Skills for Success® Programs
Skills for Success® is an employability skills training program developed and implemented by Amideast, a leading U.S. educational, professional, and cultural development organization in the Middle East and North Africa. As a scalable, customizable training program, Amideast partnered with Legacy International to offer training and programming specifically for those from the West Bank and Gaza.
This is an example of activities where Legacy International holds mutually shared goals of expanding opportunities for youth and advancing economic development in the Middle East and North Africa.
Between 2019-2023, Legacy International partnered with Amideast to develop and implement a variety of supplemental programs for Skills for Success® participants that help continue their leadership and professional development for the global workforce. Our programs help to address the skills mismatch that underlies the high rates of youth unemployment in the MENA region. As partners in programming, we work together on Skills for Success® to foster global communication and contribute to the region’s economic development.
The initiative was funded by the United States Embassy – Jerusalem. Over 140 Palestinian young professionals between 20 and 33 years old participated in both virtual and in-person programming in the U.S., with different professional themes for each session:
Professional Development Immersion Program
A delegation of Skills for Success participants from Jerusalem and the West Bank participate in the ten-day Professional Development Immersion Program in-person in Washington, D.C. and New York, N.Y. While in the U.S., the participants engage in a dynamic series of structured learning experiences, training sessions, and hands-on career development and cultural immersion, which provide the opportunity to examine their personal and professional goals as well as the qualities, skills, and attributes that define leadership in the U.S., the global workplace, and in the Palestinian cultural contexts. The students share their culture and learn from Americans in a range of immersive settings representing the U.S.’ diverse makeup
Sessions include facilitated and unstructured conversations, targeted training sessions, meetings with U.S. professionals, site visits and presentations, job shadows, volunteer service events, and informal conversations with Americans from all walks of life. Through guided sessions, guest speakers, and curated outings in the nation’s capital, participants learn about U.S. history, society, and governance, professional skill development, and leadership impacts on societies and the world. Participants also experience a three-day immersion in New York, N.Y. with a focus on further exploration of U.S. history, society, governance, and the arts.
Their New York visit ends with a Global Impact day where they visit the United Nations headquarters and engage with a variety of U.N. experts to learn more about the U.N.’s role and impact on a global scale, professional opportunities, and the work of key Palestinian employees and diplomats. View the 2021 Professional Development Immersion Program video to learn more about the experience.
Program session topics include:
- Global Futures
- Vision & Design Thinking
- Entrepreneurship Foundations
- Business Model Canvas
- Business Plan Development
- Finance and Funding
- Marketing and Pitching
These sessions are designed to give participants greater access to engage with U.S. and global experts from a variety of perspectives. Trainers, coaches, staff, and judges with entrepreneurship expertise, including half with direct experience in Palestine, support the participants throughout their process of learning about and becoming entrepreneurs.
Virtual Global Ambassadors Programs
Over three weeks, students from Gaza and the West Bank develop their global leadership skills and create innovative solutions to community challenges focused on global topics of particular importance to the region. They meet virtually with other motivated peers and American experts, university students, and young professionals to learn about a specific topic of global and local importance, while they build leadership skills, become more competitive in the global economy, and prepare to make a difference in their communities and the world.
The participants become part of building a network of young community leaders creating solutions to community challenges. They build skills and community as a cohort, explore skills and traits required of a global ambassador, focus on the intercepts of entrepreneurship, technology, and globalization, interact with diverse experts and peers, and develop a community innovation to implement online or in their communities.
Program topics have included:
- Women’s Empowerment
- Environmental Action
- Media Literacy
Legacy International Programs:
