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Brain Drain Fuels Terrorism
By Michelle Gallant, the Netherlands
In order to create security and stability in a very volatile Middle East and North African region, over 100 million jobs must be created - and not just the creation of menial jobs either. This region represents the highest percentage of brain drain in the world.
"The Middle East and North Africa represent the highest percentage of brain drain in the world." -Michelle Gallant
"The way forward is not by creating low paying jobs, but by creating high paying value added jobs," said Dr. Yusuf Mansur, Managing Partner of the Envision Consulting Group (EnConsult) and a featured speaker at AIESEC International's annual symposium held in Cairo (Egypt) last February.
Even prestigious multinational companies like PricewaterhouseCoopers' recruit a mere 13 percent of their staff from local talent for their offices in Egypt. The reason? "Likely a lack of education in this side of the world," explains Mansur, who adds that lack of education creates youth employment which exacerbates the region's volatility. Unlike youth in the US or EU who get practical experience through internships and the like, even the most educated youth in the Middle East and Northern Africa are without similar resources.
Further, with parents passing on the message that all their children need is a university degree to get a high paying job, youth in the region are increasingly unprepared and lack the skills that the workforce demands.
"We produce such ridged mindsets in our educational system they think what they are going to sell is what they have memorized in the past four years [in university]," says Mansur.
AIESEC, one of the world's largest youth organizations hopes to change this trend. Expanding their reach in the region with offices in Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, UAE, Bahrain, Qatar and Jordan, AIESEC is providing unique learning experiences for its members to develop skills in leadership and management, so that young people can be productive contributors in the job market.
Bahaa Hussein, 24, from Egypt is one example. "I am a computer science graduate and I've always had a technical way of thinking," said Hussein who has participated in the AIESEC program for the past three years. "I thought that I could open my own computer firm assuming that my IT background would be enough to do so. Through AIESEC I have the skills and the knowledge of how to manage and to plan this firm. I have developed basic skills that are not gained in university life, such as interacting with CEO's, foreign interns, and people from different parts of my country as well as all over the world!"
AIESEC's leadership development program allows its members to gain real work experience that can compliment academic education with practical skills. Managing a team, assuming an international internship and working on projects to make an impact in society are just a few activities that AIESEC coordinates.
Parental support, however, is key to the effectiveness of this program, explains Annika Rudback, who is currently working on the expansion of AIESEC to Jordan.
Having parents work with their children on career choices at an early age, and encouraging them to gain practical experience in this area eases barriers. Some AIESEC chapters, like the one in Jordan, hold Parent Information Meetings to address this very issue. Understanding the challenges of the workforce after graduation and helping to prepare youth for these challenges will help pave the way for a brighter future for this region of the world.
