Open Hands Initiative is a 501(c)(3)

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

founded in 2009 by Jay T. Snyder. Open Hands is a

public diplomacy In international relations, public diplomacy broadly speaking, is any of the various government-sponsored efforts aimed at communicating directly with foreign publics to establish a dialogue designed to inform and influence with the aim of bui ...

organization dedicated to "improving people-to-people understanding and international friendship through exchanges and other projects that focus on our basic shared values and common humanity." Mr. Snyder established the organization following President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

's 2009 speech in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

, which talked of America's willingness to extend an open hand to the

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

world.

Programs

Open Hands Initiative is based in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, but its programs take place around the world. Programming focuses on grassroots-level exchanges for American and international youth in the fields of health equity, disability rights, media, arts and culture, and conflict resolution. It launched its first program in

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

in August 2010, focusing on exchanges in

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

and

disability Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be Cognitive disability, cognitive, Developmental disability, d ...

. In partnership with disability rights advocate Victor Pineda and Dr. Valerie Karr, Open Hands Initiative brought a group of disability youth advocates from the United States to Syria to meet with their Syrian counterparts to form the first eve
Youth Ability Summit
The Summit served as a venue to discuss the inclusion and rights of people with disabilities, as well as the United Nations

Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is an international human rights instrument, international human rights multilateral treaty, treaty of the United Nations intended to protect the rights and dignity of persons with Disabil ...

. The Summit also served as a venue to create the world's first

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

series featuring a disabled superhero with American and Syrian values. The "Silver Scorpion" comic book was created in conjunction with

Liquid Comics Liquid Comics is an India, Indian comic book publishing company, founded in 2006 as Virgin Comics LLC, which produces stories (many of which are Indian-culture related) for an international audience. The company was founded by Sir Richard Branson ...

as a way to promote tolerance and inclusion of people with disabilities. The "Silver Scorpion" comic book was subsequently distributed to schools and non-profit organizations throughout Syria, Egypt and Lebanon as part of Open Hands Initiative's Commitment to Action with the

Clinton Global Initiative The Clinton Foundation (founded in 2001 as the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation, and renamed in 2013 as the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation) is a nonprofit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. tax code. It was e ...

. In an effort to share the message of tolerance and inclusion with more youth around the world, the comic was also made into an animated series, which was aired throug
MTV Voices
Subsequent programs took place in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

in 2011 and throughout

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

(Burma) in 2013, both in cooperation with international news organization

GlobalPost GlobalPost Media Corporation is an American digital journalism company and former news website that focuses on international news. Founded on January 12, 2009 by Philip S. Balboni and Charles M. Sennott, its stated mission is "to redefine int ...

and the GroundTruth Initiative. These exchanges were aimed at promoting free expression and providing intensive media training (photo, video, and print) for emerging, young journalists and reporters:
Covering a Revolution
and
A Burmese Journey
(aka "Burma Telling Its Own Story". Special guests who attended the programs in Egypt and Myanmar include Ambassador Anne Patterson, April 6 youth leader Ahmed Maher, Nobel Laureate

Aung San Suu Kyi Aung San Suu Kyi (born 19 June 1945) is a Burmese politician, diplomat, author, and political activist. She was awarded the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize. She served as State Counsellor of Myanmar and Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Myanmar), Ministe ...

Bertil Lintner Bertil Lintner (born 1953) is a Swedish journalist, author and strategic consultant who has been writing about Asia for nearly four decades. He was formerly the Burma (Myanmar) correspondent of the now defunct ''Far Eastern Economic Review'', an ...

, and others. The resulting products of the fellowships include Special Reports fo
"Tahrir Square"
as well as fo
"A Burmese Journey"
o
GlobalPost
Additional programs include th

which took place in Amman, Jordan in collaboration with the Angel Resource Institute and Oasis500, among others. Through a collaboration with the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and the

Universidad de Antioquia The University of Antioquia (), also called UdeA, is primarily a Public university, public research, research-based university, located in the city of Medellín, Colombia. With regional campuses in Amalfi, Antioquia, Amalfi, Andes, Antioquia, An ...

, the Open Hands Initiative hosted the "Post-Conflict Colombia and Public Health" program in Boston, Medellin, and Bogota, Colombia in 2016. Sixteen medical students from Harvard and the Universidad de Antioquia participated, working together to operate a health clinic in a rural community of IDPs, and to develop white papers recommending public health policy changes to support displaced communities in Colombia. The Salaam Fellowship for Conflict Resolution & Negotiation took place in Morocco in 2019 bringing together 20 students and recent graduates active in international relations, political science, business, public health, communications, and civil society to learn about conflict mapping and management, effective communication, mediation, and other related topics.

Advisory board

* Jay T. Snyder, Founder and Chairman *

Tina Brown Christina Hambley Brown, Lady Evans (born in England on 21 November 1953), is a journalist, magazine editor, columnist, broadcaster, and author, with dual British/United States citizenship. She is the former editor in chief of '' Tatler'' (197 ...

* Barbara Pierce Bush *

Martin S. Indyk Martin Sean Indyk (July 1, 1951 – July 25, 2024) was an Australian-American diplomat and foreign relations analyst with expertise in the Middle East. Indyk was a distinguished fellow in International Diplomacy and later executive vice preside ...

* Ambassador Patrick Theros

References

External links

Official Website of the Open Hands Initiative

"Covering a Revolution" Documentary Film

"A Burmese Journey" Video Short

VII Photo Agency Burma Telling Its Own Story

{{Authority control Cultural exchange 2009 establishments in New York City