"Bila Aswar"
Breaking Barriers
Mission
Eliminate prejudice against Middle Eastern and Islamic countries by directly creating contact and dialogue between students, academics, business- owners, artists and working professionals.
What is the Problem?
Biased media and negative misconceptions are affecting the perception of Islamic societies. This gap in knowledge is reflected in the lack of partnership between Canadian SMEs, initiatives and research. This is also evident in academia, with UBC’s (University of British Columbia) focus on Pacific Asian countries while neglecting Central and Western Asia.
What Is The End Goal?
Create connections and dialogue between youth, CEOs, academics, ambassadors, artists and working professionals through an online platform. Breaking barriers refers to defeating preconceptions on Islam and Eastern Muslim countries and expanding knowledge and networks beyond ones' own discipline and in-group.
Six webinars will be streamed live January to April 2014 from the Middle East, East Asia, Europe and the USA to UBC. Speakers with direct experience in each field will be streamed live for a 15-20 min. speech followed by a 10 min. Q&A session.