|
Doha: Qatar launched an initiative to tackle youth unemployment in the Arab world, investing $100 million in research and programmes designed to tackle one of the region's thorniest problems.
Silatech, the body that will co-ordinate the initiative, the brainchild of the Emir of Qatar's wife Shaikha Mouza Bint Nasser Al Misnad, wants to tackle the social marginalisation created by unemployment and a lack of economic opportunities for all in the Arab world. A quarter of the region's youth is out of work.
Joseph Saba, the director of the World Bank's regional strategic co-operation unit, said the initiative - which unites governments, the private sector and non-governmental organisations - is unique in the way it seeks to join together efforts in educational reform, research and training. "It is the network approach through partnerships that offers a different approach," he said. "I think we can make a major advance in the nexus between the labour market and education."
The initiative aims to accelerate education reforms, making curriculums and teaching methods more relevant to the private sector's needs, and grapple with motivational issues that see many young Arabs opt for the job security of the public sector.
Buy-in ideas
"We have to be realistic - the issue is to institute fully fledged change, to move the dynamic and get buy-in to ideas unknown before," said Nada Al Nashif, regional director of the International Labour Organisation, a founding partner of Silatech.
Nashif says the economic growth across the region forged by high oil prices is a boon but not enough liquidity is being reinvested in its people. The World Bank plans to build a consortium of international and regional banks willing to provide the financial backbone for Silatech's initiatives, which include a scheme to provide credit and other products to young entrepreneurs.
Standard Chartered Bank is one of the partners in talks with Silatech about helping broaden credit lines to youth in the region. Tom Aaker, the Qatar chief executive for the emerging markets bank, said it was keen to participate as long as others could help lenders mitigate some of the credit risk involved.
Silatech will urge regional exchanges to set up junior stock markets attached to the Doha Securities Market, mirroring London's Alternative Investment Market, to develop small and medium- sized enterprises.
|
