Education and employment issues top agenda of the 3-day event

Qassim Sultan, Director General of Dubai Municipality, said education and employment issues of children and youth in the region and the role of municipalities in facing these challenges would top the agenda of the conference, which carries the title: "Addressing Priorities in Education." It is organized in cooperation with the Arab Urban Development Institute, the World Bank, and Unicef, and in collaboration with the MENA Child Protection Initiative and MedChild.

Mayors and senior officials in MENA cities, municipalities, relevant government agencies, NGOs and the private sector are expected to attend the conference. They include Christiaan Poortman, World Bank Vice President for MENA Region, Dr. David Satterthwaite, from International Institute for Environment and Development, Dr. Thoraya A. Obaid, UN Under-Secretary General and UNFPA Executive Director, Nidal Al-Hadid, Mayor of Amman, Setareh Razmara, Acting Social Protection Sector Manager for MENA at WB, Dr. Ali Al-Khabti , Under-Secretary at the Saudi Ministry of Education, Prof. Mohammed Ibrahim Siraj, Consultant at the Saudi Ministry of Municipal & Rural Affairs, Nancy Bakeer, Assistant Secretary General for Social Affairs at the Arab League, Dr. Tom McDermott, Director at the UNICEF MENA Regional Office, Dr. Abdul Muniem Abu-Nuwar, Director, Country Technical Services Team for Arab States-UNFPA, Nicholas Krafft, Director, Human Development Network Operations at WB, Regina Bendokat, MENA Education Sector Manager, at WB, Abdul Aziz Al-Husayyin, Mayor of Al-Madina Al-Munawara, Viviana Mangiaterra, Children & Youth Advisor at WB, Suhair Al Ali, Minister of Planning, Jordan, Dr. Saeed H. Almuhairi, Vice-chancellor United Arab Emirates University, Riccardo Sessa, Director General, Italian Foreign Ministry Desk for the Middle East and the Mediterranean, Dr. Obaid A. Altinaiji, Director of Planning and Surveying, Sharjah Municipality, and Francesco Biagioli, Vice President, MedChild Institute.

One of the major highlights of the conference is a dialogue between Youth, Municipal and National Authorities on Monday evening in which youth and senior officials will be engaged in a dialogue on the issues that concern them in urban areas. Youth will moderate the session, with video-conferencing by young participants from West Bank-Gaza, Sana'a, Rabat, Cairo and Dubai.

The conference is aimed at highlighting the problems that face children and youth in urban areas of the MENA region, especially in the fields of education, culture and recreation; raising the awareness of high ranking municipal officials to the needs of children and youth, and the importance of urgently addressing those needs through multi-sectoral strategies; and highlighting key priority education sector issues pertaining to children and youth, with a particular focus on effective approaches for reaching the most vulnerable and disadvantaged, and the specific roles for local government and municipalities.

The first day's plenary session would be held under the title: "Cities for Children and Youth: An Overview" which will present an overview of the key issues addressed by the conference as a whole - namely, an outline of the generic challenges facing children and youth and the role of municipalities in addressing these issues; the demographic transition through which the MENA region is passing and its consequences for social and educational policies and programs in the region; and specific and innovative approaches implemented by a large metropolis to address the needs of urban youth children.

Four parallel sessions will be held on the same day. The first one, titled "Youth Employment Issues in the MENA Region: Current Status and Future Directions" will discuss employment difficulties as one of the main challenges facing youth in the MENA region and lessons learned from international experience and case studies. The second session, titled "Innovative Learning Approaches" will present innovative learning approaches will be presented including e-education, family learning, interactive libraries, and informal learning through museums and playgrounds. The third session, titled "Learning Environments in Urban Settings -Planning and Design I" will discuss issues of planning for educational institutes in urban settings addressing questions of accessibility, adequacy and appropriateness. Parallel Session IV, titled "Street Children: Reaching out and Empowering Disadvantaged Children and Youth", will give an overview of the status of and regional strategies to address children and youth issues.

During the second day, the plenary session would present Child Protection Initiative (CPI), a regional program to support and build the capacities of municipal authorities to deal more effectively with the needs of their children, particularly vulnerable and disadvantaged ones. Key partners of the CPI will express their views vis-à-vis the CPI strategic approach.

In the second plenary session of the day, titled "Municipal Responses," Dubai Municipality would present a paper on its efforts in caring for children and youth

Parallel sessions during the day would include such titles as Exploring Relationships between National and Local Authorities with regard to Children and Youth Education in Urban Areas; Demographic and Youth Issues in the Arab State; Education for All: Relevance for Municipal Authorities; Young People Envisioning the Community they Want: Voices from Child-Friendly Cities in the MENA Region; Reaching Out and Empowering 'At Risk' and Disadvantaged Children and Youth; Progress and Challenges in Mainstreaming the Most Disadvantaged Children and Youth: Experiences from Egypt, Yemen, Jordan and West Bank & Gaza; Inclusive Education in Urban Settings - Innovative Initiatives; Towards a World Bank Education Sector Strategy for MENA; Growing-up in Cities and Environmental Education; and Child Labor and Education: Issues and Responses.

On the third day, the plenary session would focus on reflections on the Children and the Mediterranean Conference held in Genoa in January 2004. Major works and tools developed by the MedChild Institute that was one of the main outcomes of the Conference will be presented. Four parallel sessions would be held on the final day and the closing session would come out with a declaration to be delivered by the organizing institutions.