NUMBER 1 | FEBRUARY 2011 INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGIES (ICT) FOR 62231 YOUTH IN MENA: POLICIES TO PROMOTE EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES Gloria La Cava, Carlo Maria Rossotto, and Cecilia Between 2000 and 2010, the number of Internet Paradi-Guilford1 users in MENA grew tenfold, exceeding 100 million5. Mobile penetration rate is over 100 Introduction: On January 18, 2011, the Arab percent6 and Facebook users increased 78 Development Summit Youth Forum met in percent, from 11.9 million in January 2010 to 21.3 Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt, aiming to provide young million by December 2010, with 75 percent of Arab leaders and ICT entrepreneurs with the users aged 15-29, matching global trends. 7 Youth opportunity for dialogue with Arab decision are key consumers of technology and a major makers, providing recommendations on how to force in shaping the ICT sector. Using web 2.0, empower youth in MENA through ICT. Tunisia’s youth generate digital content through platforms Jasmine Revolution and its aftermath highlighted from mobile phones to social media. demand from youth for good governance. Access to information, freedom of expression and overall While demand for ICT has been increasing economic opportunities, ranked highest among dramatically, there is a regional youth digital the priorities articulated by youth-led Arab divide. Mobile penetration is high but only 1.6 movements for change. They were thrown into percent of the population has internet access.8 sharp relief by the uprising in Egypt itself only Addressing challenges on the supply-side (eg. one week after the Youth Forum. This Brief takes lack of competition) and the demand-side stock of the Forum’s key messages and provides (affordability, lagging education and literacy) can an assessment of the social and economic enable youth to reap the benefits of ICT. opportunities ICT offers to MENA’s youth. The Need for Arabic Content: Social networking Context and Challenges: The issue of youth has swept across the region with some 15 million employment is key to inclusive development in users at the end of 2010 and over 50 percent of MENA which has the youngest population users under the age of 25.9 In MENA 85 percent (average age 23 years)2 together with the highest of mobile phone owners use it to access the global youth unemployment rate.3 In 2010, 3 internet and tend to download applications for percent of MENA’s surface area was home to 92 social networking. Increasing numbers of Arabic percent of the population4 largely due to rapid speakers use Twitter, with 40 percent located in urbanization. Thus there is a large urban youth the UAE. However, the majority of users in the population looking for employment, many region primarily use English and French. struggling with poverty while rural youth are left According to a survey by Ipsos, 96 percent of even further behind. 5 http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm 1 This note was jointly prepared by Gloria La Cava (MNSSD, 6 “Providing Youth with Skills, Training and Employment Regional Youth Coordinator for the youth partnership with Opportunities through ICT Initiatives”, Tan Yigitcanlar and League of Arab States), Carlo Maria Rossotto (Regional Scott Baum, Griffith University, Brisbane 7http://www.dsg.ae/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=fXqdJFbHRxg Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, ICT Sector), and Cecilia Paradi-Guilford (Consultant, ICT Sector). %3d&tabid=222 2http://www.assetmanagement.hsbc.com/uk/attachments/ 8 “Providing Youth with Skills, Training and Employment global-funds/mena_equity.pdf Opportunities through ICT Initiatives”, Tan Yigitcanlar and 3 ILO Data from 2009 Scott Baum, Griffith University, Brisbane 4http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTMENA/Resources/ 9 http://www.arabianbusiness.com/mena-facebook-users- OverviewENprintersversionspatialdisparities.pdf top-copies-of-newspapers-271231.html social network sites used by Arabs are in foreign value chain, enabling younger people to compete languages with only 4 percent in Arabic. for higher-level jobs due to specific skill advantage in technology. The Digital Gender Divide: In MENA, the gender gap in mobile phone ownership is twice Figure 1: Youth and the degree of formality in the global average with women 24 percent less ICT labor markets 16 likely to own a mobile phone10 and only 37 percent of Facebook users are female compared Degree of with 56 percent in the USA11. Twice as many men Employment Employee of in MENA use Twitter than women contrary to Formality IT Company global trends of 55 percent female users. Also, IT BPO Employee among high-end ICT users in MENA, female mobile Internet users were more likely to use Software Freelancer sophisticated applications than males.12 The gender gap in technology use is the smallest in IT Entrepreneur Jordan and Lebanon. In Jordan, women account for 44.9 percent of all Internet users.13 Crowdsourcing Microwork Monetary Educational Disparities among Users: Young Payout men and especially women in MENA remain most adversely affected by low levels of access to education and low literacy reflecting disparities Opportunities in Formal and Informal jobs in income and gender. About 60 percent of all while catering global and local demand: At the youth with university degrees access the Internet top of the formality scale, software graduates can in contrast to only 7 percent of those with join an ICT company through a formal contract. secondary education or lower. In Egypt, in 2008 As ICT is a high-growth industry centered on 6.8 percent of lower income households accessed technology, it absorbs a high share of youth, in the internet against 74 percent for higher income particular the mobile sector.17 Less formal jobs for groups. There is also a gender gap - 2008 male youth are generated by IT-enabled services—in usage of the internet was 61 percent and only 39 particular Information Technology Enterprise percent for females14. Most female users are Solutions (ITES) and Business Processes between the ages of 17 and 25 and have Outsourcing (BPO), with demand from European university degrees.15 countries that suffer from shrinking and aging labor pools.18 Lastly, the creation of easy-to-use ICT and Youth Employment and Economic and accessible software services can dramatically Opportunities: ICT offers new opportunities for reduce the formality barriers to participating in young people to enter the job market. ICT is also the labor force19 by enabling microtasking and a revolutionary force that lowers barriers of entry crowdsourcing. These emerging employment to job markets and the degree of formality in the trends leave some gray areas for further study: employment relationship. It eliminates such as child labor and dispute resolution. geographic boundaries, provides flexibility in the 16 Analysis based on qualitative research and estimates. C. 10 GSMA development Fund, Cherie Blair Foundation, Rossotto, World Bank 2011. “Women & Mobile: A Global Opportunity”, 2010 17 In competitive markets such as Tunisia, Orange Tunisie 11 Creative Commons and Spot On Public Relations, 2011, employed 5000 local software developers when it entered the http://www.spotonpr.com/2011/01/ market. Indirect employment in the mobile sector is estimated 12 http://www.spotonpr.com/strong-mena-interest-in- to be a multiplier of formal direct employment, and it ranges mobile-apps/ from construction to resale of pre-paid mobile cards. 13 http://www.ameinfo.com/249673.html 18http://www.atkearney.com/index.php/Publications/offsh 14 Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, oring-opportunities-amid-economic-turbulence-the-at- Egypt, 2008 kearney-global-services-location-index-gsli-2011.html 15http://itidjournal.org/itid/article/viewFile/257/127 19 www.txteagle.com High potential for Entrepreneurship: ICT employers. Despite unequal access to ICT, IT inspires young entrepreneurs all over the world solutions can still empower young job-seekers with examples of globally-known entrepreneurs, including now entrepreneurs in emerging Figure 2: Gender breakdown of Egypt’s ICT markets like India’s Vishal Gondal who launched sector employment 23 Indiagames, as a 23 year old, after dropping out of college. Challenges to the emergence of ICT entrepreneurs in MENA include slow bureaucratic procedures and lack of access to funds due to bias for traditional investments.20 Nevertheless, the potential demand for Arabic content will create growth opportunities for entrepreneurship in MENA such as two.four.54.21 ICT and Increasing Female Labor Force Participation: MENA has the lowest female labor force participation rate of all regions. However, remote micro tasking and outsourcing micro tasks enables women to earn an income while adhering to cultural sensitivities, i.e. by working from home. In Egypt, young women's share of temporary jobs in IT clubs and internet cafés is respectively at 43 and 58 percent and increasing at twice the rate as men, while women’s share in permanent jobs is 10 percent.22 to connect with potential employers through ICT and Opportunities in Less Formal Jobs and mobile phones for example. Platforms in the with Less Formal Learning: ICT expands the region such as Souktel’s JobMatch service enable young job-seekers to submit their basic resume boundaries of work by lowering the degree of through a mobile phone and match it with job formal education required for employment. advertisements.24 Instead of university degrees with high investments in time and money, the sector places ICT for Social Inclusion and Active greater emphasis on applied skills that young Participation: ICT is an equally important tool people can acquire through vocational training for empowering young people as active citizens, and accreditation. MENA labor markets are particularly in view of limited opportunities in experiencing a skills mismatch between the skills this area. A 2010 youth survey conducted by the that educational institutions supply and skills Tunisian Youth Observatory shows that only 4 needed by industry. percent of young people belong to various type of associations and only 3.4 percent to political ICT Tools to match labor supply and demand: parties. In Egypt, the rates are even lower with The problem in MENA labor markets is not merely a lack of employment opportunities but only 3.4 percent of young males and 1 percent of also a lack of tools to connect job-seekers and young females participating in voluntary activities in 2009. 20http://www.booz.com/me/home/what_we_think/400074 09/40007869/ict_evolution 23 UNCTAD, 2007 21 http://www.twofour54.com .http://www1.aucegypt.edu/src/wsite1/pdfs/rewebsite_cid 22http://www.popcouncil.org/pdfs/events/2010MENAWks a/Dina_No4.pdf hop_02.pdf 24 http://www.souktel.org Expanding the overall educational content in curriculum based on industry demand and Arabic as well as ICT access to less privileged focused on applied skills. youth was a key message conveyed by the c) Third, disseminate good practices of Summit. Some Arab social networking and media matching youth labor supply and demand platforms are building virtual communities of through ICT solutions and develop effective practice around environmental awareness and platforms for microwork and civic responsibility, perhaps indicating a crowdsourcing for youth. promising trend in social entrepreneurship. Arab Strengthen the culture of entrepreneurship. youth to youth dialogue is essential as is the role Assist local young entrepreneurs in accessing of youth organizations in empowering youth finance through start-up loans targeting ICT through ICT and encouraging e-learning. innovation or fund competitions, and reduce red tape for start-ups. Foster public-private ICT - Enhancing Government Accountability partnerships so that governments better and Participation: A related theme is the use of enable entrepreneurs to set up their ICT for better governance and accountability, companies.25 allowing participation in policies relevant to Encourage local content development. The lack young people, for example through e- of Arabic content hinders the development of consultations, as public policies are developed region’s ICT sector as does censorship and and implemented. Arab youth are requesting restricting access to websites. The standards for participation, updated information development of attractive, engaging, and and the disclosure of the results of consultations. informative Arabic content and applications key to promoting Internet use but also an Recommended Next Steps: important component for e-goverment in the region. Expand access to ICT through an open and Support ICT platforms that empower youth to competitive infrastructure. More competitive and improve accountability and social inclusion. ICT- technology-neutral telecom markets have a enabled platforms such as SeeClickFix 26 in natural incentive to increase innovative services the U.S. or Citivox in Mexico enable young and follow consumer demand while youth are citizens to report and track public complaints well-placed to effectively capture the benefits of in particular over public assets through the these new services. Internet or their mobile phones. Promote ICT for rural youth and women’s inclusion. Aside from competitive ICT markets, introduce Contact Arab World Briefs: proactive and targeted policy measures to Director, Regional Strategy and Programs address supply and demand-side constraints to Jonathan Walters provide disadvantaged groups with access to ICT. (IT alphabetization, creation of ICT enabled Arab World Briefs Team: Omer Karasapan, Roby Fields, communal areas for young women and rural and Hafed Al-Ghwell youth). Incorporate ICT into a coordinated approach to urban Tel #: (202) 473 8177 planning. Such measures can increase efficiency The Arab World Briefs are intended to summarize lessons and exploit the synergies of ICT infrastructure learned from the Knowledge and Learning activities of the expansion and other infrastructure development. World Bank Group and our partners. The Briefs do not Enhance youth employability by Matching Education necessarily reflect the views of the World Bank, its board or and Employment skills. its member countries. a) First, increase access to ICT in primary and secondary schools and develop ICT literacy early on. 25http://www.booz.com/me/home/what_we_think/ b) Second, improve and promote vocational training and software certification with 40007409/40007869/ict_evolution 26 http://www.seeclickfix.com/citizens