Academic Network for Development Dialogue (ANDD) Paper Series

Tackling Youth Unemployment in GCC Region: Reaching Beyond National Barriers*

Tahniyath Fatima — 2024-03-24

This study delves into the multifaceted issue of youth unemployment in the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), where it is nearly twice as high as the average unemployment rate in the region. Given that, a significant proportion of the population in these countries comprises of youth; this problem poses a significant obstacle to the development of a knowledge-based economy. Furthermore, the lack of youth participation in the labor market has become a pressing issue, thwarting national and United Nations’ sustainable development goals (SDG) related to decent work which strives to ensure workers are getting fair treatment and pay. The study reveals that youth in the GCC are underutilized, with they being five times more likely to be unemployed compared to adults. The problem is particularly acute among females. This paper outlines the limitations of nationalization policies aimed at increasing youth labor participation and provides policy recommendations that take into account the diverse perspectives of different stakeholders and the varying situations in different countries.

Nanotechnology Use in Water Purification for Sustainable Development of Middle East

Ahmed Abu Hilal — 2024-03-24

Growing world population and increasing demands have put considerable pressure on natural resources and the environment. As a result of this situation, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been established to safeguard rights and ensure that everyone's fundamental needs are met by 2030. It is one of the goals of the program to ensure that clean water and sanitation are accessible to all. In this review, we focus on the water crisis in the Middle East, a region with limited water resources and a growing population. The use of nanotechnology as a transformative solution for water purification and sanitation is proposed in this paper. In addition to addressing the water challenges in the Middle East, this technology can also contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals' vision of providing universal, affordable, and sustainable access to clean water.

Facilitating Policy Innovation in the Middle East

Iain Gately — 2024-03-24

There is a need to ensure the effective transfer and diffusion of successful policy innovations that facilitate sustainable development in the Middle East region. However, to date there has been limited research on policy innovation in the Middle East region through theories such as policy diffusion, with most studies focused on North America and Western Europe. The following short essay represents an attempt to highlight this shortfall, stimulate discussion on what key factors could facilitate policy innovation in the Middle East, and promote further studies to address this imbalance. This is a theoretical study that primarily examines three theories that address the spread of policy innovation between governments: policy diffusion, policy laboratories, and borrowing strength. These theories are applied to different factors that influence policy innovation (geographic proximity, political ideology, culture, and networks and individuals) considered within the context of the Middle East to assess their relevance and applicability. Based on the application of these theories and key factors, the essay proposes three novel hypotheses for policy innovation, which are linked to the different factors. Each hypothesis identifies an area where it is expected that policy innovation would occur, if the theories hold true in a Middle Eastern Context. The essay contains an accompanying call to test these hypotheses within the region. It is expected that further studies in this area will be able to both test and build on the proposed hypotheses to determine the applicability of current (Western) theories to explain policy innovation in the Middle East and move towards a more comprehensive and targeted theory of policy in this region.

The Sustainable Micro-Landscape Urban Building Gardens: Case of Factory 4376, Sama Beirut and Tamlis–Tarik Jdideh

Rana El Khatib Abou Ghaida — 2024-03-24

This paper tackles the sustainable micro-landscape urban building gardens, and aims to explore innovative planning and green design approaches, thus finding solutions to the depletion of green spaces in Beirut. This study is conducted on three buildings located within Beirut city, each having a different architectural typology. The first is Factory 4376 located in Sin EL Fil, the second is Sama Beirut located in Achrafieh, and the third Al Tamlis – Tarik Jdideh. Each building is either residential, commercial or both; and each is surrounded by different socio-economic neighborhoods. This study adopts a comparative methodology; it relies on detailed analysis of maps and aerial photographs, obtained from one of the local municipalities, as well as interviews with residents in the investigated areas, surveys, pictures, and similar case studies. Three solutions were suggested for the locations stated above:

First solution: the implantation of a metallic structure on an old building that forms an extension to preexisting balconies.
Second solution: the integration of the green sliding balconies on buildings with glass façades.
Third solution: the integration of prefabricated modules to buildings with no balconies.

The paper concludes that green technologies, if integrated in the context of sustainability, can make a great difference, even if space is limited; hence overcoming the risk of losing greenery.

Are We Closer to Regional Consensus on Promoting Food Literacy and Integrating Nutrition Education in Arabic Schools?

Maha Hoteit — 2024-03-24

Food literacy is achieving attention worldwide and gaining traction in Arab countries. Strengthening food and nutrition literacy among Arab teenagers are important promising and empowering tools, which can protect them from malnutrition. This study aims to evaluate the nutrition literacy status of adolescents along with that of their parents in 10 Arab countries. This cross-sectional study involving a convenient sample of 5401 adolescent-parent dyads was launched between 29 April and 6 June 2022 in 10 Arab nations. The Adolescent Nutrition Literacy Scale (ANLS) and the Short Food Literacy Questionnaire (SFLQ) were used to meet the study aims. More than one-quarter (28%) of adolescents had poor nutrition literacy, with 60% of their parents being food illiterate. The top three countries with nutritionally less literate adolescents were Qatar (44%), Lebanon (37.4%), and Saudi Arabia (34.9%). Adolescents’ age, gender, education level, primary caregivers, employment status, and the inclusion of nutrition education in the schools’ curriculum predicted the nutrition literacy levels of Arab adolescents. Besides, parental weight status, health status, parent’s food literacy level, and the number of children per household were significant determinants too. Nutrition literacy inadequacy among Arab adolescents is a prioritized challenge to be tackled to achieve the sustainable developmental goals (SDGs) mainly SDG2 and SDG4.

Digital Knowledge Management in the Arab Region (Challenges and Solutions)

Nadine EL Kahil — 2024-03-24

The Arab world faced many development challenges (at the educational, economic, and educational levels...), especially after the outbreak of the Corona pandemic, which imposed the need for digital transformation based on managing digital knowledge and achieving sustainable development.

Nowadays, the concept of "knowledge economy" concept has become a necessity; given that global competitiveness is tautly related to the government’s ability to support knowledge generation and application to foster economic growth.

Considering the disparity between the Arab countries in terms of technological progress, and the use of modern technologies, besides the absence of a joint Arab digital cooperative agenda, in addition to the growing digital divide that occurs for several reasons (political, financial, social, technical, scientific...); what are the chances of achieving the sustainable development goals 2030?

Through his study, we attempted to shed light on the need to invest in digital transformation and digital knowledge management to achieve sustainable development. We study the current situation in the Arab region, and the challenges it faces, then we highlight the expected future scenarios if the Arab States continue to proceed in the same. Ultimately we present some possible solutions that could contribute create regional cooperation between the Arab countries, and bridging, or at least reducing the digital divide, by establishing an Arab agenda for digital development by the year 2040.

Skill Development to Maximize the Benefits of Integration into Global Value Chains

Rais Foudil — 2024-03-24

Goods that were previously manufactured within a single country are now fragmented and dispersed across global production networks. As a result, countries are no longer required to develop complete industries solely for export purposes. Instead, companies can achieve access to global markets by concentrating on particular products or tasks within the value chain. At present, the sharing of components is commonplace, and numerous regions in the developing world are deeply integrated into global value chains.

It is undeniable that countries engage in this type of activity with several national objectives, and one of the most significant is undoubtedly the enhancement of employment opportunities. In this context, workers in developing countries, including Arab nations, frequently find themselves occupying lower-skilled positions within value chains. This situation arises from a vicious cycle encompassing insufficient education, limited training, jobs with low productivity, and subsequently, low wages. Hence, the issue lies not primarily in the scarcity of employment opportunities, but rather in the deficiency of skills necessary for value creation. To fully capitalize on the advantages of job integration, Arab countries must elevate themselves to a level where they become crucial contributors to global trade based on value chains. However, achieving this ambition presents formidable challenges of significant complexity. Among these challenges, economic underdevelopment, a substantial scientific and technological gap, and the failure of educational systems to adapt to labor market transformations emerge as the most prominent obstacles.

The study concluded that the issue of integration in value chains is based on an important element to enable countries to maximize their benefits from global trade, which is to provide employees with the required skills such proficiency in technology, problem-solving, communication, critical thinking, and a proactive attitude towards learning. By fostering this diverse skill set and others, a country can achieve greater specialization in international production, surpassing other nations both quantitatively and qualitatively within the production chain.

The Role of Innovation in Promoting Economic Diversification In Mena Oil-Exporting Countries: An Empirical Study*

Siham Matallah — 2024-03-24

This paper casts light on the role innovation seems to play in accelerating economic diversification in 11 MENA oil-exporting countries over the period 1996-2019. More specifically, the novelty of this paper principally lies in detecting the rate of increase in the level of economic diversification if these countries’ rates of innovation will be on par with those of a country that has successfully diversified its export base, like Canada. The results gleaned from using the Arellano-Bond difference GMM estimator demonstrate that strengthening innovation can give a sturdy impetus to economic diversification in oil-rich MENA countries. More precisely, the GCC countries' level of innovation-driven economic diversification is likely to increase more rapidly than that of non-GCC countries. The findings also illustrate that MENA oil exporters’ economic diversification seems to be positively and significantly influenced by governance, human development, credit to the private sector, and economic freedom. Surprisingly, oil rents appear to genuinely frustrate these countries' efforts to diversify their economies. Furthermore, good governance and oil revenues can jointly speed up these countries’ economic diversification. More importantly, the results distinctly unearthed that MENA oil exporters’ economic diversification will increase by 1.77% if their innovation rates can catch up with those of Canada. By and large, encouraging innovation and technological development proved to be a truly giant step forward in these countries’ endeavors for economic diversification.

Front Matter