News

On November 30, MEYI advisor Ehaab Abdou spoke to an audience at Harvard University's Dubai Initiative, a joint venture between the Dubai School of Government and Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, about his experience as a leading social innovator in the Middle East as well as his new research with the Middle East Youth Initiative.

On November 15, MEYI scholar Djavad Salehi-Isfahani delivered a presentation on human capital development in the Middle East at the 3rd annual Harvard Arab Weekend. The conference covered a wide range of themes of relevance to the Arab world today, including: social media, international trade and development, energy and sustainability, and entrepreneurship.

Through consultations rch on the ground, MEYI is working to better understand the state of social entrepreneurship and social investment in the Middle East. Under the leadership of Ehaab Abdou, MEYI has led a series of diverse focus groups in Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan to survey the existing landscape for social entrepreneurs and investors and identify the key opportunities and challenges they face.

The Dubai School of Government and the Wolfensohn Center for Development at Brookings hosted a panel discussion on November 9 on the occasion of the release of their new edited book, Generation in Waiting: The Unfulfilled Promise of Young People in the Middle East (Brookings Institution Press, 2009), illuminating the complex issues facing Middle Eastern youth.

On October 1, Tarik Yousef delivered remarks at the 6th UNESCO Youth Forum in Paris during the plenary session: "Investing out of the crisis: towards a partnership between UNESCO and youth organizations.”

Middle East Youth Initiative advisor Ehaab Abdou joined a group of social entrepreneurs from the Arab region and other experts on a panel titled "Social Entrepreneurship: Putting Powerful Ideas to Work" at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business on September 24.

The Middle East Youth Initiative speaks to Jad Chaaban about how the region's economies can begin to reorient toward new models based on sustainable growth. Recent booms and busts in commodity, real estate and credit markets have overshadowed the serious environmental and natural resource challenges facing the region.

Navtej Dhillon departed the Middle East Youth Initiative on September 21, 2009 to become senior advisor on international development at the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

On September 17, Tarik Yousef led a seminar at the University of Southern California (USC) School of Policy, Planning, and Development on the forthcoming Middle East Youth Initiative volume Generation in Waiting: The Unfulfilled Promise of Young People in the Middle East (Brookings Institution Press, 2009).

The theme for International Youth Day this year is "Sustainability: Our Challenge. Our Future." International Youth Day is held on August 12 every year. It was endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1999 to promote awareness of the World Programme of Action for Youth (WPAY), a policy framework and practical guidelines for national action and international support to improve the situation of young people around the world.