The meticulously-crafted Khanjar, incense burners and many other handcrafted items from the Sultanate of Oman trace their roots back several hundreds of years, and remain a key feature of the Omani culture even as the country has seen very fast economic development.

Within the framework of the upcoming Country Partnership Strategy for Iraq, we reflect on the Social Protection challenges in Iraq, starting with a look at Iraq’s social safety nets, to be followed by subsequent blogs on labor/employment and social insurance.

The Omani Women’s Association (OWA) in the Wilayat of Shaleem and the Halaniyat Islands has become the latest member of the women’s development body to benefit from Oman LNG’s targeted social investment programme.

In these days of political unrest and constant change in the Arab world, there are many instances of violence and a pervading lack of trust among people. More than ever, people wonder what mechanisms need to be in place to heal and repair relationships between people and public institutions.

A fun day for children with autism and their families from East Jerusalem was organized yesterday at the Princess Basma Jerusalem Centre for Disabled Children.

A delegation of EU cooperation advisers have paid a field visit to an EU-funded project working for the prevention of illegal migration of unaccompanied minors in Morocco.

“And even this lamp is ‘Haram’!” Egyptian actress Yasmin Abdelaziz ironically said in a movie where she portrays a woman going through a phase of extremism. Of course, the filmmakers exaggerated the extent of extremism, thus her character believed everything was “Haram” (prohibited in Islam), the [ … ]

The other day I was invited to a wedding - not a normal Yemeni wedding - but a wedding without Qat! This was a novelty I was keen on witnessing, but was unfortunately unable to accept the invitation as I was travelling outside the country at the time. I was, and remain, intrigued.

Bassel Shehadeh was a Syrian film producer and well-respected activist, killed on 28 May 2012 during a government assault on a neighbourhood in Homs, Syria.

The Middle East and North Africa region still lags behind other comparable countries in gender equality. Women’s access to opportunities continues to be restricted by socio-structural obstacles, inflexible mentalities and deep-rooted traditions.