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First MENA Regional Breast Cancer Advocacy Conference Agenda

Download a copy of the agenda here (PDF 893 KB).

Time Session Download
October 31st
15:00 – 17:00 Registration Princess Dina’s Presentation
18:00 – 19:30 Opening Ceremony: The Power of Advocates

Keynote Speakers:
  • HRH Princess Ghida TALAL – Chairperson of the Board of Trustees, King Hussein Cancer Foundation
  • HRH Princess Dina MIRED – Honorary Chairperson, National Breast Cancer Committee
  • H.E. Dr. Salah MAWAJADEH – Minister of Health, Jordan
  • Ambassador Robert S. BEECROFT – U.S. Ambassador to Jordan
  • Hala MODDELMOG – President and CEO, Susan G. Komen for the Cure
19:30 – 20:00 Partnership Overview and Conference Expectations
  • Olivia RICCHI, Women’s Pillar, Middle East Partnership Initiative, U.S. Department of State
  • Susanna SAMET, Partnership Manager, ICF International
20:00 – 21:30 Welcome Dinner  
November 1st
9:00 – 10:30 General Session: Breast Cancer – The Comparative MENA Experience Speakers will discuss the state of breast cancer in the MENA region and what international and regional organizations are doing to help countries find ways to make economically feasible and culturally appropriate care available to women.

Keynote Speaker:
  • Dr. Benjamin ANDERSON – Chair and Director of the Breast Health Global Initiative, United States (30 minutes)

Panel Speakers (BC Survivors):
  • Dr. Samia AL-AMOUDI – Member of the High Commission on Breast Cancer, Saudi Cancer Society, Saudi Arabia (10 minutes)
  • Jamlah IREQAT – Volunteer, Patient Friends Society, Palestinian Territories (10 minutes)
  • Dr. Amira MEDIMAGH – Tunisian Association for Breast Cancer Survivors’ Support, Tunisia (10 minutes)
  • Maha AWWAD – SANAD Group, Jordan (10 minutes)

Q&A Session to be moderated (20 minutes) 		BHGI Impli 2002- MENA 2008
10:30 – 11:00 Coffee Break
11:00 – 13:00 Breakout Sessions – Round 1
  • Volunteerism in the MENA Region/Targeted Outreach
    Hope. Courage. Support. Survival. Breast cancer is a fight that is more easily faced together than alone. Volunteers, people giving their time to help others, are a critical component in the fight against breast cancer. During this session, experts from the US and the region share how they overcame challenges to successfully target specific populations and encourage and engage volunteers. Participants learn about the importance of volunteers and best practices in volunteerism. The session will include a question and answer session and activities that allow participants to network and strategize on how to develop, increase, or improve volunteerism in their areas.
  • Neel STALLINGS – Volunteer at the Charlotte, North Carolina, Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, United States (10 minutes)
  • Wahid AL-KHARUSI – Senior Consultant, National Association for Cancer Awareness, Oman (10 minutes)
  • Rula AL-SAFFAR – Head of the Cancer Support Group, Salmaniya Medical Complex; Bahrain Nursing Society, Bahrain (10 minutes)
  • Cause-Related Marketing and Private Sector Involvement
    Cause-related marketing is a powerful tool that private sector and nonprofit organizations are increasingly leveraging to support locally based charitable causes in a way that also promotes business. In this session, participants will discuss the ways the private sector has helped the breast cancer and health awareness movement, and how the private sector helps leverage your work. What role does workplace awareness play in helping support your organization’s breast cancer awareness and outreach messages? What does “corporate social responsibility” mean in your community? Are there ways in which cultural standards of contributing to the community can be leveraged to bring businesses around to the idea of incorporating social responsibility into good business practices? A panel of representatives from the region and the US will discuss examples, including “Making It Our Business,” an innovative breast cancer workplace awareness program, followed by a question and answer session.
  • Rebecca GIBSON – Marketing Communications Team Manager, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, United States (10 minutes)
  • Dr. Ayesha AL-MUTAWA – Vice President, Center for Healthcare Planning and Quality, UAE (10 minutes)
  • Shireen ZAMAN – Senior Program Officer, Vital Voices, United States (10 minutes)
  • Health Communications Strategies and Health Education
    Health education provides a critical foundation for helping people and communities improve the quality of their lives. In this session, participants will explore models and approaches for developing, disseminating, and evaluating breast cancer education messages and materials. Regardless of the approach used, a critical step is to identify the needs, values, and concerns of your audience. What kind of information is important to gather? What do you need to learn about your audience in order to develop effective messages? What social and cultural barriers must be addressed in your messaging? Another key step is developing and delivering appropriate materials. What types of materials are most effective? How can you best distribute your materials to have the most impact? Finally, how do you measure the success of your breast cancer health education initiative? Why is it critical to have baseline data to inform your strategies? How can materials from one initiative be repurposed for future communication and education efforts? Panelists will present models, best practices, and lessons learned around health communication strategies and education. They will share concrete stories that illustrate how their approaches have delivered successful results in their communities. Participants should come away from the session with an understanding of how various approaches to health education can be adapted to their own environments.
  • Susan BROWN – Director of Health Education, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, United States (10 minutes)
  • Dr. Jalaa TAHER – Senior Program Manager, Global Initiative for Breast Cancer Awareness, Health Authority Abu Dhabi, UAE (10 minutes)
  • Dr. Mohamed SHAALAN – Director, Breast Cancer Foundation of Egypt, Egypt (10 minutes)
  • Networking for Advocacy – Working Locally and Expanding Regionally
    Networking is a key element of advocacy to spread awareness and enable individuals to take more responsibility and control for the decisions that affect their lives and health. Advocacy efforts can originate from grassroots elements or from the top down. In this session, a panel of experts from the US and the region will share examples of breast cancer advocacy programs that have started locally and spread regionally, and engage in a dialogue about the challenges they faced and how they achieved success in growing their programs. Participants will discuss techniques for building networks. How do you identify networking opportunities that promote the key advocacy issues of your organization? How can you take advantage of other organizations working on similar or related issues, and what are the common benefits? How can groups avoid duplicating efforts and leverage the resources each individual group has? Participants will learn about best practices for establishing an advocacy program and strategies for expanding their own networks.
  • Annetta HEWKO, Vice-President, International, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, United States (10 minutes)
  • Salma JAOUNI – Director, Jordan Breast Cancer Program, Jordan (10 minutes)
  • Dr. Sawsan JAFFAR – Founder and Member of the Board of Trustees, Friends of Cancer Patients, UAE (10 minutes)
13:00 – 14:00 Lunch  
14:00 – 15:30 Breakouts Resume  
15:30 – 16:00 Coffee Break  
16:00 – 17:00 Daily Wrap-Up and Breakout Session Reports  
17:00 – 18:30 Poster Session by Country/Organization to highlight local successes and share best practices Format: Reception and open walkthrough  
20:00 – 22:00 Dinner (Tannoureen Restaurant – Outside Hotel)  
November 2nd
9:00 – 10:30 General Session: The Role of Research in Effective Outreach

This session is aimed at not just understanding breast cancer-related research but the role of community assessments and information generally in improving outreach and awareness. How can it help get out the message and strengthen the network of activists? How well does your organization understand and use statistics and research as a platform for well-informed and strategic advocacy? Speakers will discuss community and baseline assessment tools, how they can be implemented, and what the information collected can be used for in terms of program planning and development.
  • Catherine OLIVEROS – Community Health Manager, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, United States
  • Carol JABARI – Executive Director, Patient Friends Society and Consultant, Baseline Assessment of Breast Cancer in West Bank and Gaza, Jerusalem
  • Marilys CORBEX – Consultant, USAID Baseline Assessment of Breast Cancer Awareness and Treatment, Egypt
10:30 – 11:00 Coffee Break
11:00 – 13:00 Breakout Sessions – Round 2 (Participants will switch to a new session)
  • Volunteerism in the MENA Region/Targeted Outreach
    Hope. Courage. Support. Survival. Breast cancer is a fight that is more easily faced together than alone. Volunteers, people giving their time to help others, are a critical component in the fight against breast cancer. During this session, experts from the US and the region share how they overcame challenges to successfully target specific populations and encourage and engage volunteers. Participants learn about the importance of volunteers and best practices in volunteerism. The session will include a question and answer session and activities that allow participants to network and strategize on how to develop, increase, or improve volunteerism in their areas.
  • Neel STALLINGS – Volunteer at the Charlotte, North Carolina, Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, United States (10 minutes)
  • Fatemah AL-QARZAY – Qassim Program Manager and Saudi Master Trainer, Saudi Arabia (10 minutes)
  • Sameera AL-SYOOF – Queen Zein Al-Sharf Institute for Development, Jordan (10 minutes)

  • Cause-Related Marketing and Private Sector Involvement
    Cause-related marketing is a powerful tool that private sector and nonprofit organizations are increasingly leveraging to support locally based charitable causes in a way that also promotes business. In this session, participants will discuss the ways the private sector has helped the breast cancer and health awareness movement, and how the private sector helps leverage your work. What role does workplace awareness play in helping support your organization’s breast cancer awareness and outreach messages? What does “corporate social responsibility” mean in your community? Are there ways in which cultural standards of contributing to the community can be leveraged to bring businesses around to the idea of incorporating social responsibility into good business practices? A panel of representatives from the region and the US will discuss examples, including “Making It Our Business,” an innovative breast cancer workplace awareness program, followed by a question and answer session.
  • Rebecca GIBSON – Marketing Communications Team Manager, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, United States (10 minutes)
  • Shireen ZAMAN – Senior Program Officer, Vital Voices, United States (10 minutes)
  • Sammy TUFFAHA – Business Development Director, JAVNA, Jordan (10 minutes)

  • Health Communications Strategies and Health Education
    Health education provides a critical foundation for helping people and communities improve the quality of their lives. In this session, participants will explore models and approaches for developing, disseminating, and evaluating breast cancer education messages and materials. Regardless of the approach used, a critical step is to identify the needs, values, and concerns of your audience. What kind of information is important to gather? What do you need to learn about your audience in order to develop effective messages? What social and cultural barriers must be addressed in your messaging? Another key step is developing and delivering appropriate materials. What types of materials are most effective? How can you best distribute your materials to have the most impact? Finally, how do you measure the success of your breast cancer health education initiative? Why is it critical to have baseline data to inform your strategies? How can materials from one initiative be repurposed for future communication and education efforts? Panelists will present models, best practices, and lessons learned around health communication strategies and education. They will share concrete stories that illustrate how their approaches have delivered successful results in their communities. Participants should come away from the session with an understanding of how various approaches to health education can be adapted to their own environments.
  • Susan BROWN – Director of Health Education, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, United States (10 minutes)
  • Maria BENNANI – International Cooperation Manager, Lalla Salma Association Against Cancer, Morocco (10 minutes)
  • May Majdalani – Psychotherapist, Faire Face, Lebanon (10 minutes)

  • Networking for Advocacy – Working Locally and Expanding Regionally
    Networking is a key element of advocacy to spread awareness and enable individuals to take more responsibility and control for the decisions that affect their lives and health. Advocacy efforts can originate from grassroots elements or from the top down. In this session, a panel of experts from the US and the region will share examples of breast cancer advocacy programs that have started locally and spread regionally, and engage in a dialogue about the challenges they faced and how they achieved success in growing their programs. Participants will discuss techniques for building networks. How do you identify networking opportunities that promote the key advocacy issues of your organization? How can you take advantage of other organizations working on similar or related issues, and what are the common benefits? How can groups avoid duplicating efforts and leverage the resources each group has? Participants will learn about best practices for establishing an advocacy program and strategies for expanding their own networks.
  • Annetta HEWKO, Vice-President, International, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, United States (10 minutes)
  • Salma JAOUNI – Director, Jordan Breast Cancer Program, Jordan (10 minutes)
  • Dr. Riccardo MASETTI – Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Founder and President of Italian Affiliate, Italy (10 minutes)
13:00 – 14:00 Lunch  
14:00 – 15:30 Breakouts Resume
15:30 – 16:00 Coffee Break
16:00 – 17:00 Daily Wrap-Up and Breakout Session Reports
17:00 – 17:30 Closing Plenary Session, Announcement of Regional Community Advocacy Grants Competition, and Launch of Partnership Website