Empowering Youth to Achieve the SDGs in the Arab Region

The Arab region has witnessed marked socioeconomic improvements, despite having been subject to persistent poverty, unemployment and armed conflicts. According to the UN, a current challenge is presented by the unprecedented ‘youth bulge,’ which is a term used to describe how the proportion of Arab youth (aged 15-24 years) is increasing significantly in comparison to other age groups. Recent unrest in the region has presented a compelling rationale for governments to bring youth issues firmly into the focus of the national agenda. Policymakers have increasingly recognised the need to formulate national youth policies and action plans, aimed not only at fostering youth human capital development, but also at providing them with the necessary opportunities to reach their full potential in education (SDG 4), health (SDG 3), employment (SDG 8) as well as peaceful coexistence in their public life (SDG 10,11,16).

This webinar will discuss how various organizations are creating an enabling environment and strengthening the capacity of youth to access and utilise knowledge. What is the role of youth in:

ensuring evidence-based youth-related policies and strategies?
designing youth-led programmes and initiatives?
exploring innovative ways for youth engagement and contribution to the SDGs?

The representative of Arab Foundation Forum, and the Youth Coalition, which is the first of its kind in the Arab Region, will present how their initiatives are bringing together like-minded Arab foundations working in the youth development and employment space to collaborate on the identification, expansion, and potential funding of successful and impactful youth employment programs.

The representative of Search for Common Ground in Tunisia will present their recent project called “I am the President” .This project empowers youth to become future leaders and politicians, as well as fosters the values of common citizenship and peaceful coexistence.

The representative of the World Organization of the Scout Movement in the Arab Region will present how Scouts initiatives support and affect the SDGs, such as combatting poverty, and promoting empowerment, equality and education.

تمكين الشباب من تحقيق أهداف التنمية المستدامة في المنطقة العربية

في الآونة الأخيرة، وعلى الرغم من تعرض المنطقة العربية إلى نزاعات مسلحة وما نتج عنها من تحديات اقتصادية واجتماعية، إلا أنه هناك تحسن ملحوظ في تعزيز دور الشباب والشابات على حدٍ سواء للمساهمة في تجاوز التحديات المذكورة أعلاه وتحقيق أهداف التنمية المستدامة. وفقًا للأمم المتحدة، إن التحدي الحالي في المنطقة العربية يكمن في "تضخم شريحة الشباب"، وهو مصطلح يستخدم لوصف كيفية زيادة نسبة شريحة الشباب (الذين تتراوح أعمارهم بين 15 و 24 عامًا) بشكل ملحوظ مقارنة بالفئات العمرية الأخرى.

وعليه، قدمت الاضطرابات السياسية والإجتماعية في المنطقة العربية مبررًا للحكومات وصناع السياسات لوضع قضايا الشباب في صلب جدول أعمالهم الوطني. حيث أدرك صناع السياسات الحاجة الماسة إلى صياغة سياسات وخطط عمل وطنية لتعزيز دور الشباب على المستوى الوطني والإقليمي، بالإضافة إلى تزويدهم بالفرص اللازمة للوصول إلى إمكاناتهم الكاملة في تحقيق أهداف التنمية المستدامة في التعليم (SDG 4) والصحة(SDG 3) ، والتوظيف (SDG 8)وكذلك سبل تعزيز التعايش السلمي (SDG 10،11،16).)

تناقش هذه الجلسة الإلكترونية سبل تعزيز قدرات شريحة الشباب المعرفية والعملية من أجل تحقيق أهداف التنمية المستدامة، و كيف تعمل مختلف المنظمات المعنية على إيجاد بيئة مواتية لتعزز قدرة الشباب على الوصول إلى المعرفة والاستفادة منها.

محاور النقاش:

السياسات والاستراتيجيات المتعلقة بالشباب القائمة على الأدلة العينية

تصميم برامج ومبادرات يقودها الشباب

عرض طرق مبتكرة لإشراك الشباب وتمكين مساهمتهم في تحقيق أهداف التنمية المستدامة

ستقدم ممثلة منتدى المؤسسة العربية ، وائتلاف الشباب ، وهو الأول من نوعه في المنطقة العربية ، كيف تجمع مبادراتهم بين المؤسسات العربية المتشابهة التفكير التي تعمل في مجال تنمية الشباب والتوظيف للتعاون في تحديد والتوسع والتمويل المحتمل لبرامج تشغيل لشباب الناجحة والمؤثرة.

;(Search for Common Ground) و تقدم المتحدثة عن منظمة

في تونس مشروعه الأخير تحت عنوان "أنا الرئيس" ، والذي يمكّن الشباب من أن يصبحوا قادة وسياسيين مستقبليين ، بالإضافة إلى تعزيز قيم المواطنة المشتركة والتعايش السلمي.

كما ستعرض ممثلة المنظمة العالمية للحركة الكشفية في المنطقة العربية كيف تدعم مبادرات الكشافة وتؤثر على أهداف التنمية المستدامة ، مثل مكافحة الفقر ، وتعزيز التمكين والمساواة والتعليم.

SPEAKERS

Khadija Maalej

Khadija Maalej, is a Tunisian activist who advocates for Media for Social Change. She is managing projects with BBC Media Action North Africa. She managed recently a Search For Common Ground’s project “I Am the President”, the first reality TV show in Tunisia of Media for Social Change. Khadija is a Tunisian national activist who has over ten years of experience in the fields of International development and peacekeeping. She is a Search-Certified Common Ground Approach trainer and has facilitated a variety of Trainings and Workshops in the past. She is also an International Facilitator at MistOst-Theodor Heuss Kolleg in Germany and she is considered as a Robert Bosch Stiftung Alumna. Khadija, previously worked on NGO development and project coordination and management at the Institute for War and Peace Reporting - IWPR, the International Institute of Debate - IIDebate and The Tunisian Association for Management and Social Stability - TAMSS. Khadija holds a master’s degree in Communications and Public Relations from the University of Sfax.

Shadin Alhamaideh

Mrs. Alhamaideh is an expert in institutional development, strategic planning, and monitoring and evaluation, currently serves as a Senior Business advisor with Pragma Corporation in the Yemen Economic Stabilization and Success Program- YESS. She is also the Network and Relationships Director at the Arab Foundations Forum, an association that brings together foundations to foster dialogue and collaboration opportunities amongst the network in order to bolster the capacity and efficacy of strategic philanthropy in the Arab region.

Mrs. Alhamaideh also served as the Quality Management Division Director at Jordan River Foundation for four years (2015-2018) , an NGO founded and chaired by HRM Queen Rania, focusing on Child Safety, Community Empowerment, including women, and Youth Development around Jordan since 1995.

Before joining JRF, for nine years (2006 – 2015), Mrs. Alhamaideh was the Development Unit Director at INJAZ in Jordan, an NGO that works on youth empowerment, leadership, and entrepreneurship.

Prior to INJAZ (2004 – 2006), Ms. Alhamaideh was a Part-time Teacher and a Story Board Writer at several schools and firms that work on creating, developing and digitalizing e-learning curricula and provide solutions and multimedia content that launches new e-learning standards throughout the world.

Prior to the above (2001-2004), Mrs. Alhamaideh worked in the shipping, transportation and logistics industry, with one of the world’s biggest companies, Aramex, where she developed and coordinated some shipping solutions, online and e-commerce services in Jordan and around the world.

Mrs. Alhamaideh is a fellow in Vital Voices Lead Program from Washington DC, and the Leaders for Democracy Fellowship Program affiliated with Syracuse University in New York. She is the contact person with the Higher Population Council for the Demographic Opportunity Project, a member in the Career Guidance Committee of the E-TVET Council Secretariat, in addition to being a Certified Trainer and Education for Employment Foundation-EFE.

Mrs. Alhamaideh has graduated from NYIT on the Dean’s List and with distinction, in addition to being a Certified Life Coach from CCF- Washington-DC, has a publication jointly launched under the name “Revolution by Love” in 2013, and she also volunteers and is a consultant with several NGOs and with audio and video dubbing agencies for educational and children entertainment projects.

Samar Qad

Samar Qadi is an Urban Planning Engineer, with the Bachelor Degree from An-Najah National University. She was an Erasmus student at De Lille University, France for one semester. She is part of Girl Scout in the Palestinian Sadaqa Group, and was a Palestine Special representative in "Dialogue for Peace Conference" in Cairo. She participated in the global dialogue online conference, participated in the "SDG’s Workshops", participated in the scout’s camps, debates, has been a trainer "TOT", broadcaster, social activists and member of many volunteer organizations, have different work experiences in PATEL and marketing.