Washington, DC, Kuwait, UAE, Lebanon, Morocco, November 14, 2011—The American non-profit education organization AMIDEAST and the Citi Foundation—Citi's philanthropic arm—today announced the launch of the Arab Women's Entrepreneurship Project (AWEP) in four countries: Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco and the UAE.  This initiative, which will be launched in November, aims to provide 80 female entrepreneurs from underserved backgrounds with training that will help them start a new business or expand an existing one.

Professional development is key to improving and maintaining the cutting-edge skills and knowledge of professionals in their respective fields. Done in a strategic manner and over a period of time, it adds not only to the expertise of the individual trainees, but advances institutional capacity and sustainable development in critical ways.  This has been the case for the Professional Skills Training Program (PTP) in Lebanon, a 10-year, $1.7 million program implemented by AMIDEAST for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Washington, DC, and Beirut, September 20, 2011—Led by new chairman, Dr. Paul F. Boulos, AMIDEAST/Lebanon’s one-year-old advisory board of prominent Lebanese business and civic leaders met in Beirut in September to welcome six new members into its ranks and to discuss strategies to further advance business skills and entrepreneurship training in Lebanon. 

As part of the U.S.-Islamic World Forum, which met in Washington, DC, in mid April, Safwan Masri, Director of Columbia University’s Middle East Center in Amman, and Katherine Wilkens, AMIDEAST Vice President for Communications, co-chaired a Working Group on Higher Education in the Arab World. The group brought together a distinguished group of educators, specialists, and public sector officials from the United States and the Middle East to review the current state of higher education in the region and consider the key challenges facing reform today. Discussions over the three-day conference, which was held April 12–14, 2011, focused on three key challenges: Quality, Governance, and Educational Outcomes for Development.

A partnership between AMIDEAST and Bank of Beirut is helping Lebanese youth hone skills needed to enter the workforce and advance in Lebanon’s competitive job market.  Since November, AMIDEAST has joined with Bank of Beirut, one of Lebanon’s largest banks, to offer the “Successful U!” program as a way of addressing a variety of professional development needs that the country’s young adults ages 18–25 face in the early stages of their careers. 

Nada Rehan (left) from the West Bank is excited that her dreams of study in the United States are coming true.

Growing up in a refugee camp in the West Bank, Nada Rehan faced limited opportunities for higher education. The bright young Palestinian woman had excelled in her studies and stood out for her energetic leadership in youth community service activities. But “there was no way for me to go to college ... because my parents cannot afford it,” says Nada. Today, though, the high school senior is thrilled to have received an “amazing” scholarship from Mt.  Holyoke College, making her college dreams come true.

“The workshop presents a great opportunity to meet diverse people, whether fellow participants, facilitators, or guest speakers," observed Layal Roumani (far right).

“Vision is not only creativity or a dream; it is how you make that dream come true,” Lebanese entrepreneur Nadim Saikali advises aspiring entrepreneurs in a training program recently launched in Lebanon.

“I can never forget how DKSSF contributed to my success and opened for me the door of opportunity.“ — Jad El Khoury

Four bright young men and women from Egypt, Lebanon, and Tunisia are the latest beneficiaries of the Diana Kamal Scholarship Search Fund (DKSSF), an initiative that enables AMIDEAST to match highly deserving Arab youth with scholarships to pursue their education in the United States.