Cafes in Tunisia have become a common hangout for unemployed college graduates, but now that educated youth may be able to get back to work. Photo: Flickr (clurross)

Sitting in cafes all over Tunisia are unemployed youth with college degrees and nothing better to do.

Tunisia's recent revolution left it with skyrocketing unemployment and an economic collapse. Libya, Tunisia’s neighbor, finds itself in a similarly precarious situation. Their crucial difference is that while Tunisia is relatively developed, Libya has no working infrastructure. And ironically, it is this lack of infrastructure that provides the solution to both countries' problems.

Following the wake of Tunisia’s President Ben Ali stepping down and the death of Libya’s Qaddafi, the nations’ new governments are hoping to set up more open ways of conducting business. Previously full of government corruption and theft, transparent business practices will allow both countries to allow the creation of companies that address the people’s interests rather than the government’s. Tunisia and Libya’s citizens are taking advantage of this change, and are already creating businesses aimed at building the desperately needed infrastructure in Libya that Qaddafi never developed. This will, in turn, relieve the strain on Tunisia’s hospitals and other infrastructure, which are currently working at double capacity. According to Tunisian economist Moncef Cheikhrouhou, the rebuilding of Libya could provide jobs for 250,000 Tunisians, all while developing lasting economic ties between the nations and creating the building blocks for Libya’s economy to sustain itself.

The new opportunities for growth and economic connection also have a broader appeal. In the post-Arab Spring Middle East, the example these two struggling countries provide sets the pace for a region full of economic growth potential.

Prior to the Arab Spring, the Middle East economy neglected to build privatized business connections within the region. Ben Ali aligned Tunisia with Europe and Qaddafi kept Libya isolated. When regional investment did occur, it was often corrupt. Libya and Tunisia are both poised to set the example for regional cooperation in an area where business connections are rare, and their timing couldn’t be better. Recent Citibank rankings have placed two other Middle Eastern countries—Egypt and Iraq—as nations with the greatest potential for growth in the next 40 years. Investment in these growing economies would benefit all involved. This closer connection with up-and-coming neighbor economies is particularly important as Tunisia’s long-standing ties to faltering economies like those of Italy and Greece seem to be deteriorating.

With a lot of work cut out for them in the months and years ahead, it looks like as many as a quarter of a million Tunisians could finally leave the cafes and get back to work. Jobs, opportunities, and examples for their Middle Eastern neighbors may follow.

This has been reposted from the Mercy Corps blog.

On March 1, I entered Libya from Egypt with the Mercy Corps emergency response team. The situation at the border was chaotic. Thousands of foreign migrant workers were trying to cross into Egypt to escape the violence in Libya. Many of them were stranded in the no-man’s land area between the two countries, waiting for transportation and permission to enter Egypt.

The customs house, the duty free shop — literally every building at the border — had become temporary shelter for the thousands of people who were stuck there. More were camped out on the sidewalks and parking lots. Most of them had only the belongings they could carry by hand and very little money or resources to cope. Fortunately, the majority of the people were Egyptians and so they did not have to travel too far to reach home and the Egyptian government was assisting their people in getting back there.

Since the unrest and violence began in Libya there is the refugee crisis as the migrant foreign workers try to flee the violence. More 170,000 people have fled from Libya — thousands are still stuck in the border of Tunisia without adequate financial resources, shelter or food.

The situation on the Tunisia border, where Mercy Corps has another emergency team deployed for this ongoing regional crisis, is much worse than on the Egyptian side. The people fleeing into Tunisia are also largely Egyptian, but they have to get transportation on planes or boats to get home. The numbers are massive and they are forced to wait several days for transport. There are also reports that, as they come through Libya, they being harassed by pro-Gaddafi forces and some have been forced to pay bribes and give away the few possessions they brought as bribes to pass.

The United States and other governments have sent planes and boats to help the people evacuate, and the border situation has improved in the last day — but thousands are still waiting.

There is also concern if there is an increase in airstrikes and violence in the west of Libya that more people will try to cross the borders to escape. If this happens, the crisis could spiral out of control.

The situation here in Libya is changing by the minute as the opposition advances from the East and then is beaten back by Gaddafi forces, and then advances again. Airstrikes are ongoing and we are preparing for the worst, but hoping for a quick end to this terrible violence.

Some of the thousands stuck at the Salloum border between Libya and Egypt. The situation on the Tunisian border is much worse. Photo: Cassandra Nelson/Mercy Corps

Iraqi refugees living in Jordan. Photo: Jacob Colie/Mercy Corps

Life has been hard for many Iraqi refugees. They flee their homes in the thousands each day to reach unwelcoming neighboring countries that do not have enough room or resources for them.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is leading the effort to help these refugees with food, jobs, health care, and education. Accomplishing this mission, however, has become increasingly difficult for the UNHCR due to a lack of funds and the recent spike in food and energy prices. Many Iraqi refugees now face a very precarious future.

This dire situation, however, is not the case for all Iraqi refugees. Especially in Jordan, some Iraqis have found that their lives have actually improved away from the conflict-torn Iraq. A recent article in the Christian Science Monitor recounts the stories of Iraqi refugees who have been able to start over and even establish their own businesses in Jordan.

These Iraqi refugees have the training and resources to start over because many of the roughly half-million Iraqis in Jordan are from the well-educated middle class. A study by the Norwegian Research Institute Fafo of Iraqis in Jordan found that 46 percent of adult males and 42 percent of adult females have some type of university degree.

UNHCR is promoting awareness and raising concerns about the most vulnerable of the 4.7 million Iraqis who are either refugees or have been internally displaced. Equal concern should also be given to the most valuable — those who, by departing, drain Iraq of the brains needed to rebuild.

Is the Silk Road making a comeback?

Newsweek says the historic trade route between Asia and the Middle East is reopening as trade grows between China and oil-rich Gulf countries. The chance to renew the old economic relationship between Asia and the Gulf coincides with a U.S. economy on the rocks and much of the world heading towards recession.

The joining of wealth seems perfect, with the Middle East is rich in oil and China looking for overseas investment.

What could reviving the old Silk Road mean for the U.S.? Newsweek quotes David Rubenstein, co-founder of the equity powerhouse Carlyle, as saying: “The economic center of the world is beginning to shift from the U.S. and Europe to the Middle East and Asia."

The original silk road. Photo: sanjoyg (flickr)

It seems counter intuitive-- how can higher oil prices possibly make oil rich countries like Saudi Arabia worse off? Well, these prices are certainly hurting the middle class.

Today's New York Times article is a must read on the subject:

Here in Jordan, the cost of maintaining fuel subsidies amid the surge in prices forced the government to remove almost all the subsidies this month, sending the price of some fuels up 76 percent overnight. In a devastating domino effect, the cost of basic foods like eggs, potatoes and cucumbers doubled or more.

In Saudi Arabia, where inflation had been virtually zero for a decade, it recently reached an official level of 6.5 percent, though unofficial estimates put it much higher. Public protests and boycotts have followed, and 19 prominent clerics posted an unusual statement on the Internet in December warning of a crisis that would cause “theft, cheating, armed robbery and resentment between rich and poor.”

The inflation has many causes ranging from a weakening dollar to global commodity demand, but the fact is that average citizens in many oil rich countries are not benefiting from high oil prices. From Yemen to Morocco, the higher food prices and shrinking government subsidies have resulted in protests and demonstrations with people blaming corrupt officials for higher prices.

When we hear about the Middle East in the news we mostly hear about oil and conflict, but this article brings to light a new trend when it comes to the Arab world-philanthropy. However, the BBC reports that the Middle East needs to overcome several obstacles before becoming truly philanthropic, including the laws governing charities and nonprofits and American Policy.

Last month, while much of the globe watched the oft-hyped World Economic Forum, a first-of-its-kind summit of Arab philanthropists was held in this Persian Gulf city. Middle East royalty and Egyptian businessmen mixed with Lebanese activists and other humanitarian do-gooders to find ways to aid their troubled region. And they carried a pointed message to the Bush administration: Stop making the war on terror a war on Arab goodwill.