Women's Economic Empowerment

Businesswomen's Network
Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestinian Territories, Saudi Arabia, UAE

Beyster Institute
FY05 $850,000

As a result of feedback and demand at the first annual Businesswomen's Summit held in Tunis from May 24-26, 2005, this new program is building a network of Middle East and North African businesswomen in order to add value to women's businesses and advance the role of women in society, foster democratic change, and promote a regional culture of women's entrepreneurship. The network's activities will be run from hubs in seven countries across the region. The hubs will serve as focal points for programmatic activity, skills training and mentoring. A core objective is to launch a speakers' bureau to transfer knowledge between influential regional and US business people and the network's local businesswomen.

Legal and Business Internship Program
Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Palestinian Territories, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, UAE, Yemen

AMIDEAST
FY05 $2,160,000

The program brings approximately 40 Middle Eastern women from the business and legal professions to the United States to participate in a month-long graduate-level law or business program followed by a five-month internship at leading U.S. legal or business institutions.

Previous May 2006 Update

Empowering Women Through Technology
Yemen

International Institute for Education
FY04 $425,600

 This program equips 250 women in Yemen with marketable, cutting-edge IT skills, while engaging them in IT policy workshops and a locally-led Women's IT Association. The program also builds the capacity of local partners on the ground who are implementing the program. The goal is not only to economically empower this group of women to participate in the local economy, but also to encourage their involvement in issue-based political activism.

Business Internship Program for Young Middle Eastern Women

Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Syria, Egypt, Palestinian Territories, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Bahrain, Yemen, Iraq, UAE, Qatar

International Research and Exchanges Board and Amideast

FY03 $2,000,000

FY04 $2,000,000

The program provides young women professionals an opportunity to learn management and business skills while working in the U.S. business environment. The program consists of a four-week MBA-level academic program at Emory or Duke Universities, followed by three-month internships at Fortune 500 companies, law firms, and small- and medium-size companies. Examples of participating companies include Burston-Marsteller, KPMG, Boeing, Fulbright & Jaworski, and Microsoft.

Women's Middle East Entrepreneur Training in the U.S. (MEET U.S.)

Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestinian Territories, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE

Beyster Institute, University of California-San Diego

FY03 $999,006

The program provides skills training, professional networking, and alumni support systems to increase the managerial and entrepreneurial leadership skills for growing companies. The program helps promising female executives, managers and entrepreneurs from the region realize their aspirations to build successful, growing enterprises that will contribute to economic growth and community well being in the Middle East and North Africa region.

MEET U.S. consists of three types of training programs. The first is a two-week training program for senior executives from a range of industries. The second is a three-week training period for information, communication and technology professionals. The third is a two-week training session for business services professionals. The MEET U.S. Women's Program focuses on empowering women to excel in the Arab private sector.