At a roundtable meeting organised by the US Embassy in Algiers on Monday (November 27th), the US State Department launched recruitment for its training programme which will benefit women from the Maghreb and the Middle East.

The Legal and Business Fellowship Programme (LBFP) is designed to offer 40 women from 17 Middle East and North African countries working in law and business the opportunity to develop their skills in various fields, according to Taous Chaâbane, co-ordinator of the America-Mideast Educational and Training Services (AMIDEAST) NGO, responsible for recruitment in Algeria.

The programme, funded by the US Department of State's Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), and administered by AMIDEAST, is a six-month training course that will be held from March 15th to September 4th 2007, and will enable women who hold a university degree in law or business to benefit from study placement in large American companies or law firms that foster an environment of "dynamism and productivity".

According to the AMIDEAST website, participants will be placed in a month-long intensive academic program to study US business culture and practice at the top-ranked University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business or at its School of Law in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Following the academic work, each participant will conduct a five-month fellowship with a large US company or a top-tier law firm in a major US city.

Chaâbane says selection of candidates for this course will be merit-based and will take into consideration leadership potential, readiness to advance in the business and legal sectors and English proficiency. She stressed that AMIDEAST particularly encourages handicapped candidates and those from rural regions to seek to participate in the programme.

Four Algerian women thus far have benefited from the programme, which was launched by AMIDEAST in 2004. One of them Houda Sahri, a lawyer, was present at the meeting. She discussed the selection process and what she had learned from American universities and companies where she had trained in management and communication.

MEPI participants attended four-week MBA programmes at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, and Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, as well as three-five month internships at Fortune 500 companies.

After their training programmes, they were able to stay in touch with one another and share their experiences through a quarterly alumni newsletter, "BIP (Business Internship Programme) News".

Betsy Laun Maalouf, programme officer for AMIDEAST in Washington, DC, which organises various exchange programmes between the United States and the Middle East, tells Magharebia, "There has been a lot of enthusiasm from participants. We're always interested in building bridges because this helps reduce negative stereotypes."

The application deadline for Tunisia, Libya and Algeria is December 15th, 2006. For Moroccans, the deadline is December 8th. Candidates from Algeria, Libya and Tunisia may contact AMIDEAST in Tunisia.

U.S. programme recruits Maghreb women for legal and business training