Date and time: October 22, 2020, 12 noon Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4)
Register here [1].
The MENA region is suffering from an acute employment crisis caused by converging forces of slow, asymmetrical economic growth and outdated education and skills development systems. The COVID-19 pandemic threatens to amplify the problem by driving unemployment even higher, pushing people toward informal employment, and slamming the door shut on women in the workforce. However, despite deep social and economic challenges, the region is a growing investment hub, ripe with opportunities for new firms specializing in emerging technologies. Will MENA be able to capitalize on digitization and the skill’s transformation in order to bounce back from the pandemic? How can the private sector play a role in re-skilling and up-skilling the workforce? Our panel, co-hosted with Localized, will explore the issues of investment, emerging technology, education networks, and skills that are key to understanding the economic transformation in MENA.
Introduction: Merissa Khurma, program manager, Middle East Program
Moderator: Ronit Avni, Tech and media entrepreneur and Peabody award-winning producer; founder and CEO of Localized; founder and former executive director of Localized
Speakers:
- Manuel Langendorf, researcher and writer focusing on the MENA region. Former editor of The World Weekly
- Aref Boualwan, senior manager Digital Transformation & Strategy, Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC)
The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, located in Washington, D.C., is a United States Presidential Memorial that was established as part of the Smithsonian Institution by an act of Congress in 1968. It is also a highly recognized think tank, ranked among the top ten in the world.