Zaina Erhaim is an award-winning Syrian journalist, working as Communication Manager with the Institute of War and Peace Reporting (IWPR). Zaina received the first Anita Augspurg ‘Rebels Against War’ Prize by WILPF, was named journalist of the year by Reporters Without Boarders in 2015, and named as one of the 100 Most Powerful Arab Women according to Arabian Business and the Unsung Heroes of 2016 by Reuters Thomson.

She has been working with the IWPR for the last 7 years, trained over 100 media activists on journalism basics in Syria and made a series of short films entitled Syria Rebellious Women (2016) and Syria diaries (2017) narrated by Syrian women. Zaina has contributed to three books: Our Women on the Ground (2019), Journalism in Times of War (2018) and Arab Women Voice New Realities (2017), and taught Conflict Sensitive Mobile Journalism at Bremen Art University in Germany. For the last 3 years she has been running a social media campaign to break the stereotyping of the Syrian women, highlight their role(s) and the gender-based discriminations they face. Before IWPR, Zaina worked for the BBC. She writes for a variety of outlets including; The Guardian, The Economist, Middle East Eye, and Alhayat, Al Quds Al Arabi.

Participant in: December 2019 Fellowship: Peacebuilding and Women’s Meaningful Participation in Peacebuilding Processes