Global Alliance Institute Unveils Its Girls Truth Seekers Education Project For Syrian Refugee Girls

WASHINGTON, June 8, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Global Alliance Institute, in partnership with the Girl Scouts Nation's Capital, today announced a special project to help young Syrian refugee girls.  With support from AMIDEAST and HP, The Girls Truth Seekers Education Project will connect Girl Scouts in the greater Washington area with young Syrian refugee girls currently living in the countries bordering Syria.  Through this initiative, the Syrian girls will attend virtual, online classes to learn English, and the Girl Scouts will earn the Truth Seeker badge.

In launching this new project, Global Alliance President Ambassador Paul Russo stated:  "We are delighted to have AMIDEAST as a strategic partner in this effort.  We are also grateful for the partnership and support from HP and the company's generous donation of laptop computers with Arabic keyboards, which are essential to the implementation of our program."

AMIDEAST, a leading U.S. non-profit that specializes in providing education and training services across the Middle East and North Africa, will act as Global Alliance's local implementing partner in Jordan, and their support will include providing on-the-ground work space; logistical support; training; and follow up assistance.  Global Alliance also will be coordinating its efforts on the ground with UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency.

As part of the training offered at its learning centers in the refugee camps, Global Alliance will also provide access to HP LIFE, a program of the HP Foundation.  This innovative training program offers free online courses available in seven languages, including Arabic and French, that provide basic IT and business skills training to empower users, many from underserved communities, to raise themselves up and create a better life.

Ambassador Russo continued: "We believe that any long term solutions to the current refugee crisis must include education and training and, with projects like this one, Global Alliance hopes to offer one small, positive step – a step that not only provides education but also lets these young refugee girls know that someone cares about them." 

"Everyone everywhere has the right to a quality education," says Nate Hurst, Chief Sustainability and Social Impact Officer, HP.  "This important project is not only providing practical tools, including HP Probook and Notebook laptops, to enable continued learning.  It is also connecting girls with very different life experiences, and helping them develop their understanding of each other and the wider world.  HP is honored for the opportunity to support this work."

Jordan has been selected as the country location for the pilot phase of the Syrian Refugee Girls Education Project – in and around the capital city of Amman – where the refugees are located in both designated camps as well as dispersed in urban areas.  This will provide an opportunity to implement the project under differing conditions, and further allow for the most effective replication of the program throughout Jordan and the other countries in the region that are hosting Syrian refugees.

Over the past year, Global Alliance, a 501(c)(3) Washington-based organization dedicated to building better relations between the Middle East and the United States, has focused special attention on the Syrian Refugee Crisis, a crisis that, according to Ambassador Russo "may well be the defining humanitarian challenge of our time."

Back in June of 2015, Global Alliance organized a conference in Beirut, Lebanon, gathering experts from both the United States and the Middle East to examine the immediate and long term effects of the Syrian Refugee Crisis.  They were able to enlist the World Bank, the United Nations, the U.S. Institute of Peace, Georgetown University, and the Government of Lebanon as event co-sponsors and, building on the momentum generated at the conference, Global Alliance has moved forward on several projects to assist the Syrian refugees during this difficult period, among them this "Truth Seekers" initiative.

For further information,
Please contact:
Ambassador Paul Russo
[email protected]
Sandy Edwards
[email protected]

SOURCE Global Alliance Institute