Her Excellency, Mrs. Asma Al-Assad has been nominated, February 24^th 2008, by the Arab Woman Participation Studies Centre, in cooperation with the Arab League, as the First Arab Lady for the year 2008. Mrs. Al-Assad has been chosen for this prestigious title in recognition of her strenuous efforts in bolstering of the human development, especially as far as the bringing up, enabling and upgrading the youth capacity as to deal with the 21st Century challenges.

Dr. Karim Firman, the Centre Administrative Council President considered the nomination of Her Excellency, Mrs. Al-Assad, as a recognition of her persistent work, patronage and numerous initiatives for educational, rural development, culture and heritage projects, on top of which FIRDOS, the Fund for Integrated Rural Development of Syria, word links, and Masar.

Dr. Shikour Al-Ghamari, member of the Centre Administration Council and of the State Council in the Sultanate of Oman, described the Award as a gesture of loyalty from Arab Civil Society Organization for Her Excellency, Mr. Al-Assad for all of what she has been offering of continued sacrifices at the service of the homeland causes and human development.

DAMASCUS - When Mohammad Ali al-Abid was elected first president of Syria in 1932, his wife, Zahra al-Yusuf, asked if she could attend the official function at the presidential palace. Her husband muttered, "You attending a state function, filled with men. It's impossible Zahra; what do you want people to say?"

The 47-year-old first lady, born into Damascene aristocracy, refused to take no for an answer. She began to slowly push the red lines and play a greater role in public affairs - well into the 1940s, long after her husband's death in 1939. She headed several charity organizations, like the Goutte de Lait, the Red Crescent and Syrian branch of the International Red Cross, in addition to an intellectual forum, and obtained the Syrian Medal of Honor (Excellence Class) after her husband left office in 1936. Additionally, she obtained the Red Cross Medal of Honor in Gold - being the first Arab woman to win such an honor.

For over 60 years, the role of Arab first ladies was confined to just that; charity organizations, intellectual forums, and official ceremonies. These duties were new, coming out of 400 years of the Ottoman Empire where women were completely absent from public life. Things changed dramatically, however, in recent years with the coming of three young first ladies to power in Doha, Amman, and Damascus.

The First Lady of Syria at Harvard

America is notorious for its policies concerning our region, but it is also a great country with many achievements, among its greatest, in my opinion, is its educational system. This statement comes from someone with first hand experience with the Syrian, French and British educational systems.

Allowing that American universities are the best in the world, among them Harvard ranks at the very top, and the Harvard Business School is the jewel of the Harvard crown. To this school the brightest students go to study business theory and practices, and it was to this school that I headed with my family last week. The reason behind the visit could not have been more exciting: the students have elected Syria to be their theme of study and research. For a whole month they have researched the newly emerging business environment in Syria, and the initiatives taken by various civil societies and NGOs. On April 29, at 8 am, the students of Professor Robert Eccles started discussing one major project undertaken by NGOs in Syria; that of establishing a children’s educational park in Damascus in the now vacant old grounds of the Damascus International Exhibition.

And who was the invited guest from Syria chosen to discuss the whole project? None other than Syrian First Lady Asma al-Assad.

At 8:30 am (sharp), a video-conference with the first lady was set up. Beginning the conference with icebreakers, the first lady told the students about a student’s delegation from Harvard that met with her a fortnight earlier. For the following 90 minutes, the first lady, from her office in Damascus, my husband and I in the auditorium at Harvard, and a number of invited guests followed a fascinating discussion and analysis of the children’s educational park project presented by the students. The discussion highlighted any potential problems, dissected all aspects of the project management, debated the possible cultural misunderstandings among the various stake holders of the project, and wondered about possibilities and expectations upon the completion of the project.

Following the discussion, Assad gave her own reflections on what the students had presented, and reminded them that this project is a unique experiment in developmental education that is arguably unparalleled around the world. She was friendly, passionate, candid, and straightforward, her attitude completely down-to-earth and non-ceremonial. Within minutes, it was apparent to my husband and I that she had won the hearts and minds of some of the brightest students on the planet.

Syria’s first lady meets the Indian poor

New Delhi, June 18 (IANS) Syria’s first lady Asma al-Assad, the wife one of the world’s most powerful leaders, Wednesday drove to a slum in the Indian capital and interacted with its women to learn about micro-financing. A graduate in computer science from King’s College in London, the 33-year-old spent about an hour in Harsh Vihar, close to the Uttar Pradesh border where the slum is home to about 50,000 poorest of the poor.

True to her image as one who likes to interact with people, Asma spoke to a tailor woman and a vegetable grocer among others, with the help of Preeti Sahai, a senior manager of Basix, which promotes micro-financing.

"We demonstrated how to open a no-frills savings account, using just a laptop, a digital camera and a fingerprint scanner," Sahai told IANS. Such accounts are opened in the slum area for its many residents who find it difficult to access banks.

An investment banker earlier, Asma posed several questions to the slum people.

Sahai said: "She interacted directly with three or four women. She had many questions. What will they do with the loans? Do they have insurance? Why did they open this account? What businesses are they engaged in?"

The Syrian president’s wife appeared fascinated by the responses of the slum women, who expressed their desire to go up the socio-economic ladder with the small loans provided to them.

Asma took everyone by surprise by expressing a desire to open an account.

Said Sahai: "We promptly took her picture and scanned her fingerprint. But we could not open an account as she did not have the basic documents."

And Sahai added, jokingly: "She is not really our target!"

Before leaving, Asma greeted some of the slum children and spoke to them.

Earlier, Asma, who founded Syria’s first NGO, the Fund for Integrated Rural Development of Syria (Firdos), interacted with about 30-40 activists working in rural development and women’s empowerment at the Institute of Social Studies in south Delhi.

She spent more than two hours at the institute, double the time she was to spend there, witnessing presentations on capacity-building of elected representations and an artisan project artisans. She also saw a documentary on a south Indian village.

She heard the experiences of a district panchayat president from Haryana, on the challenges and success in combating gender bias.

"She spoke about her experience in the rural sector in Syria and her NGO Firdos," the institute’s A.N. Roy told IANS.

She received a gift of a brass peacock. "The first lady mentioned that she was fascinated by India and wished she had stayed longer," Roy said.