Middle East And North Africa

Renewing the social contract—one of the pillars of the new World Bank Group strategy for the Middle East and North Africa—requires a new development model built on greater trust; openness, transparency, and inclusive and accountable service delivery; and a stronger private sector that can create jobs and opportunities for the youth of the region. Recent analytic work aimed at explaining weak job creation and insufficient private sector dynamism in the region point to formal and informal barriers to entry and competition.

In the last decade, due to factors of ICT infrastructural and broadband maturation, rising levels of educational attainment and computer literacy, and diversification strategies, e-learning has exploded in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. However, significant barriers remain in the region’s e-learning development: lack of research on outcomes and effectiveness, paucity of Arabic language learning objects, monopolies and high cost of telecommunications, cultural taboos, accreditation, censorship, and teacher training.