Together We Stand

[ 54 ] long-term stability than stability itself. For instance, measures against violent extremism have revolved around repression, prevention, military countermeasures and increasing secu- rity at the expense of liberty. Instead of creating stability and security, this narrow set of responses has created even more instability and insecurity, which has given rise to a rising trend of extremism. A resilience approach to address violent extremism would have to consider a broader set of responses, including mitigating the consequences of climate change, and it would have to create attractive and honest alternative narra- tives to those of violent extremist groups. Sixth, we need to mobilize all of our assets if we are to over- come the impediments that impinge on the region’s potential. Chief among these is that deficiencies in higher education, lack of opportunity and an underperforming private sector have driven a net outflow of talent. Such outmigration constitutes a serious setbacks for advancing knowledge-based economies by exac- erbating the disconnect between policymakers and intellectual elites and driving remittance-induced inflation and unemploy- ment. And such brain drain appears to be worsening, from a loss of 10-15 per cent of young Arabs in 2012, to 20-25 per cent in 2014. Add to this that female and youth labour force partic- ipation rates are among the world’s worst, and the enormous forfeiting of potential that the region is witnessing becomes clear. The challenge we must assign to ourselves is how to empower and incentivize our youth — and particularly our female stock of economic and social human capital — to seize a stake in the region’s trajectory. We must examine which set of policy meas- ures can be raised to convince our educated expatriates to return and use their skills to strengthen their home economies, and what social and economic conditions will facilitate women taking their literacy, skills and talents to benefit not only their families, but also their communities. This is not only the responsibility of the Government, but also employers. The WANA Institute uses a staffing model that brings back the region’s bright young population by employing young graduates with a Master’s degree or PhD from accredited universities, and allowing them to learn and grow as future leaders in the region under the supervision of senior researchers. Lastly, to facilitate positive change and resilience-building, it is imperative to address the political dissonance between states in WANA. This region needs a new architecture from which it can grow resilient. In this regard, recall the Helsinki Accords from 1975, which are widely considered as less important given their non-binding status. However, this was a first step to ease tensions during the Cold War, and resulted in the creation of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and Human Rights Watch. A similar process must be launched in the WANA region; a conference for security and cooperation could lay the groundwork for perceived regional adversaries to start agreeing to disagree, find mutual interests, and begin thematic cooperation on shared issues such as water scarcity and energy. This is not a quick fix and will not be an easy process without setbacks, but resilience is a long-term endeavour and will require lasting commit- ment; this region cannot wait. Since 2011, the Syrian conflict has cost US$170 billion in foregone economic potential. We simply cannot afford to remain adversaries. The WANA region was never tranquil, but it has arguably never been this chaotic. Now can be an opportunity to build this region from within for the first time in history; to build genuine partnerships, cooperation and resilience. The WANA Institute is an authentic voice from the region, and by gener- ating knowledge about the region, for the region, we believe that together with our partners, we can also play an important role in building resilience in the region. A session during a women’s legal empowerment training day organized by the WANA Institute A picture from an innovative photo essay on security and social justice that the WANA Institute published with artist Samer Kurdi Image: WANA Institute Image: Samer Kurdi and the WANA Institute T ogether W e S tand