About Women2Women

 

There is an increasing awareness of the critical role that women and girls play in advancing both peace and development. Research shows that families, communities, and nations prosper when girls have the opportunity to participate fully in every aspect of society. With this in mind, Empower Peace’s Women2Women International Leadership Program (W2W) builds a network of promising young women (ages 15-19) from around the globe, engages them in the issues that define their lives, and provides them with the tools, relationships and opportunities required to lead.

 

For the past seven years, W2W has provided over 600 emerging international young women leaders from 43 countries with leadership training, social entrepreneurship skills, while strengthening their cultural competencies. In many communities from which Women2Women delegates are selected, youth are not naturally exposed to other cultures. This lack of diversity often breeds misconceptions about other peoples and societies, both domestically and internationally. Through the training, networking and heightened comprehension of global affairs learned during this program, delegates break down barriers of misunderstanding and replace them with bridges of mutual trust and respect among often-unlikely allies. Working with educational partners, such as Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and Law School, The Carr Center for Human Rights and Policy at Harvard University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, the W2W conference unites these emerging leaders with the issues they share as young women and enables them to take action in their own communities. Women2Women alumni synthesize their experience by implementing civic engagement action plans upon returning home.

 

In a world of increasing hostility and fear between the East and the West, empowering youth, particularly females, with leadership tools and cultural awareness is an essential step toward building a more just and equitable future for the global community.

 

Delegates are selected through an application process.  For the past two years Wheelock College has served as the campus host for our program. Delegates stay in the dorms and share a room with a young leader from another country. Empower Peace staff members reside on campus throughout the program and are available 24 hours a day.

 

W2W America Featured Programs

 

Each year, we are fortunate to work with leaders in education, business, government and human rights advocates in developing our program. Working with our partners, we develop a comprehensive program that includes personal leadership development, conflict resolution, negotiation, understanding the media, the power of social networking, global human rights, public speaking and most importantly, how to develop and implement an action plan.

 

ART OF NEGOTIATION

Some of our annual featured programs include the “Art of Negotiation” led by Susan Hackley, the managing director at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School. The “Negotiation” workshop helps our delegates understand the basics of negotiation, compromise and the utilization of successful communication skills. The negotiation tactics learned in this workshop will serve not only as essential techniques in their future careers, but also as valuable skills that our delegates can apply in their daily lives, such as the necessity of prioritizing, compromise and integrity. Susan Hackley is a leader in her field and has taught negotiation seminars in China, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain and Italy.

 

CLAIM YOUR SEAT

Victoria Budson, the founding Executive Director at the Women and Public Policy Program at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government works with W2W each year to help delegates better understand the status of women worldwide. She focuses on the importance of women claiming their seat at the table and making their voices heard. This interactive and high-energy discussion helps the young women begin identifying key issues in their own country and in the process learn about the struggles of their international peers. It is through this discussion that the young women begin developing their action plans.

 

USING SOCIAL MEDIA FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

Rusty Tunnard, a professor of Social Media at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy leads a two-part workshop about how to successfully use social networks to bring about positive social change. Professor Tunnard shows the W2W delegates how action-oriented social networks are formed and how to connect people to build a foundation for positive change. By the end of the workshop series our young leaders have not only learned how to analyze a social network, they create their own network that can be used to further their action plans.

 

Al Arabiya Broadcast “WOMEN’S CHAT”

For the past three years Al Arabiya, one of the largest media outlets in the Middle East, has partnered with Empower Peace in producing a one-hour broadcast program featuring our W2W delegates. In addition, the program features a panel of experts that discuss women’s issues around the world. This past year the program participants included former Massachusetts Lt. Governor Kerry Healey, Elizabeth Cafferty, Senior Advocacy Officer at the United Nations and Women’s Refugee Commission, Linda Lockhart, Founder and CEO of the Global Give Back Circle and Nasser Weddady, Director of Civil Rights Outreach at the American Islamic Council. The program centered around a broad spectrum of women’s issues and was broadcast on both Arabiya and Arabiya Al Hadath channels in the Middle East and North Africa to a viewing audience of millions.