Unique experience I passed through my visit to Lebanon (last week), it was work, as (UNDP-ICTDAR) was a partner in a project there.

I was touched by everything there…and really get confused!!
The ppl are awesome on the personal level… Lebanese ppl love life, have sense of humor, hospitable, kind, friendly, love dance and jokes…

The country its natures just like a piece of heaven …

BUT..and there is always BUT…I don't know why all these conflicts over there between the different parties….and the issue of denominationalisms as well !!

I went there as "Human Rights" Trainer for young youth in a project aiming to engage young youth from all Lebanon in a peace project ,
the "TAWASOOL-Youth ICT Boot Camp-Lebanon", which took place in the "University of Balamand" and organized by "iJMA3". The campers took courses on Microsoft Unlimited Potential, Consensus, Red Cross lecture, and sure my organization "UNDP-ICTDAR" … the camp was so interesting and different, where campers had the opportunity to have fun, play sports, watch movies.

By the first day, I get touched by their wonderful spirit and I noticed that everybody is avoiding some kind of topics…
Later on, I realized that the organizing committee asked them and their parents to not get involved in religion nor politics..

Yess …this was good in some kind of aspects and has its negative points as well,

Good: the young youth get involved with each other forgetting their differences and focus on their common bonds as human and Lebanese youth.
Negative Point: that they didn't choose this but they forced not to declare their selves freely….

But in my sessions I broke these golden rules for sure :D

@ the very beginning I asked for open space where trainees can sit on floor and that the materials will be activity based. Through games and fun activities we all get engaged in religion and politics

I was amazed by the Lebanese spirit in conflict management activities..The participants were creative especially that they liked this style of learning, when they sit as groups, and deal with each other in a more friendly and informal way. As Lebanese they got everything to celebrate life, and their spirit gave unique spirit to the sessions …

In my first session the organizing committee didn't believe what I am doing, they were standing watching ….and saying like "oh poor girl..you don't know what you are gonna do with ur self…don't don't get involved in such things..you are in Lebanon" and some of the other trainers asked the trainer from the "Red Cross" to be ready ..just in case for any broken necks or something …:))

But on the contrary the young participants were awesome, a lot of things raised up, and the best thing was that they opened their hearts and spoke up and shared with me a lot of things…how challenges could we face in reall life…

Some of the participants mentioned how they don't feel any problem to share and talk with other parties but because of their surroundings may be it will be little difficult to solve issues…and so on when it comes to electioneering many times..
And this was quite true, I touched it my self, on the personal level they are gr8 ppl but when it comes to denominationalism you will see the big disaster..

The young ppl who I met there, were quite open minded, well cultured, may be this caused by the current situation in Lebanon which created unique generation …they are not kids any more..they are mature, the politics in their daily life changed them..some times I was little bit alarmed from their arguments in our sessions through games and activities…

This generation will create a new Lebanon..I pray to visit Lebanon after 15 years from now …as I am looking forward to see "how this generation will do" …Lebanon is changing …and this generation has a lot to share and give….but hopefully to be for good….

in order to help this generation to do something, we have to step aside and give them a real chance for dialogue and not to be over protecting...and stop hiding behinde our fingers...lets face our challanges and put hand together to solve our issues

I love Lebanon..and miss every body there…and I wanna be there again soooooooooooon…

Freedom is not given to us by anyone; we have to cultivate it ourselves. It is a daily practice... No one can prevent you from being aware of each step you take or each breath in and breath out.
—Thich Nhat Hanh

Stop that drip
Annual water savings: 2700 gallons

Just one leaky faucet can waste almost 3,000 gallons of water per year. If each of us fixed our faucets, it would be equivalent to saving more than 300 million glasses of drinking water.


Wrap It Up
Annual CO2 savings: 250 pounds

Wrapping your water heater in an insulated blanket could save you from 4 to 9 percent in annual water heating costs -- just be sure to check your manufacturer's Web site for more information. If we all completed this task for a year, it would be equivalent to taking almost 160,000 cars off the road.

Go for the laptop
Annual CO2 savings: 495 pounds

If buying a new computer has you stuck in a desktop-laptop debate, go for the laptop. The portable model uses less energy and many carry the Energy Star label. If each of us did this, it would be equivalent to taking more than 300,000 cars off the road for a year.

Fix your running toilet
Annual water savings: 4800 gallons

Don't let our water supply go down the drain. You can help put an end to wasted water by repairing your leaky or running toilet. Bonus: you'll save almost 5,000 gallons of water per year.

Buy in bulk
Annual CO2 savings: 1,354 pounds

Buy at least 15 percent of your groceries in bulk this year. It saves CO2 and money that would be wasted in the packaging process. If we all did this, it would be equivalent to taking more than 850,000 cars off the road for a year

Kick your tires
Annual CO2 savings: 250 pounds

Take a moment to check the air pressure in your tires. Under-inflated tires cut gas mileage and pump up CO2 emissions. If we kept our tires in good shape, we’d have the same planet-saving effect as pulling more than 150,000 cars off the road -- for a year!

Give your car some (clean) air
Annual CO2 savings: 800 pounds

Check out your car's air filter monthly and replace it when necessary. If just 1 percent of all U.S. car owners properly maintained their cars this way, we'd keep almost a billion pounds of CO2 out of the atmosphere!

Crucial to finding the way is this: there is no beginning or end. / You must make your own map.
—Joy Harjo

I am honoured to share a reflection on my experience at the 2008 Silver Bay Leadership Forum in Silver Bay, New York where they are celebrating their 90th Anniversary of a conference that explores the current and emerging state of leadership.

Last night I was one of three recipients of the Inaugural Leadership Forum Awards. As stated in the program “each of this year’s honoured recipients has been selected for his/her demonstrated ability to take bold action, provide solutions to complex leadership dilemmas, and generate tremendous followership. These leaders have also exhibited the rare ability to cross streams and address issues through commercial, governmental, social and economic channels”. We were recognized for our work in solving ‘wicked’ problems and as you might imagine, it was a very humbling and uplifting experience for me.

In accepting the award, we were each asked to make a few remarks and share our perspectives on leadership. I kicked off my comments on how leadership emerges based on your state of mind. I asked the room two questions. The first – ‘how many of you believe that every problem has a solution’? A collection of people put up their hands. I then asked ‘how many of you believe that NOT every problem has a solution’. An even larger group of people raised their hands. I then went on to share a visual diagram that came to mind while travelling to Silver Bay and reflecting on my perspective of leadership.

In the past, my perspective on leadership was somewhat simplistic and singular. Today, I see leadership in the context of trying to solve some of the world’s most complex and interconnected challenges. It is a moving and evolving target that requires constant re-alignment and mobility. In response to my questions that I posed to the room, I shared my realization that problems are interconnected – and YES – there are solutions, though we often need to invent and co-create them.

While preparing for my remarks on leadership on the plane, in addition to my diagram, I also prepared a series of reflections on what I have learned about leadership over the years:


For me, leadership has been about...

- Being aware of problems and taking an active role in being part of creating solutions
- Being called upon to reflect and represent collective and shared experiences
- Asking critical questions in order to better understand realties
- Energizing processes through taking interest, showing appreciation and participating
- Making connections between diverging ideas and different people with diverse backgrounds
- Reflecting on lessons of the past and making decisions that move towards a brighter future
- Having perspective with the ability to both focus in on a situation as well as see a bigger picture
- Taking responsibility for my actions and intentions
- Believing in ideas and possibilities
- Convening conversations across differences and differences
- Resolving conflict through deep listening, understanding and building trust
- Transforming ideas into actions and new realities
- Dancing with life and celebrating beauty in the midst of it all




While at Silver Bay, in addition to connecting with official conference delegates from various corporations and non-profit organizations, I also enjoyed spending time with the children of the delegates. They were truly delightful and took great interest in TakingITGlobal and my experiences with leadership. I enjoyed responding to their questions and learning from their own experiences. A highlight was also being able to go Kayaking & make a necklace at the Craft Shop!

It was so exciting for the TakingITGlobal team to be part of our sixth year at the National Education Computing Conference (NECC) these past few days here in San Antonio, Texas! TakingITGlobal had a great presence across the conference, and I am proud to share the ways in which we were able to reach out and connect with so many educators. To start with, I’ve personally just renewed my commitment to serve on the NECC conference committee for the next two years. I see my role as helping to think about the ways in which we can best engage the next generation of educators.

Before the NECC conference kicks off on opening day (Sunday, June 29th this year), an International Reception is held at the Global Connections Lounge, to welcome attendees from around the world (over 30 countries this year!) and to provide a space to share and discuss opportunities for global connections.

This year, TakingITGlobal was an organizing sponsor of the International Reception, and my co-founder Michael Furdyk along with our US Education Program Manager Emily Kornblut, presented an overview of TakingITGlobal’s recent work and invited the attendees to collaborate with us for greater global awareness. Following the International Reception, the conference’s Opening Reception was held, and provided about a dozen poster sessions for presenters to share their work. TakingITGlobal was one of the organizations provided with this opportunity. We spoke with hundreds of attendees and were able to share our programs with many enthusiastic educators.

On the following afternoon, we had a Spotlight Session, Social Networking for Social Good, held in the Lila Cochrell Auditorium, where we discussed the opportunity for educators to incorporate TakingITGlobal programs into the classroom, and shared many stories of how young people’s use of social web tools have provided them with life-changing opportunities to engage with the issues facing our planet. For the rest of the afternoon, our booth was abuzz with discussions of classroom collaboration and opportunities for partnership with dozens of school districts and organizations.

TakingITGlobal was also featured as an example of positive youth engagement by Education Technology consultant Sara Armstrong in her session Educating Students about Online Safety. The following morning was an exciting one – two educators who have been using our TIGed tools, Mali Bickley and Jim Carleton, were invited by ISTE to give a keynote speech about the collaborations they developed with schools around the world. During their talk, they highlighted TakingITGlobal.org as a social network for social good, and also showed screenshots of the TIG homepage and their TIGed classroom space.

On the final afternoon, Steve Dembo from Discovery Education featured TakingITGlobal as a resource in his session Policies, Safety and Socialm, where he provided our website as an example of well moderated, classroom friendly, safe social networking website. The conference was closed by TakingITGlobal US Advisor Idit Caperton, who provided the conference’s closing keynote, and highlighted TakingITGlobal as a resource for positive student engagement.

We have been so pleased to work with ISTE and engage with the NECC conference on so many fronts! Our partnership with ISTE has also lead to a recent presentation in Dubai and a future event in Singapore, and we were honoured to be mentioned in ISTE’s 2008 Annual Report as one of their key institutional partners!

Special Thanks to our TakingITGlobal staff at NECC !

(below photo: from left to right)

Michael Furdyk
Jennifer Corriero
Emily Kornblut
Kirsten Jordan
Luke Walker

If so many men, so many minds, certainly so many hearts, so many kinds of love.
—Tolstoy

كشاب/ة عربي/ة ما هو التغيير الذين تحلم/ين به في الوطن العربي؟ كيف يمكن للشباب ان يكونوا جزء من هذا التغيير؟ ما هي أفضل الاستراتيجيات للتطوير قدرات الشباب ومهاراتهم القيادية حتى يصبحوا أكثر وعيا بالقضايا التي تهمهم ويقومون بالعمل الفعال في مجتمعاتهم. كيف يمكن للشباب ان يكونوا عناصر أساسيين للتغيير؟

شارك/ي بآراءك حول هذا الموضوع المهم في الدردشة الحية بعنوان " تمكين الشباب كعناصر التغيير في المجتمع" التي هي جزء من مشروع" شباب من أجل التغيير"


انضم معنا، فانت جزء من التغيير.

Made in the Shade
Annual CO2 savings: 280 pounds

Try planting shrubs around your air conditioning unit to shade it from direct sunlight -- it can help reduce your air conditioning bill by up to 10 percent!

Each thing in its way, when true to its own character, is equally beautiful.
—Edward Abbey

My beauty comes from having my own style, living my own way and knowing my own mind.
—Lee Damsky

Stop looking for something out there
And begin seeing within.
Open your arms if you want an embrace.
Break the earthen idols and release the radiance.

—Rumi, from 'Empty the Glass of your Desire'

No matter what our age or condition, there are still untapped possibilities within us and new beauty waiting to be born.
—Dale E. Turner

Hello Everyone,

We would like to remind you with the “Youth for Change” project Mini-Grants, as the deadline for applying is May 25th.
If you are from one of these 10 countries: Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, Qatar, Yemen, UAE, Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine, and have a youth-led project that you need to fund, and haven’t applied yet, do that NOW! You might be the winner of one of the mini-grant awards and also receive a scholarship to attend the World Youth Congress taking place in Quebec City ) Canada) in August 2008!


You can find the application form here:
http://projects.takingitglobal.org/youthforchange/docs/



We also hope you can help us in promoting these mini-grants to active youth within your network.



Thank you and looking forward to read your projects!

If you need any clarification about the mini-grants or any other activity related to the project, please feel free to ask Tala Nabulsi tala@takingitglobal.org

مرحبا جميعا

أود تذكيركم بالتقدم للمنح الصغيرة التي يقدمها مشروع شباب من أجل التغيير، حيث سيغلق باب التقديم يوم 25 مايو. وللتذكير أيضا فإن هذه المنح الصغيرة تستهدف الشباب من عشر دول عربية هي: مصر، الأردن، المغرب، تونس، قطر، اليمن، الإمارات، العراق، لبنان، وفلسطين، الذين يملكون أفكار لمشروعات شبابية طموحة. لذا إذا لم تكونوا قد تقدمتم بالفعل، فلتقوموا بذلك الآن، فربما تكونوا احد الفائزين بالمنح و تحصلوا أيضا على فرصة لحضور مؤتمر الشباب العالمي في كيبك/كندا في أغسطس 2008
توجد استمارة التقديم لهذه المنح هنا
http://projects.takingitglobal.org/youthforchange/docs/



كما نامل ان تساعدونا في نشر المعلومات عن هذه المنح، لشباب آخرين ضمن شبكتكم، حتى يستفيدوا من هذه المنح أيضا.



شكرا ونتطلع لقراءة مشاريعكم!


إذا كان لديك أي سؤال أو استفسار عن المنح أو أي جزء آخر عن المشروع، فالرجاء الارسال الى تالا النابلسي Tala@takingitglobal.org

مرحبا جميعا

أود تذكيركم بالتقدم للمنح الصغيرة التي يقدمها مشروع شباب من أجل التغيير، حيث سيغلق باب التقدم يوم 25 القادم. وللتذكير أيضا فإن هذه المنح الصغيرة تستهدف الشباب من عشر دول عربية هي: مصر، الأردن، المغرب، تونس، قطر، اليمن، الإمارات، العراق، لبنان، وفلسطين، الذين يملكون أفكار لمشروعات شبابية طموحة. لذا إذا لم تكونوا قد تقدمتم بالفعل، فلتقوموا بذلك الآن!
توجد استمارة التقديم لهذه المنح هنا:
http://projects.takingitglobal.org/youthforchange/docs/


وإذا كان لديك أي سؤال أو استفسار عن المنح أو أي جزء آخر للمشروع، لا تتردد/تتردي في طرحه. هذه هي الصفحة التي يجاوب فيها منسقي المشروع على الاستفسارات:
http://projects.takingitglobal.org/youthforchange/discuss/thread/30719

Hello All,

I would like to inform you about the Youth for Change project mini-grants.
If you are from one of these 10 countries: Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, Qatar, Yemen, UAE, Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine, and have a youth-led project that you want to fund, then why dont you apply for the mini-grants, NOW!

You can find the application form here:
http://projects.takingitglobal.org/youthforchange/docs/

And if you need any clarification about the mini-grants or any other activity related to the project, please feel free to ask. This is the page for questions:
http://projects.takingitglobal.org/youthforchange/discuss/thread/30719


Thanks,

Tala Nabulsi

Pull the Plug
Annual CO2 savings: 2,500 pounds


Have an old refrigerator in your basement or garage? Unplug it if you can -- refrigerators are one of the biggest energy drainers in the house and older models can output more than a ton of CO2 annually. If we all completed this task for a year, it would be equivalent of taking almost 1.6 million cars off the road.