Our Story
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Our story began in 2017 when HH Sheikha Intisar AlSabah learned that no mental health support was being offered to Arab women affected by war and violence.
Intisar Foundation is a private initiative born from her desire to find and implement the most effective psychological approach for alleviating trauma in these Arab women and helping them rebuild their lives in the shortest amount of time.
Intisar Foundation is the first charitable organisation that utilizes drama therapy with an aim to effect a long-term and systemic social change across the Arab world by truly enabling the psychological recovery and self-empowerment of Arab women traumatised by war and violence.
Since psychological support for women is an area that is greatly overlooked in the humanitarian sector, our bottom-up approach to providing psychological support to female survivors of war and violence, which is more closely aligned to the real needs on the ground, has been hailed as an innovation in the field of Peacebuilding.
A message from our founder
“Learning that no psychological support was being offered to Arab women affected by war and violence has ignited a sense of profound responsibility in me to provide them mental health tools to emerge victorious from their trauma.
In adopting a healing combination of theatre and psychology, Intisar Foundation has developed a path-breaking solution to rescuing these women from the clutches of unresolved trauma. Furthermore, drama therapy has showed us how to empower them to realise many personal and social changes.
Today, a testament to our long-term commitment to ensuring and sustaining psychological improvement for the most vulnerable Arab women is our initiative to heal #OneMillionArabWomen For Peace from the psychological trauma of war and violence by 2050.
In support of our main mission, we also encourage excellence in the drama therapy education and research and development fields in the Arab world. We aim to foster a generation of female Arab drama therapists, while the rising scientific activity of our local drama therapists and researchers, who are familiar with the language and nuances of Arab culture, is expected significantly to contribute to the field of drama therapy in the region and worldwide.
I believe that our ambitious reforms, undertaken by Arab women for Arab women, are intrinsic to building a Peaceful future for the Arab world.”
Founder and Chairwoman
Intisar Foundation
Our Victorious Logo
Our logo stands for the victory of Arab women… and does so with impact!
The Intisar Foundation logo and name – Intisar means ‘victory’ in Arabic – convey our commitment to transforming Arab women traumatised by war and violence into the most victorious versions of themselves “and Agents of Peace”.
Our logo entails a story of drama therapy setting forth our woman on a journey of rebuilding her life – from being bent under a heavy burden of ill health, fear, self-doubt, internalised shame, and a limited outlook on life, our woman starts standing tall, speaking with a confident voice, and acting with courage to bring her family, community, and country back to a dignified life.
Meet the Team
HH Sheikha Intisar AlSabah
The Founder
Ms. Karima Anbar
CEO and Board Member
H.E. Christian Nakhlé
International Advisor & Board Member
Mrs. Karma Ekmekji
Advisor & Board Member
Mr. Philip Stoltzfus
Advisor & Board Member
Mr. Rabih El Chaer
Advisor & Board Member
Dr. Lina Kriedie
Senior Researcher and Member of the Technical Committee
Farah Wardani
Drama Therapist (RDT)
Ghalya Saab
Drama Therapist
Myriam Saade
Drama Therapist
Hilda Saab
Project Lead
Suzanne Wehbe
Program Manager & Researcher in Lebanon
Paola Moutran
Communications Officer & Graphic Designer
Sara Sakhi
Research Consultant
Meet the partners
For more than a month, we are witnessing how international humanitarian law fails to protect Palestinian mothers and children.
Day after day, we have been lamenting and denouncing new acts of violence that brought injustice and the bemoaning loss of innocent lives in Gaza.
And yet, Palestinians in Gaza still face new perils with every next hour.
In writing this letter to the world as a demand for action to end this suffering, I join millions of others who have condemned the continued Israeli aggression and call for an immediate ceasefire.
We at Intisar Foundation also invite you to join us in working on preventing this trauma to linger and gnaw through another generation of Palestinians, and Arabs in general.
The mission of Intisar Foundation is to bring Peace to the Arab world through the psychological recovery of Arab women traumatised by war and violence, which can result in the women stopping the continued cycle of violence inflicted on or by them.
In this way, our work helps Arab homes traumatised by violence become more Peaceful again.
The ripple effect of this outcome can be that Peace flowcharts from one Arab home to another, from one Arab community to another, reaching and affecting our whole region.
In its very essence, therefore, Intisar Foundation’s work has always been about breaking the chains of trans-generational trauma.
While I salute people around the world confronting this injustice – from the world’s best universities, influencers, civil society activists and organisations, to ordinary people taking to streets and social media to raise their voices for Peace – I am now certain that we will not resolve the Palestinian crisis only with ceasefires, humanitarian aid, or rebuilding their homes and neighbourhoods.
We need to recover and protect the souls of current and future generations of Palestinians, and all Arabs, from this trauma.
To that end, Intisar Foundation is committed to turning this terrible man-made tragedy into a healing woman-led victory for Palestine, for humanity!
Intisar AlSabah