Jordan Times
Thursday, February 3, 2005
Knowledge exchange programme
marks first YAL move in Jordan
This programme will help achieve YAL's objective to create the necessary
environment for promoting future
leadership in the region — Ghawi
By Rami Abdelrahman
AMMAN — Young Arab Leaders (YAL) launched its first programme in Jordan on
Wednesday by inviting two employees from the Ministry of Information and
Communications Technology (MoICT) for a course to be taught by Harvard
University faculty at the Dubai School of Government.
According to Habib Ghawi, a Jordanian businessman in the YAL's executive
committee, the invitation for the course was presented to ICT Minister Nadia
Saeed who is another YAL member.
“This programme will help achieve YAL's objective to create the necessary
environment for promoting future leadership in different sectors of the region,”
Ghawi said during a joint press conference with Saeed.”
“This is the first step in which Dubai's successful experience with e-government
and its cooperation with John F. Kennedy School of Government is being extended
to benefit other Arab states such as Jordan,” he added. “We will also present
seats for the course to the heads of e-government initiatives in other Arab
countries.”
Nabil Yousuf, executive director of the school, indicated in a YAL press release
that the e-government executive education programme is designed for “high-level
decision-makers” from around the region such as ministers, deputy ministers, and
director generals who are leading e-government initiatives in their countries.
The YAL is an independent pan-Arab organisation which aims at creating the
necessary environment for future leaders to grow and develop in the region. It
announced its action plan during the World Economic Forum (WEF) at Dead Sea
Jordan 2004.
According to YAL Chairman Mohammad Gargawi from Dubai, the action plan aims to
build pride in Arab heritage, rebuild confidence in its ability to achieve
goals, motivate youth to work diligently towards achievements and engage in
specific YAL programmes offering Arab role models for youth.
Noting that 60 per cent of the Arab population is under 20, he indicated that
more than 80 million employment opportunities will be needed by 2020 to keep
regional growth at its current pace.
“A comprehensive study on the contribution of different factors to any society's
growth and development has revealed that 64 per cent could be attributed to
human capital factors, and less than 16 per cent could be attributed to physical
infrastructure factors,” said Gargawi, noting that YAL is meant to help find
solutions to this problem.
The process of identifying young Arab leaders has already begun across the
Middle East, according to the WEF. However, the plan is to identify emerging
leaders from all walks of life who are currently under the age of 43.
Ghawi told the press on Wednesday that what YAL is doing now is helping
successful public and private sector top-level employees improve their
experience to become the next Arab idols and leaders.