This is a global humanitarian Zainab Salbi. She is an Iraqi-born humanitarian that founded the organization Women for Women International. Salbi has dedicated the majority of her life to helping women in war-torn countries rebuild their lives and their communities. Growing up, her father was Saddam Hussein’s personal pilot and her family was firmly in the clutches of Hussein’s inner circle. After an unsuccessful arranged marriage in America to avoid the clasp of Hussein, Zainab remarried and founded Women for Women International.

In 1993 the news of rapes in concentration camps during the conflict in Bosnia propelled Salbi to found an organization to help female victims of war. The organization provides economic aid, emotional support, job skills training, and rights education to empower women and stop the cycle of violence.

Women for Women International currently works in eight war-torn countries. The organization provides a one-year program for women to receive job and business training, enabling them to earn a living. This program helps women understand their rights and liberties and provides them with the opportunity to become leaders in their communities.

Women for Women International has mobilized more than 300,000 people in 185 countries to support female victims of war. Their support has provided assistance to more than 351,000 women through education, microfinance programs, and small business development, as well as other initiatives. Women for Women International has been able to distribute $108 million in direct aid to women.

Women for Women International works in four modules. They aim to help women sustain incomes, be aware of their rights, be educated as family and community decision-makers, and provide them with social networks and safety nets for support.

Zainab Salbi has founded a massively successful and vitally important international aid organization. Women for Women International places female empowerment and recovery at the center of its philosophy to create positive social change in the world.

– Caitlin Zusy

Source: Women for Women International Ted Talk Profile
Photo: Zimbio