Congrès Mondial des Études sur le Moyen-Orient et l'Afrique du Nord

Barcelone, du 19 au 24 Juillet 2010

· NOT_DEFINED institution: Voices for a Democratic Egypt , Washington (USA)

· NOT_DEFINED organizer: Maria Dayton

· NOT_DEFINED language: English

· NOT_DEFINED description: By 2012, there will be nearly half a billion citizens under the age of 35 in the Middle East and North Africa. Despite making up anywhere from 30-60% of the region’s population, systemic under-employment as well as social and economic alienation threaten to turn the MENA region’s greatest asset into its biggest concern. Youth unemployment currently hovers at 25 percent, and reaches as high as 61 percent in Syria and 81 percent in the UAE. These staggering figures make the need for vocational training and innovative employment options imperative. However, in order to foster innovation and entrepreneurial spirit among youth in the Middle East and North Africa, program development must be focused on breaking the cycles of institutionalized learning practices and re-orientated towards achieving employment goals in a globalized world. Educated and technologically savvy, today’s young people in the Middle East are sharing and uploading video, music, photos, news updates and more. Despite the efforts of the region’s authoritarian governments to control the public space, thousands of young journalists, bloggers, filmmakers and musicians are producing content daily with limited exposure to international audiences. As a result, new media in the Middle East remains an untapped market opportunity. As rising costs force traditional news organizations to scale back operations, covering events that shape the global landscape become an ever more difficult task. However, these gaps can fill by combining the power of new media with the innovative and courageous spirit of struggling Middle Eastern youth. The objective of this roundtable is to explore the alienation of Middle Eastern youth as well as the opportunities for empowerment that “new media” can provide. The assembled group will include representatives from advocacy organizations, academics, and media professionals. Discussion will center around the role of new media in political advocacy and civil society development, including the impact of public-private partnerships on regional youth.

Chair: Maria Dayton (Voices for a Democratic Egypt), “Civil Society Empowerment: The Role of New Media in the Middle East”

Presenter: Jonathan Giesen (Transterra Media Inc.), “The Importance of Media Partnerships in Youth Engagement and Employment”

Presenter: Negar Razavi (Education for Employment Foundation), “Youth Exclusion, Identity and New Media in the MENA region”
This paper will examine how youth identity from across the MENA region are being affected by access to new media tools, which expose youth to new ideas and values around the world, while allowing them to express themselves in ways that are not always available in their society.

Presenter: Dina Guirguis (Research Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy), "Breaking the Fear Barrier through the Utilization of New Media in the Middle East".

Presenter: Sherif Mansour (Freedom House), "New Media and Middle Eastern Youth: Opportunities, Challenges,and Limitations of Social Networking for Political Advocacy"