Development Blogs.com

Several years back, I had the privilege (and challenge!) of teaching English for a couple years in a rural village in Central Asia. Almost before I got out my very first “Good morning, class!” my students were asking me why they should even bother learning a language they would never use. Ah ha! I had come to class prepared; I told them that [1] learning any new language is a good mental exercise and can help us understand things about other cultures as well as our own, [2] knowing English gives you a huge advantage in a developing economy – many of the new job opportunities opening up (in IT or tourism, for example) almost require English proficiency, and [3] you just never know when it might come in handy. My answers were met with blank looks. I could hear the placid chewing of...

With inflation and political backtracking competing with trends of economic growth in the Middle East and North Africa, the link between economic and political reform has increasingly come under scrutiny in the region.  It was a prevailing theme in the recent roundtable that CIPE held for key partners from Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey, and Yemen in Hammamet, Tunisia. Leading private sector organizations from around the region shared successful reform approaches, focusing on entrepreneurship, advocacy, public-private dialogue, and corporate governance.  Many of these programs underscore the need for institutions that promote better economic policies and expand growth dividends across a broader segment of society.  It was interesting to see partners not...

With the price of oil at its record highs, it can be hard to imagine that key exporters thereof, six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates) may currently be facing economic problems of any kind. The signs of prosperity seems to be all around as gleaming towers rise in the middle of the desert and guests arrive by helicopter at the world’s only seven-star hotel, Dubai’s sail-shaped Burj al-Arab. And yet not all is well. A somewhat unexpected addition to the region’s stunning architecture is a… diabetes center in Abu Dhabi. Nearly one-fifth of the UAE’s native population now suffers from diabetes and the statistics are not much better in the rest of the GCC. A result of more sedentary lifestyle and...

With the world’s eye squarely focused on Iraq, much less attention is being paid to the challenges – and opportunities – for democratic and market reform elsewhere in the Middle East. Yemen, for instance, has recently come into the media focus because of an attempted Al-Qaida attack against the U.S. embassy that injured 13 students leaving a nearby school. But the domestic context of this attack remains poorly understood. Yemen has an important choice to make. If the entrenched disfunctionalities in its political and economic systems persist, it will be headed toward anarchy or even a failed state. But if reforms continue, it may well become a regional example of progress in building democratic and market institutions. Yemen is facing significant internal security problems...

An intensifying demographic transition in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region calls for creating as many as 100 million new jobs in the next decade in order to accommodate the increasing number of entrants into the labor force. The shortcomings of past economic reforms foreshadow a massive labor crisis and potential social instability as the rising wave of youth unemployment sweeps through the region. But MENA may also have at hand a unique window of opportunity for sustained growth and development, provided that long-overdue institutional reforms – both economic and political – are introduced. The key to successful reforms lies in understanding the profound interconnections between well-functioning markets and democratic governance. They both rely on the same set of core...

How do you get the attention of politicians? Egypt’s small business federation simply whisked them away during their lunch break… Traditionally, small businesses across Egypt received little attention from the government. Although market reforms began in the 1990s, commercial laws affecting small business remained antiquated or were geared toward big business. The prime minister saw no need for legislation fostering small business growth, and parliament never consulted small business owners about their needs. When the Federation of Economic Development Associations (FEDA) decided it was time it got heard, it rented two buses and parked them outside the Parliament. As members of parliament exited their first session of the day, they were greeted by FEDA representatives who invited them...