Ronald Bruder
Ron Bruder is an American entrepreneur and advocate for increased youth employment opportunities in the Middle East and North Africa. He is the founder of Education For Employment (EFE), the leading network of affiliated locally-run nonprofits that create public-private partnerships with employers to train youth in technical and soft skills and place them in jobs or provide entrepreneurship support across the Middle East and North Africa. The network has local affiliates in Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan, Palestine, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen, with programs in Algeria and Bahrain, as well as capacity-building support organizations in the United States and Spain. EFE has supported over 181,000 youth (59% women) to enter the world of work. EFE’s extensive media coverage is here. Bruder was named on the TIME 100 list of the most influential people in the world. He lives in Westchester County, New York.
- Visit their website
- Education For Employment (EFE)
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- Model
- Non-profit Social Enterprise
- Sectors
- Gender Inequality; Future of Work; Education
- Headquarters
- USA
- Areas of Impact
- North America, Middle East & North Africa, Palestinian Territories, Algeria, Tunisia, Yemen, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia
Education For Employment (EFE)
Education For Employment (EFE) envisions a future in which young people in the Middle East and North Africa have the opportunity to reach their potential through careers that enable them to contribute positively to their families, their societies, and the world.
EFE seeks to achieve this transformative change by addressing the challenge at two levels. First, EFE helps young people gains skills, secure a career and improve their quality of life while also becoming involved as active citizens in their community. Second, EFE promotes systemic change within public educational institutions in the MENA region to deliver quality career-oriented education that meets market demand. Both of these goals require the building of public-private partnerships with local and international businesses, the education sector, community-based organizations, other non-profits, international organizations, public policy entities, and governments to address youth unemployment, its causes, and possible solutions.
EFE takes a very simple and practical yet innovative approach to serving youths, starting with employers. In this demand-driven strategy, EFE identifies sectors of the economy that offer solid potential for growth and job creation but lack appropriately qualified personnel. EFE then identifies companies that are willing to commit to hiring EFE graduates. By partnering with these companies and with local educational institutions and trainers, EFE develops market-relevant, interactive training courses that are directly linked to job placements for successful graduates. EFE is working to change the mind-sets of employers by showing them that there is an untapped pool of human capital in unemployed youths who receive practical education that equips them with valued skills. More than 4,400 youth have graduated from EFE training programmes across five MENA countries and the Palestinian Territories; 44% of graduates are women.