ARI Spotlight: Vanessa at #WD2023

Meet Vanessa Zammar, Sociologist, Feminist Activist and SAWT Fellowship manager.

The Arab Reform Initiative (ARI) embarked on a transformative journey through the SAWT project from 2021 to 2023, in collaboration with several partner organisations with funding from the European Union. At its core, the project aimed to promote women's active engagement in political and peace processes across the MENA region. The SAWT Regional Fellowship Program, a key element of the project, was organised by the Asfari Institute for Civil Society and Citizenship. The program played a pivotal role in fostering the growth of emerging women leaders with a strong emphasis on feminist activism.

At the heart of this endeavour stood Vanessa Zammar, the SAWT Fellowship manager. Through her work on the SAWT fellowship, Vanessa played a central role in promoting regional exchanges between emerging women leaders and established feminist activists. Her efforts contributed significantly to the capacity-building aspect of SAWT, empowering women to take part in peace processes and create gender-equal frameworks in post-conflict environments.

On the 17th of July 2023, Vanessa headed to Women Deliver 's conference in Kigali, Rwanda (#WD2023), a significant international event on gender equality. Vanessa shared her thoughts on the event's impact, stating that "Rwanda has few visa restrictions, enabling significant participation from the Global South." However, she also voiced concerns, noting that "no Arabic-to-English translation was available, limiting Arab-speaking participants' interaction and content reception." She pointed out the hurdles of high registration fees and limited online participation as well, saying that "the livestream was only accessible if the panel organizers paid an additional charge."

At #WD2023, Vanessa participated in a panel discussion organised by Restless Development . The panel discussion revolved around challenges surrounding funding power dynamics, the role of social media, and tech giants often impeding regional solidarity due to content shadow-banning, an issue that many of SAWT Fellows have voiced. Vanessa shared her thoughts on this matter;

"I discussed their (tech giants') obstruction of regional solidarity against the occupation through the shadow-banning of content covering the occupation in #Palestine, which is a fundamental aspect of feminist solidarity in the region."

Vanessa is also the co-founder of Jeyetna , an intersectional feminist collective fighting for menstrual rights and equity in Lebanon. Through her work with Jeyetna, she advocates for menstrual justice and tackling period poverty.

Vanessa's commitment to fostering inclusivity and regional solidarity, both through her tireless work in the SAWT Fellowship and also her commitment to pushing for menstrual rights and equity, exemplifies the essence of feminist activism and its impact on women's political participation in the MENA region.?

Watch our page in the coming weeks to meet more members of the team and find out how ARI aims to promote meaningful and inclusive political participation for women in the MENA region.??