AMMAN — Young people around the region can be a force for greater good or instability, and they need proper education and employment opportunities to assume their role as instigators of development, according to the head of a US NGO.

In a little over a year, the Arab Women's Entrepreneurship Project (AWEP) — an AMIDEAST partnership with Citi Foundation to expand opportunities for entrepreneurship training for women in the Arab world — completed a first round of training and recently launched a second one. In all, nearly 150 women from six countries — Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, the UAE, Egypt and Jordan — are participating in these initial efforts, which are being implemented with generous support from Citi Foundation.

The effects of gender inequality are pronounced among the poor who live in marginalized communities of Cairo — some not far from AMIDEAST's offices in the center of the city. Young women in these neighborhoods find it difficult to overcome longstanding social and economic barriers in order to benefit from the access to education, jobs, and other resources that large cities typically offer.

Responding to renewed interest in the future of Tunisia's higher education system following the country's revolution, AMIDEAST was pleased to cohost a symposium on the future of Tunisian-U.S. institutional cooperation in higher education. Held in Tunis on Nov. 7-8, 2012, the two-day event also explored core issues of higher education reform.

On January 13, 2013, AMIDEAST/Oman opened its doors in a new facility located in the Airports Heights/Ghala section of Muscat. The large, modern facility will better enable AMIDEAST to serve the country's growing need for a broad range of educational and training services.

The new purpose-built space features an EducationUSA library, Cisco Entrepreneur Institute facilities, a variety of classrooms and meeting spaces, two computer labs including one certified by U.S. testing company Educational Testing Services for administration of the Internet-based TOEFL exam, and a student lounge.

Some American students may have thought twice about travel and study in the Middle East or North Africa when the Arab Spring began sweeping across the region in 2011.  One year later, enrollments in AMIDEAST’s study abroad programs are up across the board, especially in Egypt, Jordan, and Morocco, as young Americans seek out in-region opportunities to hone Arabic language skills and improve their understanding of the region’s dynamics.

Since fall 2010, AMIDEAST’s new advisory board in Lebanon has enabled AMIDEAST to expand its offerings of scholarships and other opportunities for youth in Lebanon. In June, AMIDEAST’s office for the West Bank and Gaza became the second field office to adopt this community-based approach to strengthening its ability to respond to local needs.

In June, AMIDEAST formally inaugurated a new headquarters building for its operations in Jordan. The new facility, located in the fast-growing area of Wadi Abdoun, between East and West Amman, offers a modern, high-tech learning environment that will serve the country’s growing need for a broad range of educational and training services. 

Eight Deserving Students Win Scholarships for U.S. Study;
Four DKSSF Scholars Graduate.
 

AMIDEAST is pleased to announce that eight outstanding young men and women have received full scholarships covering their undergraduate studies through the Diana Kamal Scholarship Search Fund (DKSSF), an AMIDEAST initiative that seeks to open doors to educational opportunity by matching highly qualified, deserving Arab students with scholarships from U.S. institutions.  Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Concordia, Grinnell, and Wilson Colleges, and Adelphi, Harvard, and Vanderbilt Universities awarded the scholarships to the four men and four women, who come from Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia, and the West Bank.