GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — As part of the Big Sister/Little Sister program, girls 18-25 years old in the Gaza Strip and Beirut can choose a successful Arab businesswoman who lives either in an Arab or other foreign country as a big sister. They can consult with their big sisters by videoconference about the most important problems facing them in their educational or societal lives or even sensitive problems.

The Big Sister/Little Sister guidance program, which is the first of its kind in the Gaza Strip, was launched in Gaza in December 2016 and in Beirut in March this year. The program aims to guide Palestinian girls in Gaza, Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and Lebanese girls through key societal issues and empower them to confront the social challenges they encounter by connecting them with successful Arab women. These women play the role of Big Sister in video lectures specifically dedicated to them.

The program is part of the Challenge to Change platform, founded by Dina Bseisu, a Palestinian born in Bahrain. Bseisu is the platform’s CEO and the person behind the idea of the program. She spent 25 years in Switzerland, and she currently lives in the United Arab Emirates. The program aims to help women in the Middle East gain mental well-being and motivate them to be active members of society.

The girls targeted by the program live in marginalized areas and are the most vulnerable to psychological crises. In this context, the program looks to fight taboos that portray mental illness as a stigma. It also seeks to support and empower women to meet social and emotional challenges and instill the idea that they are not alone. The program consists of an interactive network of little and big sisters. The big sister is an Arab woman with 10 years or more of experience in her field of work and who has been through a lot of challenges. This sister must be capable of giving some of her time to her little sister and agree on a schedule with her while remaining committed to privacy and confidentiality.