Economic Empowerment of Arab Youth
We live in an accelerating and changing world, and political and economic crises start in our Arab world and do not end at the borders of the five continents that are common among the peoples of the world. As a result of these crises, there is insomnia affecting all governments of the world in order to confront the youth unemployment crisis. While the ways and means of treatment vary from one country to another, in our Arab world, the means to support youth are still limited, if we largely exclude the oil-rich Arab countries with high financial surpluses.
Because the role of youth in the advancement of society and active participation in various fields of knowledge, production and creativity cannot be neglected, the Union of Arab Chambers, in cooperation with its international partners, led by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization - UNIDO, It keeps pace with the aspirations, hopes and ambitions of Arab youth, through its support for entrepreneurs through the “Arab Rally” competition, which was held in its second edition within the activities of the International Conference on Entrepreneurship and Investment, coinciding with the last week of the “Expo Dubai 2020” activities. This is part of the Union's visions that aim to build bridges of knowledge, communication and networking at the local, regional and international levels.
Youth have an important role in reform plans and development processes that need a clear methodology of thinking, but development needs a clear vision open to the world that is in communication and interaction with other enlightening visions. We also need to establish a culture of work and affirm the role of a positive and responsible mindset in dealing with the challenges of reality.
In the context of talking about empowering youth, it is necessary to move from a culture of consumption to production, re-integrate work and wealth, and focus on policies, not politics. In this regard, the participation of youth in economic development efforts is a key factor in the success of this endeavor, given that economic empowerment enhances youth participation in the decision-making process. However, this requires stimulating laws and legislations in each Arab country separately, provided that they are integrated and socially coherent within the framework of strategies to directly integrate youth into the economy, attention to creating job opportunities for young people, establishing listening platforms for young people, and ensuring adequate funding for the economic empowerment of young people. This is in addition to the increase in the number of young people who earn income from programs, employment, special programs, self-employment and empowerment, and an increase in the diversity of young people’s ownership of companies in the sectors of the economy in order to increase job opportunities, supporting the culture of entrepreneurship, commercial administrative capabilities and technical talents for young people, increasing savings and investment among young people, and encouraging them to establish cooperative institutions, highlighting youth-owned businesses, removing barriers that prevent them from starting and developing their own businesses, facilitating access to markets, financing, and non-financial support for youth businesses.
In fact, the main strategies and objectives of the youth economic empowerment policy cannot be separated from the policies specific to the sectors of society, so that empowerment is consistent with the general objectives of social justice policies and consistent with the covenants that guarantee the public interest and achieve human dignity. In light of the spread of extremism, alienation and marginalization phenomena, it is necessary to encourage the involvement of young people in society instead of isolationism, and to provide opportunities to participate in decision-making in human activities. Hence, the Arab countries must use the resources to enhance the participation of the creative youth energies in building the future.
In conclusion, the mounting unemployment problems in the Arab world pose a challenge that requires quick and advance planning to face its future repercussions. Hence, it is necessary to build social, educational and qualifying bases for the participation of young people, care for creators, and train the workforce and candidates for the labor market, empowering Arab youth through a culture of positive change in the pattern of thinking and dealing with global developments while preserving social and cultural assets in order to ensure the collective identity and its effectiveness in the culture of production and citizenship.
