“Female Future for Ukraine” is a project that empowers and connects female leaders from Ukrainian civil society, equipping them with leadership skills, communication expertise, and the tools needed to create impactful social projects. After a series of online seminars, the selected finalists presented and refined their projects during a networking week in Berlin.
The program is generously funded by the Federal Foreign Office of Germany and organized by elda, the european leadership and debate academy, along with project partners Support Ukraine Now, OneUkraine, Institute Respublica, and Right to Dignity.
Photos by Daniel Wetzel
In May 2023, elda started the project “Remember the future”.
Remember the future addressed young, committed Lebanese filmmakers to deepen their filmmaking skills and jointly develop, realise and publish the mini-series “remember the future” dealing with a united peaceful future of Lebanon and shared values.
The program consisted of 8 digital workshops and an intensive week in Lebanon with workshops and 48 hours sprints to shoot a mini series under the umbrella of “Remember the Future”.
This project was realized with our partners Beirut Film Society, She dares by Sabine Abi Aad, INJAZ Lebanon, men.tell and Bromwkhdom and with generous funding provided by the German Federal Foreign Office 🙏
Filmmakers meet NGOs addressed young filmmakers and video content creators aswell as NGOs, social activists engaged in civil society believing in a pluralistic and democratic society.
During the program, the participants were provided with the knowledge and tools of storytelling and campaigning, to help them spread their message through film. They were enabled to promote a social issue of their choice by
… a series of online classes with experts from all fields of filmmaking, storytelling and social campaigning 🧑🏽💻
… networking
… building a filmmaker-activist-power-couple or team 🦸🏻♀️🦸🏾♀️
… developing a film concept and producing a short preview film
… receiving intensive consultation and check ups by the elda team along with an easy and structured template for developing the film concept 💁🏽♂️💁🏻
… a 5-day seminar in Beirut 🏖️
… meeting film fund representatives
… presenting the film concept at the award ceremony with the chance to be awarded a cash booster 💰
The program was organised and realised with our partners Sabine Abi Aad @shedaresbysabine, The Beirut Film Society and INJAZ Lebanon @injazlebanon aswell as @men.tell8, @bromwkhdom and Read with Ninette @ninetteabiatallah with generous funding by the German Federal Foreign Office.
Young Women for Politics is an opportunity for Palestinian women to get their voices heard and gain more impact in local politics!
The program was created for socially or politically engaged women from the Palestinian territories, to provide them with the knowledge and tools of Democratic change and pluralism, to enhance the women participation in politics.
“Young Women for Politics” contains …
… a series of online classes and mentoring with experts from the fields of political communication and strategy🧑🏽💻
… a lot of networking
… developing strategies for women’s political participation in Palestine 🦸🏻♀️🦸🏾♀️
… workshops in Ramallah in October 2022 with remote participation from Gaza
… intensive consultation and check ups by the elda team
… a 4-day networking trip to Berlin in January 2023
The project was successfully organized with the valuable help of our Palestinian project partners Palestinian Consultative Staff for Developing NGOs (PCS) and Factory-x.
Young Women for Politics is generously funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.
Participants’ projects (click for more information):
NOOR THABET – LEADERS 👣
WATAN ABUQAOUD & AYA ADWAN – ROAR 🦁
HAYA ABUSAMRA & HEBA EDWAN – SHEROS 💫
ANGELA KASSIS – FIGHT AGAINST FEMICIDE 💪
RAZAN ALSHAHROURI – OUR STORIES 📖
KATE KHAIR – YOUTH FOR PALESTINE 🌟
+++ Podcast “War at Home” on Spotify +++
In fall 2022 young Ukrainian journalists, bloggers, storytellers, media professional and students believing that good journalism can make a difference especially in times of war came together for the program Digital Media Lab.
During a series of online classes the participants received online training from experts from different fields of journalism, storytelling, rhetorics, podcasting and social campaigning.
The group agreed to create a the podcast “War at home – Stories about Life and war from Ukraine”, containing stories from Ukraine, developed, recorded and published by the participants together with the German production company Bosepark during a week of seminars in Warsaw, Poland and Uzghorod, Ukraine.
The project was created with our partners Institute Respublica and Right to Dignity and generously funded by the Federal Foreign Office of Germany. Special thanks to our Ukrainian project coordinators Korney Gritsyuk and Philippe Schockweiler.
The Social Campaigning School gives the opportunity to a group of young Palestinians, Lebanese and Jordanians to learn the tools and techniques of campaigning and mass communication in order to empower them and give them the chance to practice their ideas and beliefs democratically. The aim of the seminar is to empower young leaders to become multipliers of social change.
This project is funded by the German Federal Foreign Office, and hosted by elda – european leadership & debate academy and Stahlmedien and their partners Factory-x, Sabine Abi Aad and BuildPalestine.
Find the participants’ amazing campaigns here:
Men.Tell by Lama Hatoum & Ola Zeiter on Instagram
Brom w khdom by Leila & Louloua Bachachi on Instagram
Ambulogy by Husni Sawalha on Facebook
Read with Ninette by Ninette Abi Atallah on Instagram and Facebook
Social Media Minimalism by Madleen Abu Irayeh on Instagram
Green Souls Palestine by Habiba Masoud, Ahmed Quraish, Warda Ajjour & Islam Masoud on Instagram
Create Debate! empowers and connects participants in order to increase democratic participation and visibility for actors of social change. Through the 3 phases of the program the participants will learn, cultivate and practice democratic social change.
We proudly present the projects that our participants created during our online academy Create Debate:
Join our Free Online Course!
The Covid-19 crisis shows international NGO work the difficulties and chances of social change – more than ever. Due to social distancing and lockdowns we are forced to completely switch into the digital sphere. This holds problems but also offers us chances: We can meet people that we might have never met. Our experience shows, that digital communication is possible – if it is moderated well. The Academy that took place in November and December 2020 with participants from all over the world consisted of 10 online seminars in form of an online salon, each focusing on a different aspect of social change and/or NGO work. One or two experts introduced their perspectives in short inputs to the group. Victoria Schneider accompanied the discussion as a moderator. 8 topics were be given, 2 topics were proposed and voted by the kick off participants.
Dive into our digital salons now by rewatching the sessions on video and checking out the slide shows, links and additional material on Candid (registration is free).
In three seminars our participants focussed on the topics Leadership & Agile Work, Communication & Networking and above all Female Empowerment and meanwhile designed, organized and promoted a hybrid 2-day event.
About the summit.
Although international studies show that more women on the board mean more economic success, women in powerful positions are quite rare to find. It is still not understood that female leadership is not about women’s promotion – it is about the economic wellbeing and innovative power of organizations.
We discussed the issue with women who experienced themselves what it means to be a woman with power:
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Anna Christmann, Member of Parliament (Bündnis 90/ Die Grünen) (GERMANY)
Maria Mezentseva, Member of Parliament (UKRAINE)
Miranda Tkabladze, IFES Georgia (GEORGIA)
Anastasia Barner, Founder and CEO of Fementor (GERMANY)
Franziska Leonhardt, Founder and CEO of Ave & Edam (GERMANY)
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The talk took place in our Berlin studio, Fluxbau of FluxFM and was streamed live via Facebook.
About the project.
The future is female? Okay, got it. But change does not drive without the right players. That is why we want YOU to become a true leader – with a personality, mindset and skills that make the difference. Being a woman in a predominantly male leadership environment can be challenging. Women on the rise are often struggling with a lack of support. We believe that one of the biggest strengths of female leaders is their ability to connect and build communities. That is why we created a safe space for women who believe they can make a difference and accompany them on their path.
Changing the world within three days!
European Barcamp and Hackathon was held on 16-18 November, Moscow
Location: www.deworkacy.ru
Can we change this world? Drive social change in Russia, Belarus, Armenia? Impossible? No! It is possible. And: Yes, we can. Between 16-18 November 2018, we brought together NGOs, activists and the creative community to connect, exchange and start new projects under time pressure during a unique European BarCamp. We also announced the first “Changing the World Award” for the best projects of the 24h-hackathon, held during the event.
Democracy rests on debate and civic engagement. With the internet, we have more channels than ever to make ourselves heard. How can we harness digital media for new forms of social campaigning and a vital participatory democracy? How does storytelling for human rights works? How can we raise awareness in society for social change and participation in the democratic process? And what does it take for you to become a relevant actor in the digital environment? These are some of the questions at the core of “Changing the world within three days”, the first European BarCamp and hackathon, held in Moscow on November 2018. So what about you? Are you ready to change the world? We are waiting for your ideas.
What is a BarCamp? The project
The Digital Dialogue 18 series, held in Kyiv and Moscow, was unlike any classical conference you have ever attended. User-generated, fast and fun, it offered a unique opportunity for participants from the creative community, civil society, politics, the tech, and startup scene to come together, learn from each other, start new projects and co-create. Leading experts from tech and politics, filmmaking and storytelling stood ready to provide inputs and feedback and there was ample room for personal reflection. But in the end, it was YOUR conference, a unique “learning and doing experience” driven by participants’ desire to share and learn in an open environment.