PepsiCo donates $1.5m for education in the Arab world to World links Arab region

Signing on behalf of PepsiCo was Mr. Saad Abdul-Latif, president of PepsiCo International, Middle East, Africa and South Asia, and on behalf of World Links Arab Region, Mrs. Reem Bsaiso, Chief Executive Officer.

The WLAR, in its capacity as a non-Governmental organization (NGO), is operating in the Arab countries and executing programs aimed at enhancing the literacy and usage of the internet and other digital support in the Arab world, particularly in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Yemen.

Additionally there will be other planned projects elsewhere in the Arab countries targeting up to 10 million students within the next decade, while giving special attention to the roles of the Arab females and creation of awareness via mass-media.

This cooperation compliments PepsiCo's interest in supporting education in the Arab world as means of enabling a better future for the Arab youth.

Mr. Abdul-Latif commented on this step:

"Our vision of Making Tomorrow Better Than Today is deeply imbedded within the essence of this initiative." He went on to add that "the WLAR programs have proven effective in empowering the Arab Youth and we feel that by choosing to support these efforts we can collectively materialize a better future for the region as a whole".

Supporting the WLAR comes in line with Pepsi's approach in supporting the education sector; this was reflected by many activities such as launching "Tomooh" program in cooperation with The Jordanian Hashemite Fund for Human Development (JOHUD), which focused on presenting scholarships to excelling students across the Kingdom, aiming to support their skills and capabilities and offer new educational opportunities.

World links programs adopt sustainable schemes to attain life-long continuous learning among Arab youth based on incorporating ICT in education and skills of the future.

The world links teachers' professional development (TPD) program was voted by the World Economic Forum's members as the top educational program bridging the global digital divide, out of 75 evaluated programs.

World Links was also a finalist in the 2001 and 2002 Stockholm challenge, sponsored by the King of Sweden, as one of the world's most innovative information technology programs.

The World Links Arab Region (WLAR) has so far trained 8'000 teachers in more than 1'200 schools in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Gaza and Yemen, thus reaching about 1 million Arab students and is expanding the program to include more countries in the coming few years, aided by its powerful and highly prestigious Advisory Council and Members of Board.

Worldwide, World Links had trained more than 22,000 teachers in more than 35 countries across the globe, thus reaching about 3 million students.