Business of Peace in the Middle East

TYO Founder and President, Hani Masri, headlined a conference at Harvard Business School (HBS) last Friday, April 9, along with Sir Ronald Cohen, Chairman of the Portland Trust. The conference was the second annual event on this topic, organized by HBS students and sponsored by Harvard MENA and the HBS Jewish Students Association.

HBS organizers were interested to brainstorm and publicize ways that the private sector can promote stability and peace in Israel and Palestine. Over 100 audience members represented the Harvard community (HBS and the university’s other graduate schools, including the Kennedy School of Government and the Graduate School of Education) as well as Portland Trust and TYO partners, including Ron Bruder, founder and CEO of the Education for Employment Foundation.

The discussion was varied and productive, ranging from the political climate in the region to a proposed web platform to facilitate trade between Israel and the West Bank. Participants focused primarily on innovative and effective measures to work toward a better life for those living in this troubled region, including education, trade and paying particular attention to women’s role in economic development. As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently wrote:

When women are free to develop their talents and contribute fully to their societies, everyone benefits.

Inasmuch, we showcased TYO’s efforts to engage women as business leaders and build their capacity to do so.

We look forward to welcoming participants in the conference and others as mentors, donors and partners in our efforts to empower Palestinians in business – particularly the women we work with through our collaboration with the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women: Fostering Women Entrepreneurs in Nablus. Meet FWEN participants Hadeel and Nehaya in their videos at these links.

Want to help? Get in touch with Project Manager Fatima Irshaid. Or donate now through Global Giving.

Time magazine calls TYO an “excellent pre- and after-school program”

TYO was excited to be featured in Joe Klein’s recent column in Time magazine, “Renewal in the West Bank.” We are indeed proud to contribute to the trends that Klein cites, including institution building and increased security. That said, we couldn’t agree more with Klein’s disclaimer that all of the progress he observed during a recent visit to the West Bank (and TYO!) is tempered by major ongoing challenges including external control of “borders, the airspace, the water supply and the electricity.”

Klein also discusses the excellent work of TYO partner, the Education for Employment Foundation, with which we have a long-standing relationship and hope to start concrete collaboration in Fall 2010, in the context of a US State Department grant.