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My name is Tatsiana Hulko. This summer I was selected for the Advocacy Project’s Fellows for Peace program. The Advocacy Project is a DC-based non-profit organization that works to support community-based advocates for peace and human rights. One of the ways it does this is by sending Peace Fellows to volunteer with its partners each summer. I was offered a fabulous opportunity to work with the AP’s partner Women’s Affairs Technical Committee (WATC) in Ramallah, the Palestinian Territories. I couldn’t be happier since the Middle East, democracy, and human rights are my long-time passions. The WATC grew out of the Madrid peace talks in 1991 and is an umbrella network for seven Palestinian women’s organizations working for women’s rights, community development, and peace. For a number of years now Palestinian women have been struggling to achieve independence, freedom, and equality on different levels in order to participate in economic, social, and political life of their country and bring about stability, peace, and social justice. The WATC has become a network of women’s organizations which operate together to build a democratic society that respects human and women’s rights in Palestine and the Arab World. Through international cooperation these Palestinian groups promote cross-cultural understanding, offer leadership and skill-acquiring training for women, lobby for women’s interest in the society where the active role of a woman is not yet a norm, and foster economic development.

However, today the WATC has to operate under immense challenges and constraints – glaring poverty, war, political unrest, and fundamentalism. Women, being the most vulnerable segment of a Muslim society, have to bear the heaviest brunt of these crises.  Yet, I believe that it is the women who will play a crucial role in establishing a peaceful, prosperous, and democratic society in the Middle East. But to achieve that goal they would need our involvement, our assistance, our understanding. That is why the initiatives like the ones the Advocacy Project offers are so important. I believe that we can create a better world by working together, being available, sharing our experiences, and learning from one another, which is why I am so excited and so committed to this cause.

My responsibilities in Ramallah would include:
-         support the WATC director in all responsibilities;
-         help produce and disseminate information about their work;
-         conduct networking and outreach, develop media, broaden contacts;
-         help develop the most effective strategy to increase the capacity of the organization;
-         provide English-language and other support as needed.

Since both the Advocacy Project and the WATC are non-profit organizations it is your involvement and support that would make this trip possible. It will be my joy to keep everybody updated and share my exciting experiences through feature stories and blogging. Upon my return I would be delighted to give group presentations and speak about my summer. Finally, it is my strongest conviction that our efforts would be a priceless investment in peace and freedom. Thank you very much!