Hope in Action: Voices of Women Changemakers Across the MENA Region

In a region often defined by complexity and conflict, hope can feel elusive. Yet through the Women Champions for Change (WCC) network, 50 women leaders from across the MENA region came together in mid-September for a three-day summit, co-facilitated by Co-Catalyst: Social Innovation Advisory, to reimagine what collaboration, dialogue, and leadership can look like. While women’s voices remain underrepresented in decision-making and peacebuilding, the summit reaffirmed their essential role as bridge-builders and mediators, capable of fostering understanding and shared purpose even amid multiple divisions. 

Below we share reflections from summit participants that together illustrate their vision of regional development and peacebuilding.

Hope Revival 

At a time when polarization dominates the public sphere, the WCC summit created a rare platform for listening, empathy, and shared purpose across divides. As Justine Zwerling , a WCC participant, wrote for Faith & Freedom News, framing the event in the context of the 5th anniversary of the Abraham Accords: 

Participants came from Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iran, Israel, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Tunisia, and the UAE, and represented diverse religions — Muslim, Jewish, Christian, and Druze — embodying the possibility of international and interfaith dialogue and cooperation.

Acknowledging the unique space for dialogue created by the diverse women, The Times of Israel emphasized the solidarity that arose despite regional challenges, noting that “many spoke of how the initiative was a source for hope amid an immeasurably bleak period”.

The Importance of Women’s Participation in Dialogue

The summit demonstrated that women’s collaboration opens new perspectives for peacebuilding in the region. As Nazanin Afshin-Jam, an Iranian-Canadian human rights activist, emphasized on X: “Women are collaborative bridge-builders, peacemakers, bearers of life and their perspective is imperative in shaping the future”, calling for the exploration and application of a new paradigm and vision for peacebuilding. 

The importance of women’s inclusion in dialogue was further highlighted by Heidi Basch-Harod, Executive Director of Women's Voices Now, in her blog posts published in The Times of Israel and on the Women’s Voices Now platform. Reflecting on the WCC network’s broader impact and on the qualities that make women’s leadership so transformative, she argues that the initiative demonstrates the unique power of women to lead with empathy, authenticity, and courage, forging meaningful connections that can grow into tangible projects. These qualities, she notes, are especially vital today, as the world faces a growing backlash against women’s and girls’ rights. She further noted that such “feminine attributes as patience and the ability to listen” are not secondary qualities, but imperatives for addressing contemporary global challenges and conflicts.

This vision is also data-driven: studies consistently show that women’s participation in negotiations makes peacebuilding efforts more effective and significantly increases the durability of peace agreements.

Going Beyond Dialogue

In her LinkedIn reflection, Hanan Alsanah, Co-Executive Director at Itach-Ma'aki, shared after the summit: 

This focus on action was central to the summit. Participants not only presented their organisations and visions for the region’s future but also co-created new projects in thematic working groups. The collaboration continues beyond the summit, as these groups meet regularly to advance project design and implementation, building on the synergy created during the event.

As Peta Pellach wrote in her Times of Israel blog, this spirit of collaboration and co-creation is what distinguishes the WCC Summit from other cross-border dialogue initiatives: “This WCC was focused on inclusiveness, on action, on a future orientation. It exuded mutual respect and an overwhelming desire to learn from one another and to find ways to cooperate”. 

A Network as Soft Power 

As a network connecting female social changemakers across the MENA region, WCC has the potential to become a game-changer, offering more inclusive perspectives for addressing regional challenges. The summit’s sole Afghan participant, Mariya Dostzadah Goodbrake, Executive Director of Global FC, summed up this vision in her reflection: 

This movement of committed women, as Danny Hakim OAM, WCC founder, described in his Times of Israel blog, can be envisioned as a regional soft power: “We didn’t solve the region’s problems. But we created a space where possibility could breathe — where soft power showed up not as theory, but as action”. 

Connecting diverse women from across borders, the WCC Summit not only reignited hope and inspiration but also laid the foundation for future cooperation toward a more inclusive, flourishing, and peaceful MENA region.

Taking these learnings, reflections, and perspectives forward, Co-Catalyst is proud to continue this journey with our amazing partners — Ayelet Mavor, Danny Hakim OAM, Sabrin Hojerat, The Peres Center for Peace and Innovation, MENA2050, Empower Women Media — and with incredible female changemakers across the region, to amplify women’s voices in the region and build collective action and shared impact together.

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Women Champions for Change (WCC) is a network creating social change through the power of sport, culture and innovation across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region. Its mission is to connect and support women social change leaders across the MENA region in building regional collaboration and taking tangible, joint action on shared social challenges.

To learn more about the Women Champions for Change network or to join, visit: https://wcc-global.org