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Campaigning for the Rights of Women in Media December 10, 2011 Somaliland journalist Nafisa Hussein overcame many barriers and personal hardships out of love for her profession. Working first as a radio announcer, then as a newspaper reporter, she persevered. In Somaliland, women journalists are rare.	Youth Lead Youth for Greater Impact July 26, 2011 by Susie Armitage Sabrina stands in the center of the circle, explaining a theater exercise to her peers: "When I point to you and say 'boat.' Together, you are going to make a boat with your bodies. Ready? OK...BOAT!" The room breaks into giggles as the three students snap into place: the girl in the middle mimes sighting land, and the boys on either side of her make energetic rowing motions. Sabrina points at another trio: “Good, but faster next time – otherwise you'll end up in the middle!”
Somali Youth Spreads the Word About Peace July 15, 2011 by Bridget Kimball Huda Qalib tears up when she hears the stories of clan violence. People “fight and kill each other over small things,” she says. “I wondered what they were thinking at the time.” Together with a team of other activists, the 23-year-old aspiring media professional is organizing a series of community conversations throughout Somaliland to bring together people from all walks of life to discuss sources of and solutions to clan-related conflict. Conversations are prompted by viewings of media spots which have been produced by the youth activists, followed by youth-facilitated discussions on the issues raised in the media spots. The events are being carried out through IREX’s Uniting Communities to Mitigate Conflict (UCMC) program.	International Year of Youth: Inclusion of Youth at All Levels July 12, 2011 by Rachel Surkin The extraordinary power of youth to change their own worlds and the world around them strikes me anew every day.I see this power manifest in diverse forms and settings – from the Russian program participant who created a break-dancing school to engage at-risk youth in her small town, to the two teenagers from MetroTeenAIDS who, last week, addressed more than 70 international development professionals about their role in educating thousands of other youth in Washington, DC, about STDs and HIV testing.
Somalia: A Dangerous Place to Be a Woman July 6, 2011 by Bridget Kimball When the Thomson Reuters Foundation recently released the results of its poll on “The world’s five most dangerous countries for women”, Somalia, one of IREX’s program countries, was ranked fifth. We asked WAWA (the We Are Women Activists Network), one of our local partners on the Uniting Communities to Mitigate Conflict (UCMC) project, for their initial reactions to the report.	To Make a Better World: IREX Then & Now June 30, 2011 by W. Robert Pearson Forty-three years ago today, IREX was created to help advance exchanges, not just of people, but of ideas. As we celebrate IREX’s founding, we honor its original charge by continuing to bring people together, to link institutions both within and across countries and regions, and to host events where the latest thinking and research is shared with the world.
World Press Freedom Day Participant Profile: Abdikadir Ahmed April 27, 2011 A speaker at this year’s World Press Freedom Day conference, Abdikadir Ahmed from IREX Somalia discusses innovative ways to introduce technology for sharing information in a panel on “Accessing the Digital Benefit.”	Celebrating Women Year Round March 23, 2011 by W. Robert Pearson Annual observances such as Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day are useful tools for highlighting some of the many accomplishments of women as well as drawing much-needed attention to gender-based disparities around the globe.
Somali Woman Leverages Media for Peace March 11, 2011 by Said Mohamed Salado Mohamed is a prominent negotiator in Puntland, Somalia, a deeply patriarchal society where women’s literacy is half that of men’s and their presence can rarely be found in the public arena. Through a process of community dialogue and advocacy, Salado is instrumental in re-establishing measures of peace in Puntland, the semi-autonomous northeastern zone of Somalia.	Participant Profile: Mokhtar Nuur – Uniting Communities Through Media in Somalia February 24, 2011 by Said Mohamed Mokhtar, a budding media professional, aspires to run his own media outlet one day. Mokhtar studies at East Africa University in Bosaso with a focus on community development while also serving as Deputy Director at Somali Development Trust, an IREX partner for the Uniting Communities to Mitigate Conflict program (UCMC).