Following the release of Advancing Arabic Language Teaching and Learning: A Path to Reducing Learning Poverty in the Middle East and North Africa, the World Bank partnered with Queen Rania Foundation (QRF) on a series of six webinars on Conversations on Advancing Arabic Language Teaching and Learning, which featured experts from across the region and the world, and helped to build a large network of interested stakeholders. The report identifies and explores the factors related to high learning poverty rates across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, in which more than half of children cannot read and understand an age-appropriate text by age 10. These webinars, which are recorded and housed on the QRF website, along with the 2-page briefing notes that accompanied each webinar, have also been helpful in the World Bank’s engagements on reducing learning poverty in MENA. The report also proposes a path to assist MENA countries in their efforts to reduce learning poverty, which has been revised following the webinar series. These webinars have been instrumental in creating a community of experts from countries across the region, as well as development partners and academics from outside the region.
