Introduction
Almost in every country, the youth form a very significant part of the general population. There is a trend towards ensuring that the youth are empowered. Empowering of youth has continually become challenging especially when the standards of living are taken into consideration. One of the ways which have been identified to help in the empowerment of the youth is through the youth social initiatives. This essay will briefly examine social innovation in the Middle East. This essay discusses the social innovations with an inclination of showing the contribution such initiatives make towards stabilizing economic development.
Social Innovations
It has been shown that the youth in Middle East comprise of a third of the population. Definitely this is a huge portion of the population which can affect various aspects within the society. It has also been pointed out that the youth in the Middle East are continuously awakening to the fact that they have to engage in some kind of social innovation if at all they have to keep abreast with the ever increasing standards of life. In fact, it has been pointed out that the efforts brought forth by the youth are significant in assistance of some “impoverished communities all over the region” (Youths 1).
What does this mean for the Middle East regions and in particular the GCC? It is clear that the youth by the fact that they form a significant portion of the population have the ability to change the economies of their respective regions. It is a show of the huge economic potential in the GCC region. It is quite encouraging that the youth in the Middle East are rising up against long standing myths as far as social innovations are concern: for instance, in an application for sponsorship of social innovators, 200 applications were made out of which half were from women. Though out of the 22 innovators who were granted funds 4 were women it is clearly a good show that the youth are raising up against all odds to help in sustaining and developing the economy of Middle East.
It is worth noting that some of the social innovations hatched by the youth in this region are not only entrepreneur oriented but also have an inclination to promoting peace in the regions taking into consideration the fact the region is continuously destabilized with violence: “Mr. Awwad began Al-Tariq (the Way), a group in the Palestinian territories that incorporates the teaching of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi on non-violent resistance and promotes dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians” (Palmer 1).
Challenges
However, despite this enthusiasm developed and exhibited by the youth, there are some aspects which have been pointed out to limit the potential of the youth from full exploitation: management incapability and financial constraints have been pointed out as major barriers.
Key barriers to unleashing a wave of youth-led social innovation in the region are economic disparities and the fact that many young people lack work experience, training, and access to opportunities outside their communities; when young innovators lack “experience and a sense of empowerment, they’re not in a position to pursue their ideas. Innovation is stunted and entrepreneurship is inhibited. (Youth 1)
A lot need to be done to promote the youth social innovation whether they are meant for peace or for business. The government needs to give the youth some support in regard to the social innovation that they are engaging in.
References
Palmer, Stacy. Conference Notebook. Philanthropy, 2009. Web.
Youth. Youth Social Innovation in the Middle East. Opportunities for Youth, 2010. Web.