Aladin Katoor

The interview of Mr. Kosar attracted me to Tavaana website. But, Tavaana is more than a websitea; it is a project of the Center for Liberty in the Middle East (CLIME) that has received funding from the US Department of State’s Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.

Tavaana works in close partnership with the George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management, and Freedom House and the Center for Victims of Torture's New Tactics in Human Rights Project to offer expert-level facilitators and curricula.

Tavaana provides learning for self-paced learners and live instructor-led e-courses. Courses cover topics such as activism, civic education, leadership development, digital security and human rights advocacy.

Some of the Tavanna organizers and instructors are listed below:

Mariam Memarsadeghi is Tavaana's founder and director. Mariam previously founded and managed Gozaar while serving as Senior Program Manager at Freedom House.

Eleana Gordon is Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Liberty in the Middle East (CLIME). She leads CLIME strategy and operations and has spearheaded CLIME's first foray into the world of e-learning with the award winning Online Activism Institute for women leaders in the Arab world.

Kathleen Schafer teaches Tavaana's eight-week Leadership Development course in conjunction with GeorgeWashingtonUniversity's Graduate School of Political Management. This graduate-level course is designed to help participants discover their leadership style and leverage their strengths to successfully lead a civic campaign.

Nima Rashedan developed Tavaana's Cybersecurity for Activists Manual and teaches the instructor-led versions of the course, which trains participants in ways to keep themselves and their colleagues safe online. The course covers, in ‘how-to’ fashion, topics such as malware, viruses, e-mail and web browser security, protection from spyware and spam, internet filtering in Iran, and secure circumvention of internet censorship.

Nancy Pearson teaches the New Tactics in Human Rights Project's Five Steps to Tactical Innovation course. This course trains civic activists working in grassroots networks in a five-step process to improve their strategic thinking and tactical innovation. Participants analyze their situation, explore tested tactics for achieving social and political change, and develop tailored human rights action plans based on their leadership strengths and the most appropriate tactics for their context. The curriculum is specially developed and taught for activists operating in repressive regime contexts such as Iran.

Majid Mohammadi teaches Tavaana’s Iranian Civil Society course.

Here is the interview with Mr. Nicahang Kosar:

https://tavaana.org/video-detail.jsp?videoitemid=2071502000341283320056868&clipnum=1