A Date with the Queen...and our musings on education and employment

When I first found out I was moving to Jordan, one of my initial thoughts was "What will I wear??" Yes, I really do turn my mind to the critical issues early on. I began googling frantically and came across a recommendation that for business attire, if I modeled myself on what Queen Rania wears, I would be dressing perfectly for the context. So I googled Queen Rania, expecting to see pictures of a woman dressed something like this....

but instead was delighted to find that Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah dresses like this:

I immediately developed a girl crush...and a Queen Rania cyberstalking habit. This was well fueled by her website, facebook page, twitter account, flicker account, you tube account and many many pages dedicated to her adoration. Her facebook 'About' blurb reads: "A mother; a wife; a boss; an advocate; a humanitarian; a queen". It was love....and my mind was made up, we were moving to Jordan! 

Thus, it was with great excitement that I received and accepted an invitation to attend an event launching "Education for Employment: Realising Arab Youth Potential" under the patronage of Queen Rania. Yes, the Queen herself would be there! I wondered if I would get to meet her, and pondered whether I would give her a little curtsey before engaging in a fabulous conversation on all topics profound before she invited me back to the palace so we could be besties from that day on. Perhaps even a little wardrobe swapping would be in order? 

April 13 came around before I knew it, and I donned my best work frock and arrived at the event venue which was buzzing with anticipation. Videoconference hook ups to Washington DC, Cairo and Rabat were organised for the event. I sat fourth row from the front (I didn't want to appear too eager), asked my colleagues about appropriate royal etiquette and then let out an audible sigh/squeal as Queen Rania entered the room (flanked by a row of 3 bodyguards in front - not OTT given she is a Queen and all). Here you can see a picture of us on our date. Queen Rania is the one with the incandescent glow in the large red oval and I'm the one that could (easily) be mistaken for a background blurry anonymous face in the crowd in the (much) smaller red oval (just in case you were wondering who was who).

And yes, that is the closest I got to her during the whole event, and yes, I was supremely satiated and impressed. Her speech was excellent, and an inspiring call for action during this critical time in the Middle East. 

So what were our (respective) musings on education and employment?

To provide you with the context, here is a pithy little video which launched the event and the important Education for Employment initiative:

A quick summary of the situation:

• The Middle East suffers from the highest youth unemployment in the world, currently recorded at over 25 percent, with North Africa reporting approximately 24 percent. Female youth unemployment is even higher, reaching and exceeding 30 percent across the Arab world.
• The economic loss of youth unemployment exceeds US$ 40 – 50 billion annually across the Arab world, equivalent to the GDP of countries like Tunisia or Lebanon.
• The large number of youth in the Arab world will continue to add pressure on the labor market over the coming years – approximately a third of the total population is currently below the age of 15, and a further third is aged 15-29, ie 66% of the region is under 30. In consequence, tens of millions of young people will enter the region’s work force over the next ten years needing to find jobs either at home or through regional labor mobility.
• Surveyed private employers said that only one third of new graduate employees are ready for the workplace when hired, a much lower rate than employers in other regions. Consequently, more than half of all employers provide substantial training for their new hires, to ensure work readiness. 
• Only a third of surveyed youth believe their education prepared them adequately for the job market, and they express strong doubts about both program quality and relevance. 
• Interestingly, over one third of surveyed youth say they would be willing to pay for their education, if this were to lead to better job prospects.

They are the facts. But I think the story of Mohamed Bouazizi personifies these facts best and illustrates the desperate situation. Last December, Mohamed wheeled his barrow of fruit and veges out of his home at 8am to sell his wares. He had borrowed the money the night before to purchase the produce and hoped to make a small profit which was to support his mother, uncle and six sisters, including one sister who was attending university. Bouazizi had not finished high school, but hoped one day he could. With his uncle sick, he was the only bread winner of the family and street vending was his only opportunity to earn an income.   Just after 10:30am, Bouazizi was harassed by police officers for not having a permit to sell his produce, although officially no permit was required to sell from his cart. Bouazizi was regularly harassed to pay a bribe, but on December 17, 2010, he decided to say no. Bouazizi was then publicly humiliated when a municipal official slapped him in the face, spat at him, confiscated his electronic weighing scales, and tossed aside his produce cart and beat him. Bouazizi, angered by the confrontation, went to the governor's office to complain. Following the governor's refusal to see or listen to him, he acquired a can of gasoline and, at 11:30 am local time (less than an hour after the altercation), he doused himself in front of a local government building and set himself alight. 

Bouazizi's actions resonated with youth not only in Tunisia, but across the Arab world, who are frustrated with their corrupt governments and the lack of educational and economic opportunities. This frustration has culminated in demonstrations, revolts and revolutions across the Arab world.  With dictators that have been in power for decades overthrown, (or currently in the process thereof), youth are now looking not only for change to government but for education and employment opportunities so they can play an active role in developing the private sector and their countries.   


Many of the Arab countries have been blessed with vast reserves of oil and natural gas that became the dominant engines of the economic change over the past century. That, of course, is the good news. The bad news is that oil and natural gas still constitute the commercial foundation of much of the Arab world...and it will run out. Don't get me started on the peak oil issue and the need for alternative renewable energies - that is perhaps for another blog post. The point I'm making here is that attempts to achieve economic diversity beyond oil and natural gas in the Middle East have failed. Bankrupt Dubai stands (as a half built) testament to this. 

Education4employment is an initiative of the Islamic Development Bank and IFC, the private sector development arm of the World Bank Group, under the patronage of Queen Rania. 


This initiative simply could not come at a better time. 

In the words of Queen Rania:


I understand that when you work hard in school and pass your exams and go to university or learn a trade… you should have a fair chance of securing a decent job…one which interests you, challenges you, provides you with a good standard of living, and leaves you with a sense of fulfillment. That is not an unreasonable desire. That is a respectable dream.

But for too many young people in the Arab world today, it is a pipe dream…because when they graduate, their CVs read something like this:
Curriculum…outdated
Teaching methods…obsolete
Careers advice…negligible
Internships…patchy
Entrepreneurial training…fledgling
Soft skills…under-valued
Vocational experience…stigmatized

A CV like that doesn’t compete in global markets; it doesn’t secure executive jobs; and it doesn’t command high salaries.

It leads to an uncertain future. And the young people of the Arab world deserve better than that.

They deserve better than that because they didn’t create this problem; no one sector did. But, now, we need all sectors to solve it.

We need a new regional paradigm. And thanks to E4E, we have one.

E4E calls for collective action, joint responsibility, and shared progress.

From Damascus to Doha…Beirut to Bahrain… Amman to Algeria, E4E urges us to up our game and work together. 

Governments must create an enabling environment for the private sector.

The private sector must bridge gaps between schools and job markets.

Schools must increase the quality of education they provide.

Civil society institutions must expand training opportunities.

And youth must explore new avenues to gain experience: entrepreneurial, voluntary, vocational. Anything that’s going to rewrite that résumé with catchwords which resonate with employers. Words like: ‘critical thinking’, ‘competitive spirit’, ‘problem solver’, ‘entrepreneurial’, ‘innovative’…

Because at the end of the day, this isn’t the CV of one young person; it’s not the CV of a generation of young people; it’s the CV of the entire Arab world…and it determines all of our futures. That’s why we need to get it right, now.

If you would like to learn more about e4e, go to the website:

http://www.e4earabyouth.com