in Akkar
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6- Women in Technology Program
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| 7- Jobs Creation Project |
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4/5 September, WIT co-hosting the women at work workshop
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As part of its collaboration with the British Council on the Women at Work programme, WIT is co-hosting the Regional Meeting of Women at Work which will be gathering women working in the ICT field from the Arab countries and the . These women will meet for a 2 day workshop to discuss common issues of concern and identify opportunities for success and women advancement.
If interested in attending the workshop, please contact us.
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| 11 September, WIT Iftar in honor of Leila Serhan |
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WIT is proud to celebrate with the Professional Computer Association and the ICT community at large the success of one of WITs own members. Leila Serhan has been promoted to the position of Microsoft Lebanon Country Manager and will be replacing Khalil Abdel Massih who has moved to a regional role in Corporate Citizenship.Come join us celebrate this achievement and network with your peers from the ICT field and fellow WIT members.
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1- WIT Rewards Hiam El-Khachen, Nada Hamzeh, and Elie El-Khoury |
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The first WIT Recognition Awards ceremony was held in the Holiday Dunes Hotel on 8 May 2009 to recognize individuals who have had a significant and lasting impact in the field of ICT, and reward those who made a difference in their society through the usage of ICT.
The Women Contribution to ICT awards was given to Hiam El-Khachen for her outstanding contribution to the Lebanese banking sector as she led the design and implementation of major banking applications of the Central Bank of Lebanon. Hiam El-Khachen has been promoted as Director last year. The award was handed to her by Mr. Ali Nahle, Director of the Information Technology Department of the Banque du Liban.
The Women Empowerment award was given to Nada Hamzeh for training over 400 women last year in basic ICT and leadership skills. Nada Hamzeh is the Program Manager for the Women in Technology program, a program funded by USAID/MEPI and implemented by the
Institute of
International Education in 8 Arab countries. WIT is the lead partner of the Women in Technology program in . The award was handed to Nada by Heather Murphy, Program Director for IIE in
San Francisco .
The Innovation in ICT award was given to Elie El-Khoury for WOOPRA. After long years of programming over one million lines of code, Elie El-Khoury and his partner Jad Younane finalized the development of Woopra, an online tool to monitor traffic on websites. Woopra competes and offers more features than Google Analytics. The award was handed to Elie by Jalal Fawaz, former president of the Professional Computer Association, and a seasoned and successful entrepreneur himself.
The jury was composed of Mr. Ali Nahle, Dr. Irma Majdalani, Ms. Sabah Corm, Ms. Tania Zaroubi, and Ms.
Salam Yamout.
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2- WIT invited to present at Regional ESCWA Conference
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ESCWA held a conference entitled "Regional Follow-up to the Outcome of the World Summit on the Information Society" in
Damascus between 16 and 18 June 2009. The conference was designed to record the Arab regions advancement towards the Information Society as defined by the United Nations World Summit (WSIS) in 2005.
Ms. Paulette Assaf, Treasurer of WIT, and Ms. Tania Zaroubi, Board Member, represented the organization. Paulette shared the lessons learned by WIT in empowering women using ICT and also shared success stories.
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3- WIT Partners with Relief International to Empower Women in Akkar
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WIT and Relief International are helping women of the poorest and most isolated rural communities empower themselves. For the many women in Akkar, life is extraordinarily difficult and opportunities scarce. WIT and Relief International build on the courage and resourcefulness of women to help them realize their potential and improve their families and communities through the Empowering Women at Work curriculum, especially designed by WIT Director, Madeleine El-Helou. Topics include attitude and skills of the empowered; using ICT and the web; communications, decision making and conflict resolution; and job interview skills.
Women attending these workshops are either working in the home, or locally employed mainly as government employees or teachers. While working with these women, we discovered enthusiastic and energetic personalities as they showed high interest and understanding in the workshop.
WIT has led 10 interventions since April 2009 and has trained over 300 women to date.
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4- Women in Technology Program
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The Women in Technology program is still training women in basic ICT and leadership skills. Recently, curricula in entrepreneurship, blogging, and social media are being added. Training is executed through the four partner organizations located in
Tripoli , Jbeil, Abadieh, and Deir Kanoun El-Nahar. The program is expanding into the West Bekaa region and
Beirut . Al-Multaqa Al-Nissai of
Beirut has recently been made a local partner. WIT, who is the lead partner for the program in , is also planning to open a Youth and
Information
Technology
Training
Center in Zico House.
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5- Jobs Creation Project
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WIT has been awarded USD 100,000 by the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) for a new project focused on the creation of jobs for the women who graduate from the Women in Technology training. So far, over 600 women have graduated from the programme and all are living outside of the greater
Beirut area. The majority of women who graduated from the program have reported that they are willing to work outside of the home. However, many challenges face these young women: lack of employability skills and experience, unavailability of jobs in their area, time constraints as these women have to be home at 2 pm for their families WIT took on the task to investigate this problem and find employment (self or with others) for 20 women.
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