Preparing Youth for the Future

With the generous support of donors and sponsors, we created hope, opportunity, and understanding in 2022 for thousands of direct beneficiaries in 12 MENA countries and the United States.

  • 1,950 participants in scholarship & exchange programs

  • 19,000 beneficiaries of youth empowerment initiatives

  • 40,000 trainees in English language and professional skills programs

  • 100,000 recipients of U.S. study information & guidance

  • 140,000 computer-, paper-, and internet-based tests administered

Message from the Chair and President

We are pleased to present our annual report for 2022. Its theme—Preparing Youth for the Future—captures how your support has enabled us to invest in the MENA region’s most precious resource, its youth, through our work in six strategic areas: serving under-resourced and marginalized individuals and communities, promoting gender equity, developing 21st-century skills vitally important to global problem-solving, advancing cross-cultural competencies, strengthening the region’s workforce, and enhancing the capacity of institutions to meet the needs of communities they serve.

As the world confronts conflict, war, economic disparity, the ravages of climate change and other challenges, the MENA region continues to face a future that provides both challenges and opportunities. Our work as a training and development organization is taking on new imperatives such as expanding knowledge access, supporting the emerging power of small and medium enterprises, harnessing rapidly changing technology, embracing the imperative of innovation in education and the workplace, and engaging in the digital economy.

We are maximizing the impact of your support by empowering the next generation with the knowledge and skills to realize a better future. By sharing our belief in the power of education, training, and innovation, you are creating hope, opportunity and understanding. We are deeply grateful to you.

Greta C. Holtz
The Honorable
Greta C. Holtz
President and CEO
The Honorable
Deborah K. Jones
Chair, Board of Directors
Deborah Jones
More than 4,000 underserved teenagers developed English language and other skills that will expand their educational and career opportunities.

Serving Under-Resourced and Marginalized Communities

In 2022, we provided programs that offered access to life-changing opportunities for education and training to the MENA region’s most vulnerable communities. We advanced quality-of-life prospects for refugees in Jordan and Egypt by providing English language training, academic skills preparation, and STEM programming. We continued to facilitate the participation of individuals with disabilities in educational and cultural exchange programs and in the workforce; in Egypt, the disability centers we helped establish at public universities furthered equitable access to higher education for students with disabilities, and our tailored professional training programs advanced the job prospects of university graduates. Finally, our scholarship programs enabled bright, underserved students from across the Middle East and North Africa to pursue higher education in the United States.

Learn how our 2022 programs made a difference in the lives of 7,000 underserved individuals and communities.

Special programs enhanced the educational and career potential of 1,550 women and girls.

Promoting Female Equity and Empowerment

Female labor participation rates in the Middle East and North Africa are among the world's lowest. Even as the educational attainment of the region’s women has risen, their unemployment rates remain high: stubbornly so for those with tertiary degrees despite their valued knowledge and skills. In 2022, we prioritized training for women in employability, entrepreneurship, and leadership skills, and we provided guidance and mentoring designed to increase women’s capacity to make their own decisions and assert a positive impact on their communities. Recognizing that the path to career success begins early in life, we provided girls with opportunities that sparked innovation and creativity, promoted increased self-confidence, and strengthened their ability to become agents of change in their communities.

Learn how our 2022 programs helped 1,550 women and girls enhance their education and career potential.

Nearly 1,200 young learners benefited from Amideast's STEM programs.

Developing 21st-Century Skills for Global Citizenship

Today’s increasingly interconnected world requires the development of strategic thinkers who are aware of the challenges facing their communities and have the critical skills needed to develop equitable and sustainable solutions to these challenges. In 2022, we offered myriad pathways for youth in the MENA region to become effective global citizens. Enrollments in our English programs for young learners increased, and we expanded our programming designed to help young learners develop STEM skills—analytical and critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity, and effective communication. An important dimension of our work was to demonstrate the importance of equitable and sustainable global solutions through advocacy, such as at COP27, the global climate change conference in Cairo.

Learn how our 2022 programs put 21,600 youth on the path to becoming global citizens.

Nearly 120,000 MENA and American youth developed valuable cross-cultural competencies.

Advancing Cross-Cultural Competencies

An increasingly globalized world values attributes such as cross-cultural understanding, open-mindedness, empathy, and the ability to appreciate diversity through engaging with others. In addition to providing avenues for language training and academic study, our programs helped prepare young Americans and their MENA counterparts by nurturing cross-cultural partnerships and knowledge exchange, fostering shared experiences that overcome cultural boundaries, cultivating open communication and appreciation for cultural differences, and challenging biases that often preclude authentic cross-cultural understanding.

Learn how our 2022 programs advanced the cross-cultural competencies of nearly 120,000 women and men.

More than 100,000 MENA youth advanced their employment and career prospects.

Strengthening the Region’s Workforce

Education and training are key to the MENA region’s ability to take advantage of its most valuable resource: its large youth population. In 2022, our programs focused on empowering youth economically through employment readiness and entrepreneurship training. We enabled young women and men to advance their proficiency in workplace English, develop an entrepreneurial mindset, and improve their readiness to join/rejoin the job market and take advantage of the increased regional need for bilingual workers as the MENA economy becomes more integrated into the global economy.

Learn how we contributed to the development of a regional workforce in 2022.

With our support, Egypt expanded equitable access to higher education for students with disabilities.

Enhancing Institutional Capacity

Amideast helps public and private institutions in the MENA region build their capacity to meet the needs of their constituencies. In Egypt, through the U.S.-Egypt Higher Education Initiative, we supported the establishment of disability centers at 20 Egyptian universities, thereby advancing Egypt’s goal of ensuring equal access to higher education for individuals with disabilities. In Yemen, we enhanced the ability of civil society organizations to promote peace and local reconciliation initiatives and ultimately strengthen the communities they serve as they struggle to recover from conflict.

Learn more about how we enhanced institutional capacity in Egypt and Yemen in 2022.