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A Strategic Net Assessment of Northwestern Syria

The Lodestar, Episode 25

Sasha Ghosh-Siminoff is the Executive Director and co-founder of People Demand Change Inc, a socially responsible aid and development startup that focuses on monitoring and evaluation of humanitarian aid and development programing, supporting the capacity of nascent civil society organizations and providing long-term aid and development solutions in the MENA region, including work in Syria, Libya, Yemen, Iraq, Lebanon, Turkey, and Tunisia. The former Executive Director at the Syrian Emergency Task Force and a journalist with Congressional Quarterly, Mr. Ghosh-Siminoff was living in Syria and attending an immersion Arabic program at Aleppo University when the Syrian revolution broke out in early 2011 and had the unique opportunity to experience Syrian society right before, at the beginning and then immediately after the commencement of the revolution. Before Syria, Mr. Ghosh-Siminoff worked on and completed a Masters degree of Middle East Studies at the University of Exeter, UK and conducted fieldwork in Israel and in the Palestinian Occupied Territories of the West Bank. Mr. Ghosh-Siminoff has been a guest analyst discussing Syria and its wider implications for the MENA region on a number of international media outlets and has also published several articles on the topic. Mr. Ghosh-Siminoff also has provided his expertise on the subject of Syria to various international institutions and governments, including the US Government, the Government of Canada, The Government of the Federal Republic of Germany and various think tanks based in Washington DC. Mr. Ghosh-Siminoff currently works with an extensive network of activists, local technocrats, civil society activists, academics and analysts from across the Middle East and maintains and particularly plugged-in network within Syria, Iraq and Libya, and has continuously advocated on behalf of nascent civil society operating in the MENA and on behalf of those affected by the Syrian conflict overall.

The views expressed in this podcast are those of the guests and not an official policy or position of the Newlines Institute.

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