In the post-recession grapple with youth unemployment in the United States, the debate over education reform needs a practical solution – one that builds a skilled and marketable workforce. According to Stanley Litow, IBM’s vice president of corporate citizenship and corporate affairs and Board Member of Meridian International Center, that solution is not private schools but private corporations.
The US Consulate in collaboration with the Meridian International Center has developed a two week program “Community Engagement- Art for Social Change”. Fourteen artists from Pakistan were selected from different cities of Pakistan to become a part of the program. All the artists were selected on the basis of their art works which they produced during a workshop of two days at Lahore and of one week at Islamabad in conversation with the Migration series by Jacob Lawrence, who is an American artist. Continue
After reaching Washington DC, as I started the road journey towards our hotel, like always I was inspired by the buildings and couldn’t resist but took my camera out and started taking pictures. The architecture here is simple but elegant. I am sharing some pictures which I took during our first journey to Washington. Continue
Forgive the sterotype — but whenever I think of Brazil, I think of fantastic soccer, the beaches of Rio de Janiero, the rhythms of Samba, and the splendor of Carnival. Of course, all of those are authentically “Brazilian”, but there are other aspects of Brazil which are quickly overtaking the cultural and tourism themes traditionally associated with this South American giant. These include the exponential growth of its business sector, large scale industrial and infrastructural development, and significant advancements in science and technology. I discovered this “side” of Brazil in early October when the U.S. Embassy to Brazil partnered with the Fulbright Commission in Brazil to sponsor a program on “Higher Education Missions to the U.S.”. The program, which was implemented by Meridian International Center, brought three regional delegations comprising eighteen Brazilian deans and academic professionals to the United States. Each of the regional delegations, visited several institutions of higher learning in the U.S. which could potentially provide innovative exchanges to the Brazil Scientific Mobility Program.
Just two days ago, I met a young man (Bekele) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia who was driving a cab that I took to a hotel as my flight was cancelled. As we talked, he told me he graduated at the top of his class seven years ago, with a degree in Information Technology, but he is still struggling to make ends meet, even when he felt lucky he at least had a job as a cab driver. Continue
