About Us

Our Mission Statement

The International Foundation for Women’s Empowerment (IFWE) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization established in March 2019 in Virginia, USA. Its parent company is the American Foundation for Educational Excellence (AFEE), and it is affiliated to the International Society for Educational Excellence (ISEE) and to the Center for Excellence in Languages: Teaching, Editing, Translating, Interpreting. Our main objective is to empower women and help them thrive both on the personal and professional levels, regardless of nationality, religion and political affiliation. We aim to operate worldwide through an International Leadership Committee, in collaboration with UN agencies, local senior officials, and different local and international NGOs.

Our Program

We plan to help women reach their fullest potential and achieve their personal best by identifying the challenges they face, providing relevant online webinars, and creating and implementing action plans via our International Leadership Committee, in addition to Executive Teams and Support Committees that we set up in each country and which we train according to the “Leadership, Organizing and Action: Leading Change” pedagogy developed by Harvard Kennedy School of Government Professor, Dr. Marshall Ganz. We have 7 projects, in addition to a Job Bank.

      1. Women’s Political Empowerment/Empowerment for Leadership
      2. Women’s Personal Empowerment (Webinars)
      3. Women’s Economic & Financial Empowerment (+ Craftspersonship)
      4. Women’s Corporate/Professional Empowerment 
      5. Women’s Educational Empowerment (Literacy & Technology)
      6. Women’s Mentoring: Men and Women Mentoring Women
      7. Women’s Referrals (to Partners, NGOs, Experts…)

+ Job Bank Our work with women is rooted in two different concepts:

Board of Directors

Board of Advisors

The Board of Advisors meets twice per year or as need arises; they support the mission and programs of the foundation and provide strategic guidance, counsel and advice to the Foundation’s senior management.

Honorary Support Committee (HSC)

The Honorary Support Committee is formed of prominent community members who are committed to our mission. The members are asked to utilize their community image to help promote and support our organization. In return, members will be recognized generously in our organization’s materials including the letterhead, website, and social media outlets. Honorary Support Committee members meet twice per year on location or online. Current Members of our HSC: [Bios]

USA, Washington, DC  H.E. Ambassador Gabriel Issa Ambassador of Lebanon to the USA.
USA, Los Angeles H.E. C.G. Mirna Khawli Former Consul General of Lebanon to Los Angeles, CA, USA.
USA, New York H.E. Ambassador Majdi Ramadan Former Consul General of Lebanon to New York, NY, USA.
Bahamas H.E. Miriam Emmanuel Member of Parliament for five islands in the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. She also serves as the Executive Chairman of the Education Loan Authority.
Canada H.E. Ambassador Annick Goulet Ambassador of Canada to Romania. Former Minister-Counsellor and Senior Trade Commissioner at the Canadian Embassy in Russia.
Lebanon H.E. Ambassador Antonio Andary Former Ambassador of Lebanon to Argentina and to The Holy See (The Vatican).
Lebanon Mrs. May El Khalil Founder and President of the Beirut Marathon Association, which oversees the annual Beirut Marathon and has been held every autumn since 2003.
Nigeria Mrs. Aishah Ahmad Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability, at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Spain Ms. Sara Ferrer Olivella Country Director for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Jordan.

International Support Committee (ISC)

The International Support Committee is formed of people from all over the world who believe in our cause and are willing to support us in their own countries/states. Its members meet online twice per year. If interested, they are the most eligible to start a chapter in their region, or to partner with IFWE if they head a relevant organization. Current Members of our ISC: [Bios]

Argentina Maria Belen Morales Azar Professor of Psychology. Completed a Postgraduate in Focused Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy at Universidad Del Aconcagua.
Australia Bernadette Black Founder of Australia’s only national organisation, BRAVE Foundation which supports and represents 8,300 expecting and parenting teens in Australia each year.
Bulgaria Iva Todorova  IBM Government and Regulatory Affairs Exec, a globally integrated corporate function, providing public policy and government relations expertise.
Canada Grace Daccache Immigration Lawyer at Daccache Immigration Inc., in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Ghana Suzan-Hermina Yemidi Country Representative, Ghana- Solidaridad, West Africa.
India Suyogkumar Bhavare, M.D. An Ayurved doctor by qualification, he is an entrepreneur at heart. He founded a chain of Ayurvedic clinics in Maharashtra and serves as mentor at many youth-based organisations across India.
Kenya Laureen Husband Director of Strategic Expansion at Operation New Hope – a nationally acclaimed re-entry organization.
Lebanon Kholoud Wattar Kassem Global advisor for Women Political Leaders Global Forum.
Madagascar Hasina Ranaivo Achiever with heart who accompanies Women and Youth to bridge gaps and to build connection between who they are and who they desire to be.
Nigeria Olajumoke Adenowo Renowned Architect and Philanthropist.
Sweden Ola Nilsson Program Manager specialist for Digitalisation at the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).
Switzerland Vira Shcherblyuk Experienced Sales Business Development Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the food & beverage industry.
USA, MS Missy Gowen Washam Program Coordinator at The John Maxwell Team. National TOT Coach at Self: Teams of Tomorrow.
USA, NY Lina Beydoun Director of Development, AUB. 13+ years of experience as an educator, researcher, and university administrator who is dedicated to global education and intercultural initiatives.

International Leadership Committee

The International Leadership Committee helps the Board of Directors with the strategies to follow all over the world. Its regular members meet online once every other week to help with strategy to follow in their country in order to cater to and attract as many webinar registrants as possible. The Marketing Advisor and the Communication Advisors meet online as need arises and they also help with administrative issues.

Current Members of our ILC: [Bios]

Webinar Steering Committee

The members of this committee mainly do the following:

      • They refer people to attend the webinar,
      • They encourage them to actively participate in at least one of the follow-up webinars where applicable,
      • They mail them the Certificates of Attendance where applicable.

Here are the current members of our Webinar Steering Committee:

Argentina Belen Morales Azar
Australia  Zoe Barton
Bahamas Miriam Reckley Emmanuel
Bulgaria Iva Todorova
Canada Grace Daccache
Canada  Annick Goulet
France Randa Lteif Stephan
Ghana Suzan-Hermina Yemidi
India Alka Jha
India Suyogkumar Bhavare, M.D.
Ivory Coast Maha Dandache
Jordan Ghada Abunassief
Jordan Marie-Therese Fadel
Lebanon Adele Dabbas Menassa
Lebanon Chantal Dagher
Lebanon Haifa Charbel
Lebanon Hanadi Mirza
Lebanon Helen Achou Tayar
Lebanon Nohad Ayoub Skaff
Lebanon Raghida Skaff
Liberia Linda Fawaz
Madagascar Hasina Ranaivo
Nepal Prakriti Bhattarai Basnet
Nigeria Ngozi Egbuna
Pakistan Danyal Hayat
Pakistan Shaista Kanwal
Russia Olga Shmarina
Saudi Arabia Maya Aridi Taylor
Switzerland Vira Shcherblyuk
UK  Anne-Marie Fleming
USA  Cynthia Abisamra
USA, CA, LA Eliane Gharios Moawad
USA, CA, SF Roula Jamhouri
USA, CO  Marina Chaghoury
USA, DC Gisele Ibrahim
USA, DC Marcel Abisamra
USA, GA Nelly Younes Daou
USA, MA Charla Rudisill
USA, NY Amal Salem
USA, OK Sowmya Sridhar

Our Partners  

Our Partners are either similar organizations that seek to educate and empower women, or NGOs, institutions and businesses that support women’s empowerment. 

    • Amman Center for Human Rights Studies (ACHRS)
    • Business and Professional Women Amman (BPWA)
    • Center for Inclusive Business and Leadership for Women (CIBL.W) at AUB
    • Collège Notre-Dame de Jamhour (CNDJ)
    • General Federation of Jordanian Women (GFJW)
    • Lebanese American Women Association (LAWA)
    • Lebanese League for Women in Business (LLWB)
    • Sagesse High School (SHS), Mary Mother of Wisdom
    • Sagesse University
    • Shamaa Charity Association جمعية الشمعة الخيريه
    • Socialprise
    • United Earth, The New Nobel Legacy
    • Université Saint-Joseph, Beyrouth (USJ), Opération 7ème Jour
    • University of Jordan, Center for Women’s Studies
    • Women in Data Sciences at the American University of Beirut (WiDS, AUB)

Our Workshops/Webinars

We plan to offer free workshops/webinars at different locations worldwide or online, about topics that help women to be empowered in their personal and professional lives and that are based on “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs:”  

Workshops Related to Basic Needs:

      • Physiological: proper nutrition, the right food to eat, the right vitamins and supplements, insomnia, stress, the benefits of fitness exercises/movement…
      • Safety: personal security (sexual abuse, violence against women, how to deal with rape), emotional security (feeling of inferiority), financial security, health (physical, mental and social well-being), etc.

Workshops Related to Psychological Needs:

      • Love/Belonging: balancing family and work, believing in oneself, overcoming challenges, the concept of the ‘good mother,’ how to make friends, соmmuniсаting with оthеrѕ, ѕuрроrt ѕуѕtеmѕ, bеing раrt of a соmmunitу, fееling lоvеd by оthеrѕ…
      • Esteem/Feeling of Accomplishment: self-acceptance, English communication, English writing, Arabic transliteration, public speaking, Emotional Intelligence, self-confidence, success (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People), business etiquette, resume writing, job training to improve employment prospects, technology…

Workshops Related to Self-Fulfillment/Self-Actualization Needs: Assertiveness, ethics, gender equality, human rights, success in politics, leadership, entrepreneurship, making the world a better place… … And any other topic that helps empower women!

Later in his life, Abraham Maslow, added another dimension to his Hierarchy of Needs: Transcendence: helping others to self-actualize! He said that we should aim to reach beyond self-actualization; our ultimate purpose should be to reach transcendence which brings the individual “peak experiences” in which they transcend their own personal concerns and see from a higher perspective… we should aim to give oneself to something beyond oneself. And this is so well-translated when we help one another thrive.

Our Chapters

We are creating Chapters in different countries and cities around the world. Each Chapter will have:

      • A “Leadership Committee for Women’s Empowerment”: it is formed of the people who commit to lead the chapter and help set its overall strategy,
      • An Executive Team: it oversees the daily operations of the chapter to ensure efficiency and satisfaction,
      • A Support Committee: it is formed of all the people who do not want to commit but would like to support the chapter according to their own expertise,
      • A Constituency: it is formed of the women who want to be empowered.

We will follow Harvard Kennedy School of Government’s “Leadership, Organizing and Action: Leading Change” model of organization. We will train our leadership teams accordingly. We work closely with different agencies of the United Nations and other relevant NGOs. We are setting up chapters in the following countries/states: In the USA

      • In California, Los Angeles
      • In California, San Francisco
      • In Florida
      • In Georgia
      • In New York
      • In Pennsylvania
      • In Virginia
      • In Washington, DC

And…

Our Projects

Our Previous Webinars: (Click on the month/year for details)

      • EMPOWER YOURSELF > Harvard Expert:  2019 &  Feb. 2020
      • COVID-19 > Multiple Experts:  2020
      • THE LAW OF INTENTIONALITY > The John Maxwell Team, Senior Program Coordinators: May 2020
      • Empower Yourself with the Nobel Values > Marcus Nobel: Dec. 2020
      • Armor Up with Mental Toughness > Col. Deb Lewis: April 24, 2021

Women’s Empowerment in the USA

Leadership Committee for Women’s Empowerment & Support Committees in the USA

Women’s Empowerment in Lebanon

Leadership Committee for Women’s Empowerment & Support Committee in Lebanon

Women’s Empowerment in Jordan

The International Foundation for Women’s Empowerment (IFWE) and the American Foundation for Educational Excellence (AFEE) are currently working on a project that started within a program titled, “Leadership, Organizing and Action: Leading Change” at Harvard University’s J.F. Kennedy School of Government, Executive Education, in collaboration with UNDP, UN Women, and a number of officials and local NGOs in Jordan. Our purpose is to empower women in the country and help them to successfully run for leadership positions, regardless of socio-economic status, political affiliation and religion, by identifying the challenges they face (survey) and putting an action plan to address those challenges. We are very thankful for the support of the following entities:

Last updated on Dec. 20, 2021