Leadership skills: ongoing online courses for the Arabic community

Since the beginning of April, 15 members of the Arabic community are following a Human development course focusing on Nonviolent Communication (NVC). This is but a part of the course series to hold in the spring-summer of 2023 aiming to raise awareness of human communication soft skills and to empower local leaders in the Arabic region.

Thanks to Sinergia Comunicativa, a skill-training facility located in Brazil, and the financial support of the Wikipedia Foundation, a 6-month project was launched in the Arabic region, coordinated by Sandra HANBO. The project is divided into 4 phases, preparation, NVC, Co-Resolve, and Sociology, and is planned to be terminated by August 2023. With the first two phases finished, it looks like a new successful chapter is written in the Arabic Region.

The preparation phase started in February 2023, it covered communications with all parts of the courses including Trainers, affiliates, trainees, an interpreter, and a translator, as the original plan was to provide the training in Arabic, the local spoken language of people in the Arabic world. Additionally, efforts in the first phase were organizational, as planning for three consecutive online courses took place.

[img. 1]: Attendees of the NVC course for the Arabic community in the last session 23.05.2023.

The second phase started in April with NVC online course. Thanks to the Zoom Platform, people from Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, and Iraq were meeting twice a week, in 2h 30 mins sessions, for 4 weeks to complete the 20h hours of training needed for certification. The course was provided in English, but All participants enjoyed practicing Arabic: speaking, listening, and writing, as the English-Arabic Interpretation service was shining. The course ended at the end of May 2023.

While you are reading these lines, the third phase of the project has started. It is on the conflict co-Resolve and deep democracy, two leadership skills needed in everyday life in the Arabic community. The training is 12h and participants are divided into two cohorts. The course is planned to Finish in mid-July leaving 2 weeks of rest before starting the last phase in August.

Providing Soft Skills is key to making successful leaders. Through practical training in the session and the trainers following the hard work achieved by the trainees, we are looking forward to transporting these skills to around 15-20 members of the Arabic community. By empowering such a number of Arabic-speaking leaders in Wikimedia projects, we are looking forward to more Arabic presence at all levels of the movement to enrich the diversity and enhance the representation of Arabic-speaking people.

Stay tuned for updates…