Umniah sponsors Save the Children's NASEEJ regional meeting

Umniah's sponsorship is aimed at supporting NASEEJ's regional meeting which will be held on December 3rd at the Dead Sea and will group NASEEJ partners from Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine, and Yemen. The meeting will celebrate past activities and announce the program's second phase which will start in early 2008.

NASEEJ is considered one of the most important community youth development initiatives in the Arab World. Its activities span the Middle East, North Africa, and the Arabian Gulf and aims at providing Arab youth with empowering opportunities that enable them to play a key role in the development of their skills and their communities.

In this regard, Umniah CEO Mr. Joseph Hanania said:

'This is Umniah's second initiative to support youth in cooperation with Save the Children. We are pleased to offer all that we could to support youth initiatives and encourage them to actively participate in the development of their communities.'

'Youth's participation will accelerate development and we at Umniah vigorously support noble causes in that regard. We also call on all sectors in our society to come together in the great cause of supporting the youth,' he added.

The NASEEJ, Community Youth Development Initiative, was launched in 2005 with the support of the Ford Foundation. It has reached more than 819,000 people across the Arab world.

Mr. Denise Walto, Director of Save the Children Jordan and Lebanon said: 'The NASEEJ Initiative is run by Save the Children in partnership with a regional steering committee comprised of a group of experienced professionals. The initiative achieves its goals by partnering with a group of civil society institutions, that are not limited to youth development institutions but also include a number of non-official groups and private companies. We thank Umniah for their initiative to support several programs that we run.'

The Dead Sea regional meeting includes several activities that will highlight the achievements of the initiative. A special round-table session for a group of international donor institutions will discuss ways and means to accelerate youth participation in the Arab World.

NASEEJ's accomplishments include 64 sub-grants worth $3m to support youth development work. The grants were awarded to 74 different partners in five countries that included Jordan.

Save the Children USA is a member of the International Save the Children Alliance, a global network of 27 independent organizations working to ensure the well-being and protection of children in more than 110 countries.