News

The Middle East Youth Initiative and Silatech have released a new report: "Social Entrepreneurship in the Middle East: Toward Sustainable Development for the Next Generation."

Ehaab Abdou, advisor to the Middle East Youth Initiative and leader of the Initiative's current social entrepreneurship research project, addressed the 3rd World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists (WCMP) in Doha on March 22.

Writing as US Vice President Joe Biden visits the Middle East, Ragui Assaad and Samantha Constant analyze employment prospects for young people in both the United States and the Middle East, with a special focus on Egypt.

On February 23, the Middle East Youth Initiative and the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Initiative at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government convened a group of over 40 policy makers, international donors, private sector and civil society leaders to discuss the state of social entrepreneurship and corporate social engagement in the Middle East.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton chaired a town hall meeting with students at Dar Al Hekma College in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on February 16, where she discussed the importance of education, community service, and the participation of women and girls in society.

Paul Dyer, Fellow at the Dubai School of Government, participated in an expert panel at the Education and the Requirements of the GCC Labour Market conference, held from February 1 to 3 and organized by the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR).

On January 23 and 24, The Syria Trust for Development under the patronage of H.E. Mrs. Asma al-Assad convened the country's first ever forum to exchange experiences in international development and discuss the particular development issues and challenges facing Syria and the region.

On January 15, the Middle East Youth Initiative and the New America Foundation hosted a discussion to analyze the prospects for young people growing up in the Palestinian territories, where nearly three-quarters of the population is under the age of 29.

International attention has turned to Yemen and its fight against terrorism. Middle East Youth Initiative research points to the country's more deep-rooted challenges: including natural resource scarcities, persistently high fertility rates, and poor economic prospects for youth aged 15 to 29, who comprise 30 percent of the population.

Samantha Constant, Associate Director of the Middle East Youth Initiative, participated in a private panel convened by the International Labor Affairs Bureau at the U.S. Department of Labor on December 18 titled "Transforming the Youth Bulge into a Worker Bulge."