How policymakers can support a new crop of young, qualified women.
In the years I have lived and worked in the Middle East and North Africa I have often been struck by the remarkable and highly educated women leading change in their fields.
Despite the fact that girls now perform better than boys in school-level education in most Arab countries, and account for the majority of university students in places like Algeria, Palestine and Saudi Arabia, there remain too few women in leadership positions across the board.
That is why I have been so struck by a fellowship programme recently launched in the UAE that offers insights into how policymakers can best support the new crop of young, qualified women to become the change-makers of tomorrow, as my grandmother was.
The programme is focused on agricultural science.
Science is the key to tackle this challenge, but our region is still not harnessing all its great minds.
Unless those devising the solutions can take gender into account, we will be failing to support the people whose food production we need to improve.
That’s why I am so encouraged to see the emergence of Tamkeen, a fellowship programme that seeks to attract, develop and empower the next generation of women agricultural scientists in the Arab world.
It takes its lead from a successful programme that is already operating in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Meeting these fellows makes you optimistic that people like this will provide their own solutions to the region’s challenges .