Home: Egypt

OAI courses: Create Your Activism Plan workshop; Media Relations mentorship with Rana Sweis

Vision: Increasing political participation among Egyptians

Goal: Encouraging women to participate in Egyptian politics

Message: "Participation is the foundation of change."

Primary audience: Decision makers in the Egyptian government

Secondary audience: Egyptian women

How I will deliver my message: Press conferences, workshops, field trips, awareness-raising campaigns, posters in the streets

Coalitions/allies: Civil society institutions

Current activities: Gaining funding for her political participation campaign

About Nesma and her activism goals:

"I received my bachelor's degree in social work from the Higher Institute of Social Work, Cairo, in 2005. I worked as an assistant manager at the Ibn Khaldoun Center for Development Studies, and also as an assistant researcher to the principal assessor for the El-Darb El-Ahmar development project with the Egyptian-Swiss Development Fund. I've also worked as a program assistant for the election monitoring program carried out in coordination with the National Democratic Institute, under the umbrella of the Independent Egyptian Committee for Election Monitoring.

"I've also served as a micro-credit officer in a program that targeted women living under the poverty line in three governorates. I participated as an international observer in the Carter Center's international election delegation that observed the June 2009 parliamentary elections in Lebanon. I currently work as a regional assistant coordinator for Freedom House in Egypt."

What Nesma learned from her OAI experience:

Create Your Activism Plan workshop: "This was my first time to do training over the internet. When I heard the idea, I didn't expect that it would be so easy, or that it would teach me so much. But [now] I think e-learning is one of the best ways to do training and a great means of communication between trainers and participants.

"I hope that the OAI keeps moving forward and does lots of workshops and training courses involving women's issues in the Middle East, and that participants throughout the Arab world will keep exchanging their experiences."

• I really benefited from it, as I learned that working via the internet is easy and fun.
• Self-confidence and preparing to face problems through a clear vision
• The exchange of experiences between the participants
• Skills such as goal-setting, planning, targeting audiences, and identifying helpful institutional channels

Media Relations mentorship: "I've become stronger in confronting problems; I have more of a drive to push for change and defend my point of view. I started thinking more practically, and I now have clear goals and am planning for everything, writing it all down. I'm reading a lot, and I gained confidence in myself."

• I learned how to create a clear message, write an op-ed piece, create a blog and present myself over the internet.
• I gained understanding of the media, its different forms, and the role it can play in building support for my project.
• I learned how to deal with visual, print, and radio media, and how to use all available resources.
• I created a media strategy with specific goals I'd like to reach.

The actions Nesma is taking now as a result of her OAI experience:

"I've discussed my project with one of my colleagues, and we're going to begin work over the next few months. I'm starting a blog and Facebook group encouraging political participation. And I'm taking advantage of all the resources I can find in order to reach a higher rate of participation in the next elections in Egypt (in 2010-2011)." Nesma has already created the poster below (encouraging voter registration) for her campaign.