A conversation with Prof Gilbert Achcar: Inequality in the MENA region and the impact of COVID-19

In this podcast, Tamara A. Kool, our ECR Representative, speaks to Dr Maryam Ebrahimi (Iran) and Dr Hania Sholkamy (Egypt) to discuss what aspects should inform future directions in terms of gender-sensitive social protection in the MENA.  The MENA region is characterised by low female labour force participation rates. While generally agreed that social protection is key to promoting women’s economic empowerment in the region, gender-sensitive social protection is a multifaceted concept. The way a programme is politically supported, designed, and programmatically implemented all influence the outcomes. We, therefore, need to understand to what extent social protection schemes are cognisant of the lived experiences of individuals. This requires a critical look at both social assistance and social insurance schemes to understand to what extent existing schemes are able to cover risks across the life cycle accounting for the different roles that men and women take up in society. __________________________________ Dr Hania Sholkamy is an Egyptian anthropologist (PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Sciences, The University of London). Her work has focused on gender, health and social protection in Egypt. She designed and piloted the cash transfer programs of the government of Egypt in her capacity as special advisor to the minister of social solidarity. She is a proponent of feminist social protection and has lobbied for the right of women to receive welfare and pensions in their own right and not as dependents. She was regional coordinator of the “Pathways to Women’s Empowerment Research Consortium” in partnership with the Institute of Development Studies at Sussex, UK. She is currently a member of the UNESCO Management of Social Transformations Committee (2019-2022.)   Dr Maryam Ebrahimi holds a PhD in Social Welfare from Allameh Tabataba’i University in Tehran, Iran. Her PhD thesis focused on ‘Gender Analysis of Social Policy in Iran and analysis of gender orientations in employment, education and social security legislation in Iran. In addition, she has undertaken a number of research and has presented several papers on women, family and gender issues. Her main areas of interest include social protection, gender, social exclusion, labour policies and informal workers. __________________________________ This episode is part of the podcast series organised in the framework of MENASP’s Early Career Researchers initiative. The ECR MENASP podcast series aims to discuss relevant social policies related to topics that are current and relevant to the region. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the MENASP podcasts are those of the invited speakers. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Middle East and North Africa Social Policy (MENASP) Network or the University of Bath.

In this podcast, Noor Alabbas, our ECR Representative, speaks to Radwa Abo Shady, a Senior Economic researcher. Radwa speaks about her work research titled: the impact of transport on Egyptian women’s participation in the job market. Transportation is an important dimension in relation to access to different opportunities such as work. Radwa will be discussing the challenges that women face when using public transportation in Egypt. Radwa also explains her research methods and policy recommendations for employers and policymakers. __________________________________ Radwa Abo Shady is a Senior Economic researcher. She has twelve years of experience in the field of research, working in different research institutions, both public and private, with RCREEE, IDSC and Dubai Economy. Radwa holds a Master’s degree in Euro Mediterranean Studies from Cairo University and another Master's degree in Public Policy from the American University in Cairo as a Jameel fellow. This experience allowed her to take part in two study tours to China and to South Africa. It enabled her also to spend six months as an exchange student at the Free University (FU) in Berlin. __________________________________ This episode is part of the podcast series organised in the framework of MENASP’s Early Career Researchers initiative. The ECR MENASP podcast series aims to discuss relevant social policies related to topics that are current and relevant to the region. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the MENASP podcasts are those of the invited speakers. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Middle East and North Africa Social Policy (MENASP) Network or the University of Bath.

In this podcast, Noor Alabbas, our ECR Representative, speaks to Berj Dekramanjian, a Pre-doctoral researcher at DEMOSOC and a PhD fellow for AGAUR. Berj speaks about the human mosquito interaction project and explains why this project is relevant to the MENA region and how social policy relates to it, taking into account the climate change challenges and human mobility dimension as well. In this project, Berj focuses on citizens' science by studying why people participate in the mosquito interaction project and what drives citizens to be part of such a project. __________________________________ Berj Dekramanjian is a Ph.D. Candidate at the Department of Political and Social Sciences of Universitat Pompeu Fabra and a member of the DemoSoc Research Group. His doctoral research focuses on mapping human mobility by utilising mobile phone positioning and associating it with acculturation and well-being using Ecological momentary assessment techniques under the supervision of Dr John Palmer. Berj holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Haigazian University in Lebanon and a Master's degree in Work and Organizational Psychology from Tallinn University of Technology in Estonia and Maastricht University in The Netherlands. Professionally, he has worked with Greenpeace both in Beirut and Istanbul in a regional capacity and led a leadership program with Initiatives of Change Institute in Switzerland. __________________________________ This episode is part of the podcast series organised in the framework of MENASP’s Early Career Researchers initiative. The ECR MENASP podcast series aims to discuss relevant social policies related to topics that are current and relevant to the region. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the MENASP podcasts are those of the invited speakers. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Middle East and North Africa Social Policy (MENASP) Network or the University of Bath.

This is the fourth and last part of our recent ECR webinar "The Role of Social Policy in Promoting Human Security in the MENA region" took place, in collaboration with the Human Development and Capability Association (HDCA), on the 26th of May 2021 at 13:00 UK time | 14:00 CET via Zoom.  This podcast sought to explore the concept of human security within the MENA region through inputs from a panel of distinguished speakers. Our guest in this Part 4 of 4 is Dr Nathalie Bouche, RBAS Regional Hub, Amman, United Nations Development Programme - UNDP. The podcast was moderated by our ECR Representative Tamara A. Kool, United Nations-University-MERIT. You can download the presentations featured in this episode from here: https://www.menasp.com/media/2021/05/menasp-ecr-webinar-26-may-2021.zip This episode is part of the podcast series organised in the framework of MENASP’s Early Career Researchers initiative. The ECR MENASP podcast series aims to discuss relevant social policies related to topics that are current and relevant to the region. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the MENASP podcasts are those of the invited speakers. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Middle East and North Africa Social Policy (MENASP) Network or the University of Bath.

This is the third part of 4 of our recent ECR webinar "The Role of Social Policy in Promoting Human Security in the MENA region" took place, in collaboration with the Human Development and Capability Association (HDCA), on the 26th of May 2021 at 13:00 UK time | 14:00 CET via Zoom.  This podcast sought to explore the concept of human security within the MENA region through inputs from a panel of distinguished speakers. Our guest in this Part 3 of 4 is Dr Wali Aslam, University of Bath. The podcast was moderated by our ECR Representative Tamara A. Kool, United Nations-University-MERIT. You can download the presentations featured in this episode from here: https://www.menasp.com/media/2021/05/menasp-ecr-webinar-26-may-2021.zip This episode is part of the podcast series organised in the framework of MENASP’s Early Career Researchers initiative. The ECR MENASP podcast series aims to discuss relevant social policies related to topics that are current and relevant to the region. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the MENASP podcasts are those of the invited speakers. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Middle East and North Africa Social Policy (MENASP) Network or the University of Bath.

This is the second part of 4of our recent ECR webinar "The Role of Social Policy in Promoting Human Security in the MENA region" took place, in collaboration with the Human Development and Capability Association (HDCA), on the 26th of May 2021 at 13:00 UK time | 14:00 CET via Zoom.  This podcast sought to explore the concept of human security within the MENA region through inputs from a panel of distinguished speakers. Our guest in this Part 2 of 4 is Dr Mahmoud Messkoub, International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam. The podcast was moderated by our ECR Representative Tamara A. Kool, United Nations-University-MERIT. You can download the presentations featured in this episode from here: https://www.menasp.com/media/2021/05/menasp-ecr-webinar-26-may-2021.zip This episode is part of the podcast series organised in the framework of MENASP’s Early Career Researchers initiative. The ECR MENASP podcast series aims to discuss relevant social policies related to topics that are current and relevant to the region. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the MENASP podcasts are those of the invited speakers. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Middle East and North Africa Social Policy (MENASP) Network or the University of Bath.

This is the first part of 4 of our recent ECR webinar "The Role of Social Policy in Promoting Human Security in the MENA region" took place, in collaboration with the Human Development and Capability Association (HDCA), on the 26th of May 2021 at 13:00 UK time | 14:00 CET via Zoom.  This podcast sought to explore the concept of human security within the MENA region through inputs from a panel of distinguished speakers. Our guest in this Part 1 of 4 is Prof Dr Des Gasper, International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam. The podcast was moderated by our ECR Representative Tamara A. Kool, United Nations-University-MERIT. You can download the presentations featured in this episode from here: https://www.menasp.com/media/2021/05/menasp-ecr-webinar-26-may-2021.zip This episode is part of the podcast series organised in the framework of MENASP’s Early Career Researchers initiative. The ECR MENASP podcast series aims to discuss relevant social policies related to topics that are current and relevant to the region. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the MENASP podcasts are those of the invited speakers. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Middle East and North Africa Social Policy (MENASP) Network or the University of Bath.

With the COVID-19, inequality within the MENA region has only widened further. The question arises of what efforts can be undertaken to tackle the societal effects of the pandemic. Moderated by Tamara A Kool, MENASP Early Career Researchers Representative, speakers; Dr Khalid Abu-Ismail and Dr Vladimir Hlasny from UN-ESCWA, and Mr Nadim Houry from the Arab Reform Initiative reflected on the definition of inequality within the MENA and also discussed the potential of social policy and a solidarity wealth fund to tackle the rising poverty headcount within the Arab States.    This podcast is only the first part of the event. The second part was a discussion that went under Chatham House rules, thus unpublished.    This episode is part of the podcast series organised in the framework of MENASP’s Early Career Researchers initiative. The ECR webinar series aims at discussing relevant social policies related to topics that are current and relevant to the region. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the MENASP podcasts are those of the invited speakers. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Middle East and North Africa Social Policy (MENASP) Network or the University of Bath.

Welcome to the first podcast organised by the Early Career Researchers initiative at the Middle East and North Africa Social Policy Network. The early career initiative is working toward providing more exposure to researchers and academics who are in the early stages of their research career path. We organise a series of mentoring sessions and webinars that talks about inequality, human security, social protection in the middle east and north Africa region. Our first distinguished guest is Professor Gilbert Achcar. Prof Achcar grew up in Lebanon, researched and taught in Beirut, Paris and Berlin, and has been Professor of Development Studies at SOAS, University of London, since 2007. Among his many books are two books on the Arab Spring: The People Want: A Radical Exploration of the Arab Uprising (published in 2013), and Morbid Symptoms: Relapse in the Arab Uprising (published 2016). He wrote a long essay titled "On the ‘Arab Inequality Puzzle’: The Case of Egypt" that was published in open access in the May 2020 issue of Development & Change. In this podcast, Noor Alabbas, our MENASP ECR Representative, talks to Prof Achcar about the socio-economic inequality in the MENA region and the impact of covid 19. The podcast starts with discussing the definition of socio-economic inequality and the different ways of measuring it. The podcast highlights the historical roots of socio-economic inequality in the MENA region, and how it fueled the continued protests in the region. In light of such exceptional political circumstances within the Mena region, the podcast discusses why the impact of covid 19 on MENA differs from its impact on other regions. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the MENASP podcasts are those of the invited speakers. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Middle East and North Africa Social Policy (MENASP) Network or the University of Bath.