Lian Saifi

When Lian Saifi first joined the program, she was a fresh graduate and joined the great local youth organization Leaders of Tomorrow (LOT). She spent two years there, building her skills and capacities. It was the perfect place to do so, because they gave her the opportunity and the space to grow and come out of her comfort zone. Being there nurtured in her the drive to keep trying new things and be up for challenges. She first joined LOT as an intern and was rapidly given the full trust to lead an entire project.

After understanding the youth context and the local sphere of NGOs in Jordan, she decided to apply to an international organization. One of them was the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), which is one of the most reputable organizations among the INGOs in Jordan. She became the multimedia technical officer at NRC, working in the communications and advocacy unit. She manages communication products that advocate and address Syrian refugee issues in Jordan. The communication products vary from videos, photos, publications, data visualization, and blog content to campaigns.

“Now that I am out there, I can reflect back to those 4 years that passed and I would say that I am very proud of myself, and very happy with the opportunities I was given along the way, and I would tell you to stay tuned, because you will be hearing some great news about me in the coming days.”

Abdullah O. Abusham

Abdullah graduated from Petra University in 2014, and after several months of searching for a job opportunity, he realized that the Lazord Fellowship could provide him with the right opportunity to work and acquire new skills. After the yearlong fellowship he found that his passion for social work grew, particularly after working with youth at the Jordanian Hashemite Fund For Human Development (JOHUD), where he met many inspiring youth who aspired to achieve positive change.

Through the Lazord Fellowship he received several training sessions at INJAZ that had a great impact on his professional and personal life. This gave him the opportunity to be more engaged in the field of development; recognize different skills and abilities in himself; and continuously strive to achieve positive change in his community. This is why he continued to work at JOHUD after the fellowship, and is currently a project coordinator for the program YouthPower.

Abdullah’s advice to new Lazord Fellows is to embrace community work even after graduating from the fellowship. “Also, never give up, because the beauty of life is in doing what you love.”

Abdelrazzaq Awwad

During Abdelrazzaq’s days as a university student, he always signed up for INJAZ programs. He heard about the Lazord Fellowship Program while attending the INJAZ programs and always had his mind set on applying to the fellowship. Upon graduation from his university, he applied to the fellowship and was accepted to the class of 2012-2013, and was placed at Partners–Jordan.

During the fellowship program, INJAZ provided the fellows a series of trainings that positively affected both his social and practical life, which in return opened a huge door of opportunities for him.

He is currently a project coordinator for communication and behavioral discrimination at The Jordan Communication Advocacy and Policy (JCAP) program, which is funded by USAID.

He strongly advises his peers of the Lazord Fellowship Program from this year and the years to come, to make use of every day, hour and minute while in this program. He also advises the fellows to look for challenges and to face them, as he learned a lot from his first job experience.

“INJAZ and Lazord is a magnificent opportunity to start my career path.”

Linda Shrafi

Linda graduated from the Hashemite University with a bachelor’s degree in banking and financial science. As a student, she had a strong interest in volunteer work, PR, and social media.

Linda has participated in capacity building e-learning opportunities covering youth development, health care and rights issues, advocacy, communications, and project management.

Linda is a trainer in civic engagement and youth empowerment at the Jordan Youth Commission as well as a member of and a team leader at the International Platform of Young Entrepreneurs (PFYE).

She is a member and volunteer at I Dare for the Online Love Speech campaign.

As a Lazord Fellow, Linda was the project coordinator at the Princess Basma Youth Research Center. She is currently the production coordinator at the Royal Film Commission.

Nancy Otoom

Nancy is a legal researcher and human rights activist. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in law and international law from the University of Jordan. She has worked for over seven years in the humanitarian context, at INGOs and embassies.

She has worked in different sectors such as program coordination, political analysis and reporting, conducting and designing training and capacity building programs, in addition to doing several consultancies and research projects.

She has extensive experience working in embassies. She was a political officer at the British Embassy Amman for two years, and was responsible for human rights and legal analysis, in addition to policy-making sessions and programs for Chevening Fellowship Alumni in Jordan. Nancy is currently working at the Embassy of Canada Jordan in Amman as a political officer with similar responsibilities to those she had at the British Embassy Amman.

 

Wisam Khalifa

Wisam Khalifeh works as a disability employment project officer and as a trainer.

Wisam is a judge in the Young Arab Voices program.

INJAZ