EAA’s Al Fakhoora program, through Qatar Scholarship, partnered with the Dutch NGO to provide over 7,000 higher education and economic empowerment scholarships. 

“Congratulations to all of you who have managed to achieve your dreams, despite your difficult circumstances”

These go to underserved Palestinian youth in the West Bank and Syrian youth, refugees, internally displaced persons and vulnerable youth from host communities in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey. 

The milestone was marked by a meeting between two Syrian students and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, who is the UN secretary-general’s special advocate for inclusive finance for development and member of the Netherlands Committee for Enterprise. 

One of the students, Kubar Msho, 19, who now lives in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, recently received the 10,000th scholarship from the European Union. 

“Congratulations to all of you who have managed to achieve your dreams, despite your difficult circumstances and the added hurdle of the pandemic. Your unwavering ambition is an inspiration to all of us,” chairperson of EAA and UN Sustainable Development Goals Advocate, Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, said to the students. 

“We will continue to connect quality education with meaningful employment through Education Above All and our economic empowerment foundation, Silatech. I do not want this conversation to end; rather it must be a renewed beginning. 

“These 10,000 scholarships should serve as a road map to follow, to grant new hopes, new opportunities, and new lives to tens of thousands of other displaced youth,” she said. 

EAA and SPARK said the achievement highlighted their joint commitment to supporting the right to education for marginalised youth across the globe and the crucial role that higher education specifically plays in conflict-affected regions.

The two organisations added that through their partnership, they will continue to “empower youth, promoting equitable access to quality higher education as a fundamental right and a tool for reducing poverty, generating economic growth, and creating peaceful and just societies”.