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YaLa - Young Leaders

Founded	May 24, 2011
Founder	Peres Center for Peace and YaLa Palestine
Type	NGO
Focus	Peacebuilding E-Learning Sports Agriculture Environment Business Education Youth Technology Arts
Location	Tel Aviv, Israel
Area served	MENA region
Method	Dialogue People-to-people interaction Capacity building Youth cooperation Business and economic cooperation Humanitarian response
Members	Nearly 1 Million
Employees	11-50
Volunteers	5
Website	www.yalayl.org

YaLa - Young Leaders (/ˈjɑːlɑː/ YAA-laa, Arabic: يالا - يا قادة الشباب, ’Yālā - yā qādh al-sha‘bāb, Hebrew: יאללה - מנהיגים צעירים, Yallh - menheygeym tes'eyeryem) is a Facebook-based, online social movement located in Tel Aviv, Israel. The movement was founded in May 2011 as a joint partnership between the Peres Center for Peace and YaLa Palestine and is administered by former Israeli peace negotiator and honorary president of the Peres Center for Peace Uri Savir. YaLa's aim is to promote dialogue and engagement among its predominantly youth, middle eastern membership through a variety of educational programs, collaborative projects, and group discussions.

The Organisation's name is both a pseudo-acronym, where the first and third letters are the initial letters of the words following the hyphen, and a romanization of the common Arabic expression Yala.

Overview/Mission/Activities

YaLa has been described as one of the broadest and fastest-growing peace movement in the Middle East. It is also known as one of a few visible initiatives that, at grassroots level, use Social media as a platform to promote cross-community dialogue and peacebuilding, with a focus on peaceful discussions and exchange of ideas between Israelis and Palestinians. The organization receives funding from the Peres Center for Peace, the United States Agency for International Development, and the Clinton Foundation.

The YaLa New Media & Citizen Journalism program, which is part of YaLa's flagship program YaLa Academy focuses on encouraging communication and engagement from participants across the MENA as part of a four-months-long online training course to citizen journalism.

Educational Objectives

Storytelling as a teaching/leadership tool

Groups of political activists or community activists who work for peace through efforts based on political goals and measures, or community efforts. Includes some groups which are composed of activists from one side of the conflict, and some groups which include activists from both sides.

Programs

YaLa Academy

From http://yalaacademy.org/faqs/ WHAT IS THE YALA ACADEMY? The YaLa Academy is not a traditional university or institute of higher education, rather it focuses on the added-value of using online technology to empower a diverse group of young Middle Easterners to promote peace and positive change in the region. In this light, it aims to supplement traditional higher education, rather than replace it, and its programs take place fully online, thus allowing young people from any village, town, city and country anywhere in the Middle East – Israelis and Arabs alike – to study together in the same place. The YaLa Academy is the main program of the YaLa Young Leaders movement of nearly 1 million youth from across the Middle East, a movement that was co-founded by the Peres Center for Peace and YaLa Palestine in May 2011. Additionally, the YaLa Academy works in cooperation with YaLa’s sister movement, YaLa Africa, to involve students from countries across Africa in our training programs.

Aileen Getty School of Citizen Journalism

The YaLa Academy’s Aileen Getty School of Citizen Journalism brings together leading journalists and new media experts to train Middle Eastern and African youth in basic journalism techniques, photo- and video-journalism and 21st Century activism. Building upon an initiative launched in 2014 in partnership with the U.S. Institute of Peace, this online program is a unique combination of new media training and peacebuilding experience. In regions where media is too often a tool for nationalism, division and fear, YaLa citizen journalists are being empowered to express themselves and tell a very different kind of story.

The YaLa Peace Institute in Honor of Nelson Mandela

The YaLa Peace Institute in Honor of Nelson Mandela is a ground-breaking peace studies program to supply the young leaders of the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region with the necessary tools to create a future of self-sustaining and durable peace.

Students learn online directly from the men and women who led processes of peace negotiation, human rights, transitional justice, peacebuilding and reconciliation in South Africa, Rwanda, Ireland, the Balkans and the Middle East (click here for the list). Find out more by clicking here for the Overview, clicking here for the FAQs or checking out the final project created by some of students here. And sign up for the next cycle in Fall 2016 here!

MENA Leaders for Change Program

The MENA Leaders for Change Program, sponsored by the U.S. State Department. This intensive program for emerging peace leaders consisted of online training and face-to-face workshops in collaboration with the US Institute of Peace, Vanderbilt University and the Harvard Program on Negotiation. Over the course of two years (four semesters), a total of 330 young leaders from the MENA region participated in the program:

YaLa Press

blah blah blah

YaLa Africa

Dude, just google “yala africa”: the YaLa Academy works in cooperation with YaLa’s sister movement, YaLa Africa, to involve students from countries across Africa in our training programs… blah blah blah

YaLa Africa Press

See https://yalaafricapress.wordpress.com/

Controversy/Criticism

Membership statistics

The movement has claimed the number of its members to be nearly one million. It is, however, difficult to reliable confirm this. Since YaLa has never released any other figures, this estimation can only be based on the number of likes on the Organization's official Facebook page.

Slacktivism

Further information: Slacktivism

Boycott campaign/Normalization Initiative

Further information: Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel

Further information: Boycotts of Israel § History

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Awards

• The 2006 IIE Victor J. Goldberg Prize for Peace in the Middle East was awarded to Sarah Perle Benazera and Ohood Murqaten, Co-Chairs of the YaLa Young Leaders Core Leadership Group.

See also

• Peres Center for Peace
• Uri Savir
• Slacktivism

External links

• Official website
• Official Facebook Page
• YaLa Academy
• YaLa Press
• Yala Africa on Facebook
• YaLa Africa Press

Category:Internet-based activism Category:Internet activism Category:social movement Category:Non-governmental organizations involved in the Israeli–Palestinian peace process Category:Israeli–Palestinian peace process Category:Peace organizations Category:Middle East Category:Middle East peace efforts