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USAID, IYF To Promote Entrepreneurship Among Palestinian Youth
A $15 million initiative to improve entrepreneurship , civic engagement and employment opportunities for young people in the Palestinian territories has been launched in Ramallah in the West Bank. The four-year program is a partnership between the U.S. Agency for International Development and the International Youth Foundation. Dubbed the "Youth Entrepreneurship Development" program, it aims to help young people between 1...
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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PPAF Sets Up Wind Turbines, Solar Panels for Power Generation
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF), in partnership with Aga Khan Planing and Building Services- Pakistan (AKPBS-P), has set up wind turbines and solar panels to provide environmentally friendly electricity to approximately 6,500 people in 29 villages of district Thatta in Sindh province. According to PPAF sources, the AKPBS-P, with the support from PPAF, the World Bank and the contribution by the village residents in the form of unskilled labour, installed 29 wind t...
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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Why We Need Social Entrepreneurship in the Middle East
The tremors shaking the Middle East have not fully subsided, but the ominous question already looms: What comes next? Much of the media focus has been on political reform, as tyrants are toppled and drama unfolds with the suspense of a Hollywood movie, but the demands of protestors have been clear: They want political and economic reform. Very little attention, as yet, has been paid to the...
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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In Egypt, Will an Economic Revolution Follow?
The popular uprising in Egypt has quickly been accorded a conventional explanation: The people want democratic government. This is not necessarily wrong, but it risks ignoring deep-seated trends in Egypt that, if neglected in the coming political transition, will only boil over again. Specifically, Egypt suffers from a stagnant economy and it should not be surprising that a lack of economic opportunity contributed to ...
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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Egypt Plans Stimulus to Revive ?Sudden Stop? Economy
Ashraf Abdel-Wanis had plenty of reasons to join tens of thousands of fellow Egyptians in their successful push to oust President Hosni Mubarak. At 39, he last worked five years ago in a sugar factory and now gets by mainly on his wife’s $50 monthly salary and his mother’s pension. "The Egyptian family’s nutrition consists of beans, lentils and beans," he said in an interview in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the plaza at the heart of almost three weeks of protests. "If they’...
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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Citi, Citi Foundation join hands with PMN
KARACHI: Citi and the Citi Foundation have joined hands with the Pakistan Microfinance Network (PMN) to launch Phase II of their flood relief efforts. Citi, the Citi Foundation and Citi Alumni have contributed over $425,000 toward the recent flooding disaster in the country. As part of Citi Pakistan’s Phase II of flood relief efforts, they have launched a ’Microfinance and Disaster Management Capacity Building Programme’ for the microfinance industry with the PMN. Through these pr...
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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Islamic Micro Lenders Set Up Global Network
LAHORE: Islamic Microfinance Network (IMFN) has been set up to assemble the international Islamic Microfinance organisations on one platform, a statement said. The IMFN head office is in Lahore and its regional offices will be in Ghana, Mauritius and Middle East. According to IMFN official the board members of IMFN are Farida Tariq, Chairperson, Amjad Saqib, Vice Chairman, and Muhammad Zubair Mughal, Chief Executive Officer. Kawako Yasuma, CEO, Ghana Islami...
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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Combating Poverty With Clean Energy
ABU DHABI (IDN) - Fighting poverty by promoting sustainable development and mitigating climate change is one of the priorities of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for 2011. With this is view, he is calling for a global revolution that would benefit some 1.6 billion people in developing countries still lacking access to electricity. Addressing the Fourth World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on January 17, Ban said: "Our challenge is transformation. We need ...
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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