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Arab Youth Strategising for the Millennium Development Goals

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Arab Youth Strategising for the Millennium Development Goals Arab Youth Strategising for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Copyright (c) 2006 By the United Nations Development Programme, Regional Bureau for Arab States (RBAS), 1 UN Plaza, New York, NY, 10017, USA All Rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form of by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prioir permission of UNDP/ RBAS. Book No.: 2006/ 13584 Inside Design & Color Separation: Sparkle Printing Solutions Printing: Al Talaie Printing House The analysis and policy recommendations of this Report do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations secretariat, UNDP, its Executive Board or Member States. The Report is the work of an independent team of authors sponsored jointly by the UN Development Programme/ Regional Bureau of Arab States and UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. The sections and background papers in this report were originally written in both Arabic and English. Therefore, discrepancies between the two reports may exist. Arab Youth Strategising for the MDGs Report Team Authors of Background Papers: Gihan Abou-zeid (Editor of the Arabic version), Ali Al-Sawi, Jocelyn DeJong, Tarek Haq, Rami Khoury, Bonnie Shepard, Joop Theunissen. The following teams worked together on the coordination and the execution of workshops as well as the editing and the finalizing of reports: UNDP/RBAS: Nada Al-Nashif, Azza Karam, Randa Jamal. UN/DESA: Emily Krasnor, Oleg Serezhin, Joop Theunissen. Special Thanks to: Rosa Ahmed, Ghaith Fariz, Jeremy King, Madi Musa, Ghia Osseiran, Noula Darwish. Translation Team: Iman Shakeeb, Sharifa Al-Kirdani. Cover Design: Hani Mahfouz. 3 Arab Youth Strategising for the MDGs Arab Youth Strategising for the MDGs Table of Contents Foreword .................................................................................................. 5 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United National Department for Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA): Amat Al-Alim Alsoswa and K.S. Jomo Executive Summary ................................................................................ 6 Introduction by the Regional Bureau for Arab States ........................ 10 Nada Al-Nashif (prepared for publication by Azza M. Karam) Introduction by the Editor of the report ............................................... 14 Those who Transform, Adapt. Gihan Abou-zeid Youth and Globalisation in the Arab World ......................................... 19 Gihan Abou-zeid Arab Youth, Globalisation, and the Media ........................................... 37 Rami Khoury Youth Employment and Labour Markets in the Arab States ............ 47 Tarek Haq (prepared for publication by Joop Theunissen) Youth and Governance ........................................................................... 53 Ali Al-Sawi Youth, Family, and Gender ................................................................... 67 Jocelyn DeJong and Bonnie Shepard Summary of Discussions and Recommendations .......................................... 93 Gihan Abou-zeid 4 Arab Youth Strategising for the MDGs Foreword No generation of young Arabs has been as large in number as today’s. The Arab region is the youngest of world regions, with youth between the ages of 15 and 24 years comprising a major percentage of its population. As their numbers grow along with their exposure to the world beyond their countries’ borders, Arab youth must be given a voice in providing the kinds of innovative solutions needed to address many of the most pressing problems facing their region. In this connection, the Regional Bureau for Arab States recognizes, together with UN DESA and our partners, that youth should be consistently consulted and engaged as a powerful force for change to target and achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Our commitment to empowering youth provided the incentive to organize three sub- regional workshops in 2005 in Bahrain, Morocco and Yemen. During these important forums, our approach entailed consultation with our own network of Country Offices, civil society organisations, government representatives and other multi-sectoral stakeholders actively working together towards youth empowerment. This report is one of the outcomes of the varied, lively and often intense discussions that ensued. Through close UNDP-DESA collaboration, talented youth from across the region were identified and invited to engage in a dialogue on the seminal issues that affect Arab youth, including globalisation, media, unemployment, governance and gender equality. In moving towards the goal of achieving the MDGs, while simultaneously addressing the region’s development deficits–knowledge, freedom and women’s empowerment–the participants eloquently put forth several practical recommendations. These included the creation of a Youth Observatory systematically to document and disseminate youth-related information and analysis, as well as to serve as a regional centre for youth advocacy and employment generation. In this light, we salute the participants of these extraordinary sessions and commend our partners - civil society organisations and governments - for their ongoing efforts to advance the status of youth. Additionally, we would like to thank the experts and authors of the papers presented at the three sub-regional workshops and published within this report. We also applaud our colleagues at UNDESA and UNDP for their tireless commitment and determined efforts to realize the workshops and finalize this report. As with all development initiatives, this report is but a drop in an ocean of ongoing work and commitment to the expressed needs of the Arab region. Towards meeting these needs, we look forward to continuing and enhancing our engagement with partners at the national, regional and international levels, to investing in human capital through innovative capacity building efforts and to realizing youth-driven development in the Arab region. Amat Al-Alim Alsoswa K.S.Jomo Assistant Secretary General Assistant Secretary-General Assistant Administrator and Regional Director United Nations Department Regional Bureau for Arab States of Economic and Social Affairs United Nations Development Programme 5 Arab Youth Strategising for the MDGs Executive Summary The Arab region is currently witnessing critical changes, affecting societies and individuals alike. Arab youth are experiencing firsthand the three deficits impeding the human development of the Arab world, namely freedom, knowledge and women’s empowerment, as delineated in the Arab Human Development Report Series. The Arab world moreover has to confront a number of accusations, most notably involvement in terrorism, where Arab youth are, by implication, also impacted. In this context, the United Nations Development Programme/ Regional Bureau for Arab States (UNDP/RBAS) and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) launched in a joint initiative three workshops in three different Arab countries to examine the conditions of Arab youth in light of the MDGs. The workshops, which were held in Bahrain, Sana’a and Rabat, focused on the impact of Globalisation on Arab youth, particularly in relation to the mass media, unemployment, governance, and gender. The thematic areas addressed in the workshops were also presented in various background papers and discussions, complemented by participants’ debates and interventions. Experiences of Arab and European youth organisations were also shared and compared. The debates and contributions made during these workshops all seemed to affirm Jeffrey Sach’s projection that “achieving the Millennium Development Goals will require a global partnership... [as] the whole world is [now] actually sharing a common destiny”. All three workshops addressed the impact of Globalisation on youth in particular and on the region as a whole. There was consensus that globalisation is a multifaceted phenomenon from which Arab countries and their youth constituencies are not isolated. Arab youth are consequently growing up exposed to a set of values that are in sharp contrast to those held by previous generations. The consequences of globalisation on Arab youth were assessed in terms of cultural, social, economic and political dynamics. It was agreed that while youth throughout the region feel the direct cultural and economic impact of Globalisation, the social and political consequences are still in the making. Participants noted that as Globalisation infiltrated the Arab World it appeared to constitute a threat to the safeguarding of Arab heritage, which reflected directly on changing youth values and customs. This process also impacts the intellectual and artistic output of youth, which, in turn, concerns the institutions of social upbringing. The latter perceive globalised culture as a direct threat to youth identity and affiliation. The significance of this ‘threat’ is inversely proportional to the levels of education and economic well-being. The workshops maintained that the cultural impact of Globalisation varies. This impact is strongly felt in larger Arab capitals in music, fashion, and rebellion against tradition. Moreover, the effects of globalisation are perceived differently in areas of high youth unemployment, or where youth occupy marginal and service-oriented jobs, wherein their concern is to meet basic daily needs. While the negative consequences of globalisation are a source of concern in the
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