News

Gallup Poll, a member of the Youth Knowledge Consortium with the Middle East Youth Initiative and other founding partners, published findings from a poll of youth from 11 Arab countries. Young people surveyed were asked about their personal hopes for a better future, their ability to meet their basic needs (food, shelter, and health), their perceptions of their physical and emotional health, and their sense of life purpose or mission. Findings point to optimism for the future and high sense of mission or purpose among youth in the region.

Despite gains in education access, young Algerians face one of the highest levels of unemployment (43%) in the Middle East. The New York Times features expert analysis by Brookings Fellows Navtej Dhillon, Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, and Tarik Yousef of the Middle East Youth Initiative in response to the latest story on “Generation Faithful,” an exclusive Times series on examining the lives of young people across the Middle East.

The Middle East Youth Initiative will host Minister Hala Bseiso Lattouf, the current Minister of Social Development in Jordan, for a discussion on youth inclusion at the Wolfensohn Center for Development at the Brookings Institution.

The National, a paper based in the UAE, has featured the Costs of Exclusion study and interviews with the author, Jad Chaaban, and Tarik Yousef, Non-Resident Fellow at Brookings and Dean of the Dubai School of Government, and Paul Dyer, Research Associate at the DSG, in a 4-part series.

Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, MEYI Fellow and Visiting Fellow at the Wolfensohn Center at Brookings, recently briefed Congressional staff on the current state of Iran's economy. Expressing a unique perspective on Iran's internal dynamics and implications for U.S. policy, he pointed out both positive indicators and continued challenges that will impact Iran's longterm prospects for growth.

"Al-Shabab Awalan" ("Youth First") is a new MEYI online series that spotlights leading civil society efforts working on youth development in the Middle East. Organizations are nominated based on their commitment to youth and their innovative approaches. The first featured organization in the "Al-Shabab Awalan" series is Najah, a Save the Children program which focuses on enhancing employability among Jordanian youth. The series showcases various multimedia, including podcasts of an interview with the team and “Point of View” articles by youth beneficiaries. Read more >>.

Dr. Tarik Yousef, Dean of the Dubai School of Government and Non-Resident Fellow at Brookings, spoke at the Doha Summit, titled “Young People and Employment in the Arab World,” organized under the leadership of Her Highness Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned.

The Youth Knowledge Consortium was announced June 2 at the Doha Summit. The Consoritium was established by Silatech, a new initiative to promote large-scale job creation, entrepreneurship and access to capital and markets for young people.

World Bank President Robert Zoellick is interviewed by the Financial Times at the World Economic Forum in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Zoellick discusses the World Bank's job creation strategy in the Middle East. He emphasizes the need for a country-specific approach, and points to the need for reform of the region's educational systems to ensure better skills match for the labor market. The interview can be viewed here.

Tarik Yousef, Dean of Dubai School of Government and Non-Resident Fellow at the Brookings Institution, appeared as a guest speaker on Al-Arabiyya's  "Panorama" program May 28 2008 to discuss the findings of "The Costs of Youth Exclusion in the Middle East," a new MEYI working paper by Jad Chaaban. A transcript of Dr. Yousef's interview is available here.