Public Talk: Fifteen Years Creating Engaged Citizenry in Palestine: Empowering whole communities through Rights Advocacy
Fifteen Years Creating Engaged Citizenry in Palestine:聽Empowering whole communities through Rights Advocacy
A public talk sponsored by MMEP, featuring聽Dr. Varsen Aghabekian and Dr. Sami Al-Kilani
Dr. Sami Al-Kilani will share his own experience as a poet, prisoner of conscience, and founder of the first Rights-Based Community Practice Centre in Palestine.
Dr. Varsen Aghabekian will discuss the empowerment of marginalized women in Palestine, with a special focus on East Jerusalem.
Sami began his career as a physicist and poet, and was an Amnesty prisoner of conscience in the 1980s. He was a delegate to the Madrid Conference and has been a strong advocate for non-violence since the 1980's. Sami is one of the founding members of the Arab non鈥恦iolence movement, which meets for one month each summer in Beirut and has evolved into the first Arab University for Non Violence (AUNV). It aims to institutionalize the culture of non鈥恦iolence in Lebanon and all the Middle East. Sami is the founder of the first RBCP centre in the West Bank and wrote his doctoral thesis at 91黑料网's own School of Social Work on the implementation of the RBCP model in Palestine. Today he is Dean of the Faculty of Educational Sciences at An Najah National University.
Varsen holds a Ph.D. in Administrative & Policy Studies-Education from the University of Pittsburgh. Currently, Varsen is the Director of PCAN, and works as a freelance management and policy consultant. She is a founding or active member of several NGOs and a member of the Board of Commissioners of the Independent Palestinian Commission for Human Rights. Varsen's previous experience includes: Manager of Capacity and Institution Building in the Office of the President; Executive Director of Al Quds Capital of Arab Culture; Director of Research & Planning at the Welfare Association; Associate Professor at Al-Quds University; Dean of Health Professions; and Dean of Graduate Studies. Varsen also directed the Multi-sector Review and Strategic Plan for East Jerusalem and the National Plan for Human Resource Development and Education in Health.