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Arab Knowledge Report 2009: Towards Productive

Arab Knowledge Report 2009: Towards Productive

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United Nations Development ProgrammeJointly sponsored by the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation and the UnitedNations Development Programme / Regional Bureau for <strong>Arab</strong> States, this <strong>Report</strong> is the first ina series that address the state of knowledge in the <strong>Arab</strong> region with the view of knowledge asa primary avenue for renaissance and human development.The <strong>Report</strong> uses the concept of “knowledge” to embrace all forms of a society’sepistemological and cultural asset. It is viewed as a major organising principal of holistic humandevelopment, aiming to expand the choices and opportunities available to the individual <strong>Arab</strong>to enjoy freedom and an honorable life. <strong>Knowledge</strong>, in terms of its acquisition, production,indigenisation, and deployment, thus becomes a tool and goal that affects all levels of societyequally and involves all fields, from the scientific, artistic, cultural, and traditional to accumulatedsocietal experience.From this perspective, the <strong>Report</strong> discusses the broad features and key components of theknowledge society and the knowledge economy, and reviews the gap that divides the region fromthe advanced world. The report highlights many deficits in the various areas of knowledge,while stressing the pressing need for freedom as an essential prerequisite for establishing theknowledge society.Emphasising the triadic relationship among development, freedom, and knowledge, the<strong>Report</strong> views the upgrading of <strong>Arab</strong> knowledge performance as a gateway to the reform ofthe <strong>Arab</strong> development situation. Stressing the urgent need for action towards establishingthe knowledge society, and out of a belief in the right to knowledge and a conviction that itsdissemination is a societal responsibility, the <strong>Report</strong> also calls for better deployment of the <strong>Arab</strong>knowledge repertoire and for a productive intercommunication with the full range of globalknowledge.The <strong>Report</strong> concludes by putting forward a vision and a suggested action plan entailing a setof elements, practical mechanisms, and constructive action required to bridge the knowledgegap between the <strong>Arab</strong>s and the outside world on the one hand, and within the <strong>Arab</strong> countries onthe other, to keep pace with the ever-growing knowledge society and knowledge economy. The<strong>Report</strong> does not claim that the proposed plans are either comprehensive or exhaustive, nor doesit claim to hold a monopoly over the truth or all the right answers in this field. The suggestedprogramme does, however, set down open horizons and motivating markers of the desiredknowledge routes that lead towards renaissance and comprehensive human development.

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