By Ahmed El Assal, Meta Bilgrav Bodenhagen and Shekhar Anand For growth to be inclusive, decent work must be equally accessible to women and men. The Youth Participation and Employment (YPE) program has been trying to meet this objective by addressing factors of inequality. Youth Participation and Employment (YPE) programme, implemented by Oxfam IBIS, in the framework of the Arab …
Ten lessons in promoting inclusive entrepreneurship program
by Ahmed Elassal and Shekhar Anand Most countries in the MENA region continue to marginalize the most vulnerable adolescents and youth, particularly young women, poor, refugees or people with disabilities, impacting their ability to realize their full potential (UNICEF). Young entrepreneurs find it extremely difficult to run their micro enterprises, small businesses, and start-ups in the same manner as they were doing …
Increasing Participation & Creating Inclusive Employment Opportunities for Youth
by Ahmed Elassal and Shekhar Anand Oxfam’s Youth Participation and Employment (YPE) Program supported by the Danish Arab Partnership Program (DAPP) works with a wide range of partners in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia. The program developed interesting interventions for youth employment responding to the context, needs and factors such as skill levels of entrepreneurs, educational and geographic background, extent of exposure …
Ready to adapt: resilient women entrepreneurs in the pandemic
UN Women estimates that during the first month of the pandemic, informal workers lost an average of 60 percent of their income: with losses as high as 81% in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. In low-income countries pre-pandemic, just one in four businesses were owned by women, and their access to financial products and services was often limited – even though …
Lessons in innovative financing for creating employment in the Middle East and North Africa
Background Emerging market economies face a significant credit gap and access to finance is considered the biggest obstacle for enterprises. Banks have been the traditional source of funding, but the financial crisis has led banks to be even more reluctant, which is creating an active debate about the importance of broadening the range of funding options available beyond banks. Such …
Using technology to enhance youth employment in the Middle East and North Africa
Challenges in context According to an Oxfam report, half a billion people could be pushed into poverty by COVID-19. The International Labour Organisation (ILO), warned that the crisis is expected to wipe out 6.7% of working hours globally in the second quarter of 2020. The situation has directly hit the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region. Export, travel, transportation …
Ten lessons on entrepreneurship and job creation in the MENA region
Job creation in the MENA Region, the context and challenges The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region face unemployment as a common challenge. The youth population is growing but the jobs are not being created at the same pace. Economic growth rates have declined, leading to a lack of employment opportunities sought by a rapidly expanding labour force. Globally, the …
Making markets work in fragile settings
Oxfam OPT’s Economic Justice team shares four lessons learned from their market system development (MSD) work with small-scale farmers in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian Territory affects 4.8 million Palestinians, nearly a quarter of whom live below the poverty line. Among other threats, at least 1.9 million Palestinians experience – or are at risk of …
6 lessons on building resilience for displaced people in the Middle East and North Africa
Jude Powell and Shekhar Anand share the lessons learnt from Oxfam in the Middle East and North Africa on building the resilience for displaced people in the region. By the end of 2017 over 68 million men, women and children had been forcibly displaced from their homes through conflict, violence and persecution. The protracted armed conflicts in the Middle East …
Influencing for food security in the South Caucasus
What strategies can be used to raise the voices of smallholder farmers so that food security policies reflect their needs? Shekhar Anand and Jacky Repila share learning from Oxfam’s national influencing work in the South Caucasus. Small holder farmers are some of the people most vulnerable to food insecurity in the South Casucasus. In Georgia 63 per cent of all …