Young people in the Middle East (15–29 years old) constitute about one-third of the region’s population. Growth rates for this age group trail only sub-Saharan Africa. This presents the region with an historic opportunity to build a lasting foundation for prosperity by harnessing the full potential of its young population. Yet young people in the Middle East face severe economic and social exclusion due to substandard education, high unemployment, and poverty. Thus the inclusion of youth is the most critical development challenge facing the Middle East today.

A Generation in Waiting portrays the plight of young people, urging greater investment designed to improve the lives of this critical group. It brings together perspectives from the Maghreb to the Levant. Each chapter addresses the complex challenges facing young people in many areas of their lives: access to decent education, opportunities for quality employment, availability of housing and credit, and transitioning to marriage and family formation. This volume presents policy implications and sets an agenda for economic development, creating a more hopeful future for this and future generations in the Middle East.

Selected contributors include Ragui Assaad (University of Minnesota), Brahim Boudarbat (University of Montreal), Jad Chaaban (American University in Beirut), Nader Kabbani (Syria Trust for Development), Taher Kanaan (Jordan Center for Public Policy Research and Dialogue), Djavad Salehi-Isfahani (Wolfensohn Center for Development and Virginia Tech), and Edward Sayre (University of Southern Mississippi).

       

In 1997, Mexico launched a new incentive-based poverty reduction program to enhance the human capital of those living in extreme poverty. This book presents a case study of Progresa-Oportunidades, focusing on the main factors that have contributed to the program’s sustainability, policies that have allowed it to operate at the national level, and future challenges.

       

Extreme poverty exhausts institutions, depletes resources, weakens leadership, and ultimately contributes to rising insecurity and conflict. Just as poverty begets insecurity, however, the reverse is also true. As the destabilizing effects of conflict settle in, civil institutions are undermined and poverty proliferates. Breaking this nexus between poverty and conflict is one of the biggest challenges of the twenty-first century. The authors of this compelling book—some of the most experienced practitioners from around the world—investigate the complex and dynamic relationship between poverty and insecurity, exploring possible agents for change. They bring the latest lessons and intellectual framework to bear in an examination of African leadership, the private sector, and American foreign aid as vehicles for improving economic conditions and security. Contributors include Colin Kahl (University of Minnesota),Vinca LaFleur (Vinca LaFleur Communications), Edward Miguel (University of California, Berkeley), Jane Nelson (Harvard University and Brookings), Anthony Nyong (University of Jos and the International Development Research Centre, Nairobi), Susan Rice (Brookings), Robert Rotberg (Harvard University and the World Peace Foundation), Marc Sommers (Tufts University), Hendrik Urdal (International Peace Research Institute), and Jennifer Windsor (Freedom House).

       

On June 6, the Wolfensohn Center for Development at the Brookings Institution and Transparency International-USA hosted a discussion on Transparency International’s 2007 Global Corruption Report. The report brings together work by notable scholars, judges, and civil society activists from around the world. Panelists discussed the report’s findings, why and where corruption mars judicial processes and what can be done. Experts included: Aryeh Neier, Susan Rose-Ackerman, Eduardo Bertoni, Philip Bond, and Noel Hillman. After the program, panelists took audience questions.

       

The Wolfensohn Center for Development at the Brookings Institution, the Mortara Center for International Studies at Georgetown University and the Grassroots Business Initiative at the International Finance Corporation, hosted a panel discussion on the current challenges facing poor producers in gaining access to global markets and interventions/policies that are aimed at addressing such challenges.

       

On January 8, the Wolfensohn Center for Development hosted a discussion with Santiago Levy, former Mexican Deputy Minister of Finance, about his book Progress Against Poverty. Levy analyzed the factors contributing to the success of the program and the challenges in further implementation. Following his remarks, leading experts discussed how the program has influenced the spread of similar anti-poverty initiatives in other countries.

       

On December 4, the Wolfensohn Center for Development at Brookings and the Committee for Economic Development hosted a discussion on the importance of early child development and its impact on sustainable economic development in the developing world. Panelists discussed this critical issue and offer recommendations for how we can translate valuable lessons from science and economics into practical programming to lift millions of children out of poverty.

Panelists included Ruth Levine, vice president at the Center for Global Development; Joan Lombardi, research professor at the Public Policy Institute, Georgetown University; and Gene Sperling, director at the Center for Universal Education, Council on Foreign Relations. Senior Fellow Johannes Linn, executive director of the Wolfensohn Center, provided welcoming remarks and James Wolfensohn, former president of the World Bank and chairman and chief executive officer of Wolfensohn & Company, provided introductory remarks. Charles Kolb, president of the Committee for Economic Development, moderated the event.

       

This was the second conference in a series of international events in support of ECD in the developing world. Building on the momentum from the first ECD conference targeting European business leaders in The Hague, The Netherlands earlier this year, this event focused on fostering support from North American business leaders for ECD in the developing world.

Event Materials:

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Business panel at the conference		Joan Lombardi at the conference

       

Wolfensohn Center Senior Fellow Homi Kharas provided introductory remarks and Saban Center Fellow Kristin Lord, author of A New Millennium of Knowledge? The Arab Human Development Report on Building a Knowledge Society, Five Years On, moderated the discussion.

Transcript excerpts:

David Arnold, President, American University of Cairo

“All of these new initiatives are being supported by forward thinking Arab leaders who recognize that higher education is really key to the future of their region. These leaders recognize that the real wealth of nations will ultimately be measured not in terms of natural resources or geographic location but in the capacity of succeeding generations to meet new economic and social challenges in a rapidly changing global environment.”

Amy Hawthorne, Exeutive Director, Hollings Center for International Dialogue

“[There is] a growing interest on American campuses in becoming more international and becoming more connected to the world, and specifically to linking more to the Middle East, which is being understood as a really important region for American students and faculty to understand better.”