Recent analysis

Programs

empowerME at the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East is shaping solutions to empower entrepreneurs, women, and youth and building coalitions of public and private partnerships to drive regional economic integration, prosperity, and job creation.

Events

Content

Event Recap

Mar 2, 2021

Event recap: “Women’s gains in Afghanistan: Healthcare’s essential role in stabilizing Afghanistan”

By Atlantic Council

The Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center hosted an event on the gains that women have made in Afghanistan, the critical role of Afghan women in Afghanistan’s peace and security, and the role that US actors have in partnering with and empowering Afghan women.

Afghanistan Civil Society

Event Recap

Mar 1, 2021

Event recap | Women’s leadership in the GeoTech Decade

By the GeoTech Center

The start of the Geotech Decade has had disproportionate impacts on women and has shown the need for women’s leadership worldwide. Women however currently only make up 26 percent of workers in data and AI roles, 15 percent in engineering, and 12 percent in cloud computing. In this episode of the GeoTech Hour, Deputy Director and Senior Fellow Stephanie Wander discuss leadership in the GeoTech Decade with the four women leading the GeoTech Commission.

Inclusive Growth Resilience & Society

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Feb 23, 2021

Kholos Brooks featured by Moment Magazine

By Atlantic Council

On February 23, FD NRSF Michelle Kholos Brooks joined Moment Magazine for a Zoominar on her award-winning play "Hitler’s Tasters." The play centers around the women who tasted Hitler’s food and explores the experiences of young women in war.

Germany Media

empowerME Conversations

Jan 26, 2021

Double Vision

By Atlantic Council

In Season 1, Episode 3 of empowerME Conversations podcast, host Amjad Ahmad interviews eyewa Co-Founders and Co-CEOs Anass Boumediene and Mehdi Oudghiri about the mindset that will create more entrepreneurs in the Middle East, policy changes that will lead to more unicorns, the acceleration of online payments and e-commerce, and new technologies that will soon replace in-person fitting rooms and eye tests.

Economy & Business Middle East

SouthAsiaSource

Jan 26, 2021

Understanding “rape culture” in Bangladesh, India, & Pakistan

By Rudabeh Shahid, Kaveri Sarkar, and Azeem Khan

Countless examples of gender-based violence (GBV) in South Asia from last year raise significant concerns about so-called “progress” made in improving women’s standing and fighting rape culture in the region. Political discourse in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh is deeply misguided regarding such issues, often leading to systematic victim-blaming which—knowingly or unknowingly—helps the perpetrators.

Bangladesh Civil Society

empowerME Conversations

Jan 19, 2021

It’s a mumz world

By Atlantic Council

In Season 1, Episode 2 of empowerME Conversations podcast, host Amjad Ahmad interviews Mumzworld Founder and CEO Mona Ataya about what it takes to be an entrepreneur, how the Middle East’s entrepreneurial ecosystem is radically changing, her company’s biggest policy pain points, and the future of customer personalization to the power of one.

Economy & Business Middle East

Event Recap

Jan 9, 2021

Event recap: “Women’s gains in Afghanistan: Supporting economic opportunities for Afghan women as a driver of peace and security”

By Atlantic Council

On Thursday January 7, 2021, the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center partnered with the U.S.-Afghan Women’s Council (USAWC) and the American Council on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) to host an event on women’s gains in Afghanistan, the critical role of Afghan women in Afghanistan’s peace and security, and the role of US actors in partnering with and empowering Afghan women.

Afghanistan Economy & Business

SouthAsiaSource

Jan 5, 2021

Taliban 2.0. – Have the Taliban really changed and learnt their lesson?

By Tamim Asey

With negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban under way, many in the West and Afghanistan are banking on the fact that the Taliban movement has changed and that, having failed to defeat them militarily, it is time to embrace them. Although the latter is indeed true - that we have failed to defeat the Taliban militarily - the former deserves more scrutiny.

Afghanistan Human Rights

GeoTech Cues

Dec 18, 2020

Reimagining a just society pt. 2 | The end of an era

By Carol Dumaine

This blog post series will explore the meaning of a “just society” through multiple lenses and in the context of today’s challenges, including but not limited to the coronavirus pandemic. With contributions from multiple authors, it aims to stimulate thinking and questions that distill the prerequisites and responsibilities for “just societies” in our times. COVID-19 spotlights […]

Coronavirus Inclusive Growth

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Dec 14, 2020

The issue Ukraine’s first lady should champion vocally

By Laryssa Horodysky and Melinda Haring

A recent report by Amnesty International has highlighted the growing domestic violence crisis in war-torn eastern Ukraine. Coronavirus lockdown conditions are expected to add to the problem.

Coronavirus Human Rights

Experts