Young Saudi women take charge of T20’s digital demands

T20 connects and collaborates with think tanks

A trio of young Saudi women have taken charge of the digital demands of the G20’s “ideas bank” by leading its content creation and social media.

Think 20 (T20), which was established in 2012, is considered the G20’s policy recommendation engagement group that is responsible for connecting and collaborating with regional and international think tanks.

Saudi Arabia holds the 2020 G20 presidency, and the T20 has led events and webinars throughout the year that address pressing issues such as cybersecurity, climate change and the coronavirus pandemic.

Lama Yaseen, Linah Alhamdan, and Nourah Alhosain were selected to handle communications for the T20, and their lack of experience in digital content creation did not prove to be a problem.

The researchers, from the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC), took charge of the T20 website and social media platforms to create a link between the people working behind the scenes and the group’s global audience, as well as gaining knowledge and skills along the way. Yaseen, who moved from Jeddah six years ago, is a research associate and software developer at KAPSARC. She is also a part-time software engineering student. Alhamdan, a senior research analyst, works with KAPSARC’s Energy Information Management team as a data analyst and a web developer. She joined the team in August, at the height of preparations for the summit, to lend an extra hand.

Alhosain joined KAPSARC in 2017 with a background in computer science.

The three women teamed up to help with the technical parts of communication and social media. Cian Mulligan, a senior research associate at the center, was communications lead.

The team provides content for the website and across social media in both English and Arabic to ensure wider audience reach, a task that proved a little difficult given none of them were used to working in translation. However, as time went on, they embraced the challenges and found themselves enjoying the process.

The T20 summit is set to take place between Oct. 31 and Nov. 1. Key policy recommendations will be presented for the upcoming G20 Leaders’ Summit next month in Riyadh on Nov. 21-22.