Doha: ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller, the region’s leading public relations consultancy, and Silatech, a social initiative that works to create employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for Arab youth, will launch the Qatar findings of the 5th Annual ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller Arab Youth Survey 2013 tomorrow.
The survey was conducted by international polling firm Penn Schoen Berland (PSB) through face-to-face interviews with 3,000 exclusively Arab national men and women aged 18-24.
The survey covered 15 countries — the largest to date since the annual study began in 2008 — including the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain), Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Tunisia, and three new countries, which were added this year: Morocco, Algeria and Yemen.
A presentation of this study, with a special emphasis on the findings from Qatar, will be revealed at a event and panel discussion in Doha.
Sheikha Hanadi Nasser bint Khaled Al Thani, Founder and Chairperson of Amwal, will lead a panel of speakers debating the findings, together with Dr Tarik Yousef, Chief Executive Officer, Silatech; Jaber Al Harami, Editor in Chief of Al Sharq, and Ahmed Nasser Sraiya Al Kaabi, COO of Al Sraiya Holding and CEO and MD of Widam Food. The panel will be moderated by Ghada Oueiss, Senior News Anchor at Al Jazeera.
The four experts will discuss the implications of the findings for governments, the business community, the media and wider civil society, as well as the policy and decision-making changes needed to address the concerns of young people throughout the Arab world.
Dr Tarik Yousef, Chief Executive Officer of Silatech, said: “Prior to the events of the Arab Spring, the concerns of young people were often secondary for regional policy makers. Now, however, they are at the forefront of political and economic agendas throughout the region.
“The voices of young people matter, and initiatives such as the ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller Arab Youth Survey that are able to study the hopes, aspirations, and concerns of young people are valuable tools for measuring deeper trends and shifts in Arab societies,” he said.
“In 2010-11, the highest priority of young Arabs was to live in a democratic country, and in the months that followed, the region witnessed an unprecedented outpouring of public opinion that defined the Arab Spring. But in 2012, after the uprisings, their top priority was being paid a fair wage and owning their own home,” Sunil John, CEO of ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller, said.
For the fifth edition of the survey, respondents were interviewed in-depth on subjects ranging from political to personal. Topics include the ongoing impact of the Arab Spring; economic and social concerns; attitudes towards democracy; foreign relations; personal values and beliefs, media consumption trends and social media habits.The Peninsula
