Sawsan Abou Zainedin is the Chief Executive Officer of Madaniya, a Syrian-led and funded initiative that brings together over 200 Syrian civil society organizations. Independent of political and foreign influence, Madaniya works to reclaim the political agency of Syria's civic space. Sawsan is an architect and urban development planner by training. Her professional background spans a decade in the development sector and employs a multidisciplinary approach to addressing the manifestations of the Syrian conflict through research and practice.