Building Leadership Skills in Algeria With Online Webinars

“In mid-march, I noticed that this issue is not something to quickly be over, so we have to somehow deal with it.” 

Feeling the panic and uncertainty from the COVID-19 pandemic, Professional Fellow Alumna Kamelia Hammachi saw this as an opportunity to provide beneficial resources for young adults living in her community in Algeria. 

As a Kaizen Academy leader, Lean Management Consultant, and challenge-oriented individual at heart, Kamelia was motivated to coach those in need of professional and personal improvement skills. 

Her first action in response to the pandemic was to write an article titled “It Will Be Okay,” a piece that emphasized the importance of positive attitude in times of crisis. Also aware of the lack of popularity in Algeria for online platforms such as LinkedIn, Kamelia started to post videos and articles on LinkedIn in the Algerian dialect in order to reach a wider audience. 

Moved by the positive feedback and demand for learning fundamental skills from her community, Kamelia transitioned to free inclusive zoom webinars. In addition to covering topics of leadership in times of crisis, Kamelia focused on many other topics including self-discipline, problem-solving, time and stress management, and innovation for young entrepreneurs. Her reach was predominately towards young adults beginning higher education, but she is capable of transitioning her training models to fit varying age groups. The good feedback she received from participants of her webinars sparked excitement because she could see how her students saw the opportunities for learning in their community and began requesting new topics for future sessions.

Since the start of her project, Kamelia has hosted 17 total webinars and has reached over 120 enterprises.

Her approach to successful webinars was built by learning from other professional webinars and revising them to fit her audiences needs. Her recommendations for those interested in starting webinars are:

• Focus the content around the person receiving the information.
• Keep the sessions light in order to keep attention.
• Use more visuals and less text.
• Include questions to provide a dynamic environment.
• Add a “road map” or outline of the events to be discussed at the beginning of the session.

Kamelia is a U.S. Certified Instructor in Leadership and Positive Influence, and Six Sigma Master Black Belt & Quality management systems professional. You can find videos, articles, and additional resources on her LinkedIn.

Ms. Hammachi participated in the Fall 2019 Professional Fellows Program in Economic Empowerment. As part of the program she was placed in a four week fellowship with Innovazing in Washington, DC.

The Professional Fellows Program is sponsored by the United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs with funding provided by the U.S. Government and administered by Legacy International.