Youth & Knowledge

With an estimated 20 percent of the region’s population between the ages of 15 and 24 years of age and facing challenges of unemployment and lack of political engagement, the Open Society Institute Middle East & North Africa Initiative sees youth as critical demographic to engage in helping to build open societies. The initiative looks to support activities from early education to youth development with the broader aim of making young people more engaged, knowledgeable, and productive.

In conjunction with Open Society Institute programs such as the Youth Initiative and local groups, the Middle East & North Africa Initiative supports activities that foster public discourse and cooperation among youth by involving them in new media, debate clubs, and youth networking.

In the field of education, the initiative supports effective advocacy strategies for policies relating to childhood development and education standards, working in collaboration with the Open Society Institute Early Childhood, International Higher Education Support, and Scholarship programs. It also supports educational development for academics, students, and professionals through fellowships and scholarship opportunities. The Middle East & North Africa Initiative aims to support opportunities for professionals and academics such as graduate scholarships as well as short term fellowships and internships.

Together with the Early Childhood Program, the initiative has supported Al-Tufula in Nazareth and its quality program for preschool children. In Northern Israel, Al-Ahali Center for Community Development received support to engage parents in the education of their children. In Lebanon, the Open Society Institute supports Assabil, an association of public libraries that are community-based yet open to all, in particular to young children and teenagers across all sectarian divides.