AMIDEAST Impact Newsletter: Summer 2014

Gaza Demands Our Support

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summer break with little to do represents tedium for young, energetic bodies. That’s why AMIDEAST has been pleased to partner with the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem to offer Camp Discovery for the past 8 years, providing a fun-filled, enriching learning experience during summer for Palestinian children, mostly from refugee camps.

Contrast this with the devastation of much of Gaza soon after camp ended this summer for the Gazan children, and consider the loss of opportunity and goodwill that has resulted, not to mention lives lost, homes destroyed, and serious injuries suffered by some of these students and their families.

One of many damaged classrooms in Gaza.

Education must be part of the humanitarian response to the crisis in Gaza. Schools should be safe havens for children, where they can develop knowledge and skills, and their societies the brainpower and leadership needed to achieve progress. Young Gazans, like children everywhere, hope for a brighter future. Join me in support of our efforts to expand their opportunities and change their lives for the better. One way you can help is to donate to our Gazan Student Humanitarian Fund, established to help deserving students in our programs and their families recover from devastating injuries and other severe losses. Please visit our Donate page to find out more.

Theodore H. Kattouf

Students Earn Scholarships for U.S. Study

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wenty-six bright high school graduates from Egypt, Lebanon, and Palestine were matched with full scholarships covering four years of undergraduate studies beginning this fall at some of America’s top colleges and universities. The young scholars are the latest to benefit from AMIDEAST’s Diana Kamal Scholarship Search Fund (DKSSF), an initiative launched by AMIDEAST in 2006 to expand access to U.S. higher educational opportunities for talented youth with limited financial means. As a result of this undertaking, more than 50 Arab students will be enrolled at U.S. colleges and universities in the coming academic year.

To date, the DKSSF has been able to match nearly 70 deserving youth to scholarships thanks to the generosity of donors and more than 40 participating colleges and universities. A source of pride is that this effort has achieved gender balance, helping to open doors to educational opportunity for deserving young women as well as men.

The DKSSF is but one of several initiatives through which AMIDEAST is helping to expand access to higher education for

talented, deserving youth from the region. More than 125 high school graduates in Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Lebanon, Libya, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen are college-bound as a result of the U.S. Department of State-funded Tomorrow’s Leaders Scholarship Program and Abraham Lincoln Incentive Grants Program, as well as the Competitive College Clubs and Opportunity Grants offered through EducationUSA advising centers that AMIDEAST operates in many of these countries.

DKSSF Scholar Azd Al-Kadisi from Yemen graduated from Williams College in May 2014.

In addition, AMIDEAST’s in-region support for the Hope Fund made it possible for seven Palestinian refugee youths to receive scholarships that will cover their undergraduate studies at schools in the United States.

Summer 2014 Moroccan Youth Thrive at New Skills Centers

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n a recent visit to Morocco, AMIDEAST President and CEO Theodore Kattouf visited the Rhamna Skills Center in Benguerir, which offers a mix of skills training and other activities designed to expand youth opportunity in this central Moroccan city and surrounding Rhamna Province.

Since Rhamna Skills was inaugurated in November 2012, close to 750 youths have completed the center’s employability skills training programs, leading to job placements for more than three out of five trainees — meeting a high priority in view of the country’s high unemployment rates, particularly among recent graduates.

Amb. Kattouf congratulates a trainnee at Rhamna Skills Center.

“Our partnership with OCP Foundation and our new partnerships with the Union for the Mediterranean and Kosmos Energy are extremely important because they will enable us to leverage our capabilities to expand youth opportunity at a time when it is critically needed and to reach youth in remote areas.”

The center also encourages entrepreneurship and civic engagement. It has already offered specialized training to 99 aspiring entrepreneurs, spawning 40 new businesses and 140 new jobs, while a variety of workshops engaged nearly 500 individuals in 15 civic initiatives that will benefit 3,600 people, 65% of whom are in rural areas.

Rhamna Skills is one of three centers that is enabling AMIDEAST to deliver training and other services beyond the central urban areas of Rabat and Casablanca, where its offices are located. The centers, located in Benguerir, Laayoune, and

Khouribga, were established by the philanthropic arm of phosphates giant OCP Groupe to expand youth opportunity in areas where the company operates. Each center is designed to engage 1,000 mainly young people annually in activities designed to develop employability skills, entrepreneurship, and civic engagement.

In addition to the OCP centers, AMIDEAST/Morocco will soon begin the first training round of Skills for Success™, an employability skills development program funded by the Union for the Mediterranean, which will benefit 90 young women.

AMIDEAST/Morocco also recently entered into an agreement with Kosmos Energy to provide training and services that will enhance youth employability in the cities of Agadir and Dakhla.

“AMIDEAST is proud to partner with OCP Foundation in support of its skills centers, which are providing to be a dynamic model for much needed youth development activity in Morocco,” said Amb. Kattouf. “Our partnership with OCP Foundation and our new partnerships with the Union for the Mediterranean and Kosmos Energy are extremely important because they will enable us to leverage our capabilities to expand youth opportunity at a time when it is critically needed and to reach youth in remote areas.”

Teacher Exchanges Foster Language, Cultural Learning The Teachers of Critical Languages Program (TCLP) is funded by the U.S. Department of State and is implemented

by AMIDEAST in Egypt. Since 2007, TCLP has placed nearly 60 Egyptian teachers in U.S. schools, including seven public school English teachers selected this year to teach Arabic in K-12 classrooms at schools across the U.S. in the coming school year. TCLP participants gain new teaching skills and experiences that strengthen their teaching of English and enrich their classrooms upon their return to Egypt. You can read about the experiences of one them, Mohamed Ali Eldwiny, as a TCLP teacher in Arizona in our Faces of AMIDEAST section on the AMIDEAST website.

Mohamed Ali Eldwiny with students in his host school in Arizona.

Summer 2014 Summer Programs Advance Arabic Language Learning Arabic programs in Jordan and Morocco. More than 150 students in all enrolled in these AMIDEAST programs during summer 2014.

Students in the AMIDEAST Abroad Summer Intensive Arabic Program in Oman.

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merican students arrived in Muscat in June excited to begin a learning experience that would improve their Arabic and introduce them to the diverse and striking culture of Oman. The 19 undergraduates were enrolled in AMIDEAST’s Summer Intensive Arabic Program in Oman — a course that packed 100 hours of instruction in Modern Standard Arabic and Colloquial Omani Arabic into a four-week period, covering the same material that would typically be taught during a semester in the United States.

Many students took two sessions, enabling them to make strides in tackling what is arguably one of the world’s most challenging languages. Their extended stay, moreover, gave them time to explore the country, deepening their familiarity with the country’s cultural riches, welcoming population, and natural beauty, while also providing opportunities to practice Arabic.

The gains these students made toward mastering Arabic were also realized by students who opted for AMIDEAST’s summer intensive

By partnering with a number of institutions, AMIDEAST was also able to provide a customized learning experience for nearly 120 students — among them, a dozen students seeking to improve their understanding of peace and conflict resolution dynamics in Jordan, and around 100 college and high school students in U.S. Department of Statefunded critical language programs in Jordan, Morocco, and Oman.

Summer programs are an important part of AMIDEAST’s ongoing effort to provide quality in-region learning experiences for young people seeking to learn Arabic and deepen their understanding of Above, a visit to an Omani pottery factory during this globally important one of many cultural outtings gave students a chance for a hands-on experience. Below, students region. From a single in an Arabic language class. semester program launched in Morocco in 2007, AMIDEAST now offers a variety of summer, semester, and full academic year programs in several locations — an expansion that reflects the rising interest of American students in Arab language studies and the region.

Improving School Performance in Lebanon Under the $24.5 million D-RASATI 2 Project, AMIDEAST is helping to empower 208 school teams to design, implement, and assess their own reform process. D-RASATI — short for Developing Rehabilitation Assistance to Schools and Teacher Improvement — supports the education sector development plan of Lebanon's Ministry of Education and Higher Education. During the current phase of this USAID project, AMIDEAST is also responsible for program components designed to advance leadership development and strengthen extracurricular activities in Lebanon's public schools.

AMIDEAST Impact Newsletter is produced by the AMIDEAST Communications Department.

Please address all inquiries to:

D-RASATI’s interactive approach of learning by doing encourages collaboration among teachers.

AMIDEAST 1730 M St. NW Washington, DC 20008 info@amideast.org

Summer 2014

International Education in Yemen . . . Powered by the Sun!

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n July 2014, AMIDEAST/Sana’a made history by becoming the first completely solar-powered educational institution in Yemen. Its new 7.2 kilowatt solar array, coupled with two large AGM battery banks and an Internet-connected Outback GridZero® inverter, is capable of powering the entire office and all of its programs, 24 hours per day, 7 days a week. By making this transition, AMIDEAST is not only contributing to improving Yemen’s environment through saving tons of CO emissions per year, it is also reducing the burden on Yemen’s electrical grid and scarce fuel supplies.

AMIDEAST’s solar power system complements an alreadyexisting rainwater harvesting system, developed by former AMIDEAST/Yemen Country Director Sabrina Faber as part of her Rainwater Aggregations (RAINS) Project, which won the 2010/2011 Philips Livable Cities Award. creating The system has created the cleanest, quietest, and most sustainable learning environment possible for exchange students, EL students, and international test takers. Now, individuals interested in learning English, taking the TOEFL© Test, and applying to international, AMIDEAST-administered scholarships can do so carbon free!

Asrar Al-Tawili, an alumna of the U.S. Department of State’s YES Program and an AMIDEAST intern notes,“Switching to solar paneling has made life much easier for AMIDEAST, as we no longer have to deal with petrol or fuel issues. It is healthier for the environment as we do not pollute from the generator anymore and is a good way of introducing modern technology to Yemen.”

Adanan Aboras, another intern, adds, “Solar panels are important in

Solar panels on top of AMIDEAST’s training center in Sana’a are well positioned to capture teh sunlight.

Yemen; the power situation is difficult in Yemen. The solar panels do not harm the environment...[and] only have the initial start-up cost; after that, they are free.”

AMIDEAST students also see the benefits. As Muneer Abdo states, “Solar panels provide free electricity that lasts the whole day and do not pollute or provide noise. It is the best thing for saving the environment.”

AMIDEAST (www.amideast.org) is committed to being an innovative, educational organization that works to develop Yemen’s human capacity. AMIDEAST partnered with Sehab Tech, a green technology company based in Yemen, to make this innovation a reality. Interested individuals and organizations may contact AMIDEAST/Sana’a to tour the solar system and learn how they might implement similar systems in their homes and offices.

Jordanian, U.S. Youth Share Environmental Concerns What do youth from Jordan and Louisiana have in common? A lot, according to Jordanian and American students who teamed up during YouthTech Camp in Amman in June to address their mutual concern for the environment. The students “met” during video conferences arranged by AMIDEAST and partner Global Nomads in order to prepare them to focus on water security, global climate change, sustainable energy sources, citizen science, and sustainable design during their week together. In the picture at the right, the students are meeting at AMIDEAST/Jordan.