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Al-Shabab Awalan: SHABAB Project, The Syria Trust for Development

Al-Shabab Awalan ("Youth First") is an 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.

Source: SHABAB Project, 2008

The second featured initiative in the Al-Shabab Awalan series is the SHABAB Project, an initiative of the Syria Trust for Development that aims to encourage entrepreneurship, knowledge and awareness of the business world among young people in Syria.

Please use the navigation to the right to read about the SHABAB Project and to hear firsthand about its programs from Radwan Wetti, a Middle East Youth Initiative Youth Ambassador and Program Manager with the SHABAB Project.

 

The Syria Trust for Development: The SHABAB Project was founded in 2005 as an initiative of the Syria Trust for Development. The Syria Trust is a non-profit organization led by First Lady Asma al-Assad to provide people and communities throughout Syria with the tools, skills, confidence and opportunity to take charge of their lives and benefit society. The Trust focuses on a few key areas of social development: education and learning, rural development, and culture & heritage. The SHABAB Project is the flagship initiative of the Syria Trust’s education and learning component. The other central projects of the Trust are the Fund for Integrated Rural Development of Syria (FIRDOS) and Massar, which inspires cultural awareness among young Syrians under the age of 15.


The SHABAB Project: The objectives of the SHABAB Project are to:

  • Boost entrepreneurship amongst young Syrians
  • Encourage young Syrians to enter the business world
  • Equip young Syrians with the key skills needed in order to succeed as productive individuals in society
  • Create a positive impression of business amongst Syrian society
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    Source: Radwan Wetti, SHABAB Project, 2008
"Up until now, a high percentage of Syrian youth [have] believed that the public sector is the employer of choice, due to job security and sustainability. Nevertheless, some of the young men and women in Syria are starting to see the glamour of the private sector, and the various benefits...whether it be financial to start with, maybe other skills they can gain, or the image they can get working for a corporation. But still, some of them are public sector oriented...We are making some progress, but it is a cultural issue, especially [since] the private sector did not take shape until a decade ago..."

 

Radwan Wetti, Program Manager, SHABAB Project

The SHABAB Project was established to help a generation meet the new demands of Syria’s labor market. The first program to be piloted by SHABAB was the “Business Awareness Program,” which brings volunteers from the business world to share their knowledge and expertise with secondary school students over the course of a two-day program. The program is based on partnerships with businesses that provide not only financial support, but also donate their time and knowledge to the program.

SHABAB now conducts five programs (the others are described below) and now has over 41,000 direct beneficiaries nationwide. SHABAB partners with the government, the private sector and civil society in order to implement its programs at a local level. Programs have been implemented programs in Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, Lattakia, Deir al-Zour, Rural Damascus and Quneitra.

In addition to the Business Awareness program, SHABAB conducts five other programs targeting 15 to 29 year olds:

  • Business Experience program: This program places young people (15 to 18 years old) in a real business environment, giving them the chance to experience the business world from a first-hand perspective while further developing key, career-building skills.
  • Know About Business program: The “Know About Business” program is comprised of a set of training materials to boost the entrepreneurial skills of young people and teach them how to start their own businesses. The program was adopted as an official part of Syrian school curricula and is now delivered by trained teachers in vocational schools and intermediate institutes, with a more sophisticated version at universities.
  • Business SHABAB program: The Business SHABAB program is “an audio and visual extravaganza” aimed at convincing young people of the possibility of starting their own business. The program engages with young people through music, sound bites, and innovative media tools.
  • Business Clinic program: This program offers young people primarily aged between 18 and 24 the opportunity to discuss their future career with an advisor. For those seeking employment, it provides them with job-searching skills whilst for those that are more entrepreneurial, it offers guidance on how to start a business.

Continue reading about SHABAB >>

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