Tag Archives: femise

Fathallah Sijilmassi, Economist and Diplomate, Member of the FEMISE Advisory Board

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Born on August 21st, 1966 in Rabat (Morocco), Ambassador Fathallah Sijilmassi is an economist and a career diplomat.

After having worked at the « Banque Commerciale du Maroc » (currently Attijariwafabank) in Milan (Italy) from 1989 to 1992 and then at the Moroccan Foreign Trade Ministry from 1992 to 1999, he held, at the Moroccan Ministry for Foreign Affairs, several senior level positions : Director of Multilateral Cooperation (1999-2001) and Director of European Affairs (2001-2003).

In 2003, he was appointed by His Majesty the King of Morocco as Ambassador to the European Union in Brussels (2003-2004), then to France (2005-2009).

From 2009 to 2012, he is back to Rabat (Morocco) and is appointed CEO of the newly created Moroccan Agency for the Investments Development (AMDI). During this period, many international companies and SMEs chose Morocco as their regional platform.

From 2012 to 2018, Fathallah Sijilmassi is Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), an international organization, with headquarters in Barcelona (Spain), bringing together 43 countries of the Euro-Mediterranean region and whose vocation is to promote regional dialogue and cooperation.

Throughout his career, Ambassador Sijilmassi gave several conferences in universities and think tanks in Europe, the Arab world, Africa and North America. He has published several opeds, articles and interviews in many European and Mediterranean medias (in English, Spanish, French and Arabic).

F. Sijilmassi holds a Phd in International Economics from the University of Grenoble and is a graduate of the Institute of Political Studies of Grenoble.

Fathallah Sijilmassi was awarded several decorations:

-Grand Officer of the Ordre National du Mérite and officer of the Légion d’Honneur (France)

– Encomienda de numero of the Orden de Isabel la Católica (Spain)

– Star of Merit (Palestine)

Fathallah Sijilmassi speaks fluently 4 languages: Arabic, French, English and Spanish.

He is married and father of two.

Tobias SCHUMACHER, Chairholder of the European Neighbourhood Policy Chair, European Interdisciplinary Studies Department , College of Europe, Member of FEMISE Advisory Board

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Since 1 July 2012 Prof. Dr. Tobias Schumacher is the holder of the Chair in European Neighbourhood Policy. He is also an Associate Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for International Studies (CEI-IUL) at the University Institute of Lisbon.
He previously held positions at the University Institute of Lisbon, the Euro-Mediterranean Study Commission (EuroMeSCo), the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (RSCAS) at the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence, the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) in Berlin, and the University of Mainz.

Prof. Dr. Schumacher earned his doctorate in Political Science at the University of Mainz in 2002 and was awarded several fellowships and grants, among others, by Harvard University, the University of Cambridge, the European Commission, the European University Institute, the Fondazione Monte Paschi dei Siena, and the Foundation of the German Economy. His article (co-authored with Raffaella Del Sarto) entitled ‘From Brussels with love: leverage, benchmarking, and the Action Plans with Jordan and Tunisia’, published in Democratization, Vol. 18 (4), 2011, pp. 932-955, won the scientific award for academic excellence of the University Institute of Lisbon.

He taught in many univeristies worldwide such as the European University Institute, the Dublin European Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Munich University, Université Hassan II Casablanca, Mainz University, and Ilia State University in Tbilisi. He is the author of some 90 books, book chapters, articles and policy papers on the European Neighbourhood Policy, Euro-Mediterranean relations, Middle East and North Africa politics, and Foreign Policy Analysis. He is the profiles editor of Mediterranean Politics, a member of the editorial board of Insight Turkey, and a regular contributor to the international media.

Prof. Dr. Schumacher, has co-edited and co-authored The Routledge Handbook on the European Neighbourhood Policy (2018)

Raed SAFADI, Chief Economic Adviser at Dubai’s Department of Economic Development, Member of FEMISE Advisory Board

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As the Chief Economic Adviser at Dubai’s Department of Economic Development, Dr. Safadi leads a team of experts entrusted with the implementation of Dubai’s Strategic Plan 2021, and promoting the diversification and sustainable growth of Dubai and its transformation into a knowledge-based economy.

Dr. Raed is a leading expert on development economics and has extensive experience advising governments on economic policy and management. He has published an extensive array of books and articles covering such areas as economic development, regional trading arrangements and the world trading system, tariffs and non-tariff barriers, special and differential treatment, trade and environment, services trade, and global value chains. His most recent publication “Inclusive Global Value Chains” focuses on making GVCs more inclusive by overcoming participation constrainsts for SMEs and facilitating access for low income developing countries. Dr. Raed has previously worked for the OECD, the World Bank, ESCWA and as a consultant for numerous governments, regional development banks and UN agencies.

Jean-Philippe PLATTEAU, Emeritus Professor of Economics at Université de Namur, Belgium, member of FEMISE Advisory Board

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Jean-Philippe Platteau is Emeritus Professor of Economics at Université de Namur, Belgium. He is also a member and past director of the Centre for Research in the Economics of Development (CRED) at the same university.  He is a co-academic director of the Economic Development and Institutions (EDI) international research programme that is funded by the Department of International Relations (DFID) of the UK government. He has devoted his research career to studying the role of institutions in economic development and the processes of institutional change. He has recently written a book entitled “Islam Instrumentalized: Religion and Politics in Historical Perspective”, published at Cambridge University Press (2017).

Henry Marty-Gauquié, Honorary Director, European investment Bank, Former Representative of the EIB Group in France, member of FEMISE Advisory Board

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With Graduations in International Law and Political Science, he has dedicated his whole career to the European integration. In 1978, he begins by working for the French Prime Minister (Raymond Barre) in the legal department of the S.G.C.I., now S.G.A.E. From 1981 to 1989, he served at the European Court of Justice as First Secretary at Law of the French Judge, and at the European Court of Auditors as deputy-Legal Counsel and Director of the President’s Private Office. In 1989, he joins the European Investment Bank where he is appointed Spokesperson and Director of EIB Group’s Communication. In late 2003, he becomes the EIB Group Representative in Paris, also in charge with the institutional liaison with non-EU International Organisations.

Although retired since end of 2016, he has kept various responsibilities such as Board Member of the French Institute for PPP (IGD), Paris, and Member of the Advisory Board of the FEMISE Network, Marseille and Cairo. He is also Member of the Scientific Councils of the Sharing Knowledge Foundation, Geneva, of the Association Euromed-IHEDN, Marseille and Paris, and has joined the “Groupe d’analyse JFC Conseil”.

Ordre du Mérite européen : Silver Medal.

Abla Abdel Latif, Executive Director and Director of Research of The Egyptian Center for Economic Studies (ECES), member of FEMISE Advisory Board

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Dr. Abla Abdel Latif is currently the Chair of the Presidential Advisory Council for Economic Development; and the Executive Director and Director of Research of The Egyptian Center for Economic Studies (ECES).

She is also a Member of the Central Bank of Egypt’s Coordinating Council, and has been a Board Member of the National Bank of Egypt – the first female in this position, for over six years. In 2013, she was member of the Committee of Fifty, drafting Egypt’s Constitution following June 30, 2013, representing the Egyptian Federation of Industries, and one of only five women in the Committee.

She is also a cofounder and Board Member of BASEERA (the Egyptian Center for Public Opinion Research), and “El Nidaa” Foundation for job creation for women and youth.

In addition to her teaching career as Professor of Economics at the American University in Cairo (AUC) for over twenty years, she has been selected to be a Life Time Research Fellow at the Economic Research Forum (ERF) and has authored a large number of publications in class A internationally refereed Journals. She has also been a senior international expert in several UNIDO projects and other international organizations.

Her professional experience is also extensive, starting from being the Policy Unit Manager in the Industrial Modernisation Centre (IMC) to being the Minister of Industry’s Advisor shortly after the 25th of January Revolution and since 2015, she became the main economic advisor to the President of the Republic.

Dr. Abla received a special award for outstanding achievement and excellence in research from Sussex University in the UK and another faculty excellence teaching award from the American University in Cairo. She was also invited by the Singapore Government to participate in the 10th Leaders in Governance

Programme in 2017. She is an Egyptian national with a B.A. in economics from the American University in Cairo (AUC) (with highest honors) and an M.A. and

Ph.D. in economics from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles

FEMISE MED BRIEF no16 : « Green Public Procurement v.s. Environmental Taxation: implications for EU-MENA environmental policy”

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Vera Danilina and Federico Trionfetti

The FEMISE Policy Brief series MED BRIEF aspires to provide Forward Thinking for the EuroMediterranean region. The briefs contain succinct, policy-oriented analysis of relevant EuroMed issues, presenting the views of FEMISE researchers and collaborators to policy-makers.

The latest FEMISE MED Brief, co-edited with Plan Bleu, is on ” Green Public Procurement v.s. Environmental Taxation: implications for the EU-MENA environmental policy ” and is available for download by clicking here.

 

Summary: Environmental policies are among the priorities of the UN agenda and figure highly in national and international policy agendas. This brief focuses on environmental taxes and green public procurement (GPP). These two environmental policy instruments differ in political viability and in the impact they have on consumers and producers. The brief provides a comparative analysis of their efficiency in closed and open economy and reveals the opportunities and threats of (un)harmonised environmental policy across countries. The results allow to consider particular implications for the collaboration of EU-MENA countries.

The list of FEMISE MED BRIEFS is available here.

The policy brief has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union within the context of the FEMISE program. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of the authors and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union.

Med Change Makers e07 : Karine MOUKADDEM, Gender Equality and Women Empowerment in the MENA region

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FEMISE recently launched its series of interviews called « Med Change Makers ».

« Med Change Makers » are text and video-based interviews that allow dynamic researchers of the FEMISE network to illustrate how their research addresses a policy-relevant question and how it contributes to the policy-making process in the Euro-Mediterranean region.

 

Going towards Gender Equality and Women Empowerment in the South-Med and MENA region

Interview with Karine Moukaddem, SciencesPo, Institut de la Méditerranée and FEMISE

FEMISE places the issue of Inclusiveness at the heart of its research strategy. The issue of women empowerment in the Mediterranean, and more generally in MENA, is of paramount importance to move towards a model of sustainable and inclusive development.

Author of a forthcoming FEMISE MED BRIEF, Karine Moukaddem provides an assessment of existing policy measures on women empowerment in the southern shore of the Mediterranean. She argues that behind the existence of a “Mediterranean paradox” are structural obstacles that are crucial to overcome. Interview :

1. You talk about the “Mediterranean Paradox” while describing the situation of women in the South-Med. What does it imply and what are its root causes?

The Mediterranean Paradox is easy to explain: On the one hand, educational attainments of women improved drastically in the region and female enrolment in schools and universities increased considerably. But on the other hand, women seem to still be struggling to find a place in the labour market. Female labour force participation rates in the region remain lower than in other developing countries and stagnant. In other words, it seems like women participation to the labour market in the South Med is constrained by other factors than access to education.

Regarding the root causes of the paradox, several obstacles are identified as impeding on women’s economic inclusion.

First, the analysis of the labour market structure in the region shows that while in the public sector employment opportunities contract, opportunities in the formal private sector do not rise. Therefore, the increase in the number of educated women translates in an increased female unemployment or a lower female participation in the formal sectors. Second, women’s overall labour participation levels seem to be affected by economic development and improvements in gender equality legislation (or lack of) as well as by the private foreign ownership of the firm and its exporting activities. Other impediments such as the lack of safe, efficient and cheap public transports hamper commuting to work for women.

However, such economic and practical explanations do not explain the whole Paradox; some key factors are cultural. This argument states that women from conservative societies would tend to participate less in the labour market given the large impact of social norms on their trade-off between working outside and being housewives. The considerable negative effect of traditional social norms would be materialised in several conscious and unconscious biases that dissuade women from choosing a professional carrier.

To understand the full situation of women today, all of these arguments matter. The situation is a complex mix between explicit concrete and implicit psychological obstacles that interact both at the macro and micro levels. Women in the South-Med today face structural multi-layered self-reinforcing inequalities deeply rooted in the system.

2. a) Has the situation of women in the South-Med region been improving in terms of concrete economic empowerment?

Yes, it has been improving in the region through some advancement in education mostly and enhanced legislations. Yet, inequalities are still prevalent in the region and concrete economic empowerment seems to be far from reached. The South-Med region seems to be behind in gender equality matters compared to other regions and the situation is actually improving slower than in other developing regions such as East Asia and Pacific or Latin America and the Caribbean. ILO estimates suggest that female labour force participation reached 59% in East Asia and Pacific in 2017, while in Latin America this rate reached 51.5%. As for the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region, the female labour force participation is less than half and close to only 20.6% in 2017. The region also lays behind when it comes to a other indicators of women economic and political participation.

b) You argue that the situation is not improving at the correct pace despite the measures adopted, why?

The answer is simple, when it comes to policy making regarding gender equality issues, two aspects are key to understand the inefficiency of the available measures adopted: On the one hand, there are obstacles that impede on the full implementation of measures. On the other hand, these measures are not comprehensive of the situation of women in the region.

First, measures are often hindered by the lack of social will to change. Due to the unconscious biases and other implicit and explicit channels, top-down initiatives are often misunderstood by locals, not accepted by the whole society and seen as inadequate. Mentalities and social norms remain not open to structural change, therefore despite national and international efforts, locals will find a way to deviate or pretend to change the situation without real consequences on empowerment.

Moreover, the measures adopted are often punctual uncoordinated projects and legal adjustments that do not into account the whole picture. The symptoms of the inequality problem are tackled but not the roots. Measures often lack consistency, sustainability/durability and are not part of a holistic approach to the matter. For instance, it is not enough to implement quotas, the system itself needs to work on reforming the role given to women and deconstructing the stereotypes and structural norms. In addition, there is no one South-Med woman but different profiles with different needs and that face different degrees of discrimination. For example, rural women accumulate inequalities and the answers to empower them are not the same as for women living in the capital.

3. How can the state create the conditions for women to fulfil their untapped potential?

To reach a structural empowerment the state needs to implement comprehensive laws and women empowerment needs to be a priority in National agendas, not only an aspiration. There is a need for national strategies creating the conditions allowing women to fulfil their potentials in all sectors of the economy, society and national politics. Creating a flexible national framework that understands women’s needs in each sector of activity and each context, would allow to institutionalize women empowerment. These principles would lead to a better framework for legislative reforms especially in issues such as family law and a modification of educational curricula to support social change.

However, to ensure a real empowerment of women, the state needs to coordinate its action with the other stakeholders. With a focus on children’s education, coordinated action could help change the perceived role of women in the society especially that biases start to develop at a really young age (around 3-5 years old). To make the message more relatable and legitimate, the State needs to work with local leaders such as religious leaders and other influencers that would help mimic good practices and expand the influence of adopted measures. However, working with the whole ecosystem does not mean working on improving the picture of women at the expense of men. It means to include men in the debate and to make them aware of the benefits of gender equality to the whole society.

4. In which ways can the private sector provide solutions to improve the way we invest in women?

Beyond understanding the positive economic externalities of gender equalities, the private sector could help improve policy making by building public-private partnerships in several fields relevant to women empowerment such as the digital sector by training women in coding, investing in vocational training, data gathering and rural areas.

Moreover, to ensure women’s economic empowerment enterprises could offer alternative and flexible working environments that take into account modern perceptions of responsibility sharing in a household. This could mean offering the possibility of work-from home for men and women for 1 day a week or a payed paternity leave on top of the maternity leave or a possibility of bringing children to the office 2 days a week… In addition to these internal policies, enterprises could also install principles of gender equality in their internal functioning by setting a quota in their management boards.

Additionally, enterprises can have an impact on stereotypes and social norms through marketing strategies and Ads. If the message of ads becomes more reliant on gender equality principles, stigmas could decrease.

5. You talk about role modeling and mentoring. How can it contribute to women empowerment?

This is a truly important point. Role modeling and mentoring are essential in order to instigate social change not only by empowering young women and raising their self-esteem and confidence but also by showing men the potential of women and allowing young men to grow accustomed to equality of chances.

On the smaller scale, mentoring can take the figure of small local initiatives working with women on increasing their self-esteem or exploring all the potential professional options available to them. This is the case of portraitists and mentors intend to help women grow more independent and strong.

On the bigger scale, initiatives such as establishing a TV channel featuring women from the region or the launch of a regional comity for gender equality regrouping influential women from different backgrounds could help increase the visibility of success stories. This would allow young women to identify with successful women and thrive to achieve their untapped potential. This is due to a crucial aspect of role modeling, it helps women not only explore their options in terms of goals but also in terms of ways and paths to achieve them.

Social norms can be changed and creating a virtuous circle for women empowerment from within the ecosystem and based on role-modeling, solidarity and mentoring can be a valuable step to achieve this.

 

Interview by Constantin Tsakas

This activity received financial support from the European Union through the FEMISE project on “Support to Economic Research, studies and dialogues of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership”. Any views expressed are the sole responsibility of the speakers.

Call for interns FEMISE : Deadline for submission: 24 February 2019

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As part of its activities, the FEMISE Network is launching a Call for Applications for two internship positions.

Deadline for submission: 24/02/2019

Position 1. Policy / Sustainable Development Analyst

We are looking for an intern whose mission will be mainly to perform the following tasks:

 

  • Preparing summary notes on topics related to the EU-MED region and contributing to EU-MED reports and Sector / National Policy Briefs, notably on issues related to Sustainable Development, Inclusiveness and Women and Youth integration in the Mediterranean countries (Maghreb and Mashreq),
  • Data collection (national and regional), synthesis and creation of indicators.
  • Communication activities and animating the FEMISE social networking platforms, contribution to FEMISE branding strategy.

For more information, please consult the internship sheet available here (FR)

Position 2. Trade / Innovation Analyst

We are looking for an intern whose mission will be mainly to perform the following tasks:

  • Preparing summary notes and contributing to EU-MED reports and Sector / National Policy Briefs, particularly on issues related to Trade Integration and Innovation,
  • Analysis of the economic, social and environmental impact of the Association Agreements signed between the Mediterranean countries and the European Union, in the framework of a work in collaboration with the EU (DG Trade),
  • Collection of data (national and regional), synthesis and creation of indicators on Trade and Innovation.

For more information, please consult the internship sheet available here (FR)

FEMISE MED BRIEF no15 : « Is informality an irrevocable obstacle to Universal Health Coverage ? »

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Mohammad Abu-Zaineh, Bruno Ventelou, Khaled Makhloufi

The FEMISE Policy Brief series MED BRIEF aspires to provide Forward Thinking for the EuroMediterranean region. The briefs contain succinct, policy-oriented analysis of relevant EuroMed issues, presenting the views of FEMISE researchers and collaborators to policy-makers.

 

The latest MED Brief on ” Is informality an irrevocable obstacle to Universal Health Coverage (UHC)? Evidence from Tunisia” is available here.

Summary : In many developing countries and in particular in the context of Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, large fractions of the population are deprived of access to any social security system, mainly because they are working in the informal sector. This paper shows that even among the most precarious workers, the willingness-to-pay for a health insurance system is substantial but varies according to the three different healthcare insurance plans proposed in the survey (giving access to public provider, to private providers, or reimbursement), associated or not with a pension scheme. This suggests that informality, by and in itself, is not an incurable impediment behind the achievement of the UHC goal in Tunisia as long as appropriate insurance plans are offered to the uncovered populations.

The list of FEMISE MED BRIEFS is available here.

The policy brief has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union within the context of the FEMISE program. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of the authors and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union.