The girl in the photograph, Cecelia Nealon-Shapiro, reads from the Torah as part of her bat mitzvah, a rite of passage ceremony, at Congregation Rodeph Sholom in New York City. Prior to this day, she attended classes in Jewish history and tradition, Hebrew, and recitation at the Reform synagogue, where girls now participate in a rite formerly reserved for boys, the bar mitzvah. Following the service, the family and guests, including several girls who were adopted by American families from the same orphanage in China, celebrated at an elaborate party.

At age 12 or 13, a Jewish girl becomes a "bat mitzvah" which literally means "daughter of the commandment." Bat mitzvah marks the time when a Jewish child is old enough to perform the mitzvot (commandments) and is considered an adult in the religious community. Neither the bar mitzvah for boys, nor the bat mitzvah for girls are formal religious ceremonies. The bat mitzvah observance is not carried out in Orthodox and Chasidic synagogues where women are not allowed to lead prayers.

Learning about Jewish history, customs, and holidays is a way that modern Jewish communities seek to transmit tradition and law to a new generation. The spirit of the bat mitzvah also includes choosing service to the community, representing engagement with the larger world beyond the family and living according to the values of their faith.

The video still shows The Moonbeam Youth Training Centre in Mavoko, Nairobi. The Centre is a project of UN-HABITAT built with support from UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and UN-HABITAT Executive Director Mrs. Anna Tibaijuk. The purpose of the center is to improve housing in urban slums by training young people in low cost, alternative construction technologies. Trainees gain employable skills, leadership skills, and self-help skills that help them transform informal housing to sustainable, permanent construction. Young people who complete the training receive certification and apprenticeships in carpentry, roofing, brick manufacture and bricklaying as well as other vocations.

With investment from local organizations and businesses, young men and women can significantly improve standards of living, including sanitation and security, for their communities while training for future employment. In addition to hands-on construction training, the program includes training in entrepreneurship and business management skills, with the objective that graduates can start and sustain viable enterprises that increase capacity in underserved communities, and enable future businesses to hire others. The project is an example of a multi-purpose, dynamic development initiative that involves youth as active rather than passive participants in achieving its goals. The trainees' work creates the project's own infrastructure, since the facility that the trainees are building actually serves as a training center when it is complete. The collaboration will eventually include youth from the informal settlements of Kibera, Mavoko, Githongoro and Thikain in Kenya.

The 2009 United Nations Arab Human Development Report describes a "youth bulge" as a high proportion of 15-29 year olds relative to the adult population. Young people are the fastest growing segment in Arab countries, with youth under 25 years of age comprising about 60% of the current population. The median age of the total Arab population is 22 years, compared with the global average of 28.

The youth bulge is viewed in the research literature both negatively and positively. According to the 2009 report, the region will require 51 million new jobs by 2020 to employ youth entering the labor market. The challenge will affect women more than men, whose current unemployment rates are 31.2% compared with 25% for men. Female youth employment was as high as 59% in Jordan with male youth unemployment at 35%. Unemployment, alongside increasing urbanization, are often tied to rising extremism, causing concern for the region.

The youth bulge, however, can also be viewed as an opportunity, a chance to empower youth and harness their energy to help build neighborhoods and countries. With sufficient forethought and investment, a youthful labor force is an opportunity for economic growth and stability. Over the next 30 years, the hazards and opportunities presented by the youth bulge in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) will be important tests for governments in the region and for the global development community.

[Download pdf file of chart here].

The photograph is from an exhibition entitled "Thirteen" by German professional photographer Janina Wick. It shows a young female ice skater leaning against the wall in a sports center. The elaborate costume, hairstyle, and makeup shows that she is not a casual skater, but one who trains for formal competition. The artist created this series of images in the tradition of formal portrait photography, to explore the way her subjects—young girls in early adolescence—portray themselves and at the same time reveal unintended vulnerability, awkwardness, and cultural aspects of the feminine adult world they aspire to enter. Wick photographs these young women in their own surroundings, wearing their own clothing. She takes multiple exposures, mostly allowing her subjects to pose themselves, but preferring the three-quarter portrait over full-frontal camera shots.

The photograph is from an exhibition entitled "Thirteen" by German professional photographer Janina Wick. It shows a young girl leaning slightly against a tree, against the background of a graffiti-covered wall, in an urban environment. The artist created this series of images in the tradition of formal portrait photography, to explore the way her subjects—young girls in early adolescence—portray themselves and at the same time reveal unintended vulnerability, awkwardness, and cultural aspects of the feminine adult world they aspire to enter. Wick photographs these young women in their own surroundings, wearing their own clothing. She takes multiple exposures, mostly allowing her subjects to pose themselves, but prefers the three-quarter portrait over full-frontal camera shots.

These photographs are among a series of fifteen taken in 1945 by U.S. soldier Glenn S. Hensley. Hensley was a professional photographer participating in aerial surveillance of Burma for the U.S. Army. The images illustrate an encounter between Hensley and four fellow U.S. airmen with the residents of the village of Kharagpur, West Bengal. Some of the photographs have significant annotations that reveal how they and the people they encountered felt about their interactions. The airmen had access to darkroom facilities, so they were able to show the results of the encounter to Mukta and her father, whom they report as being very proud. The response of the other villagers is shown in their gathering at the scene. The collection of nearly 600 photographs and notes were prepared by Hensley for his wife to use in teaching world history courses in Missouri during World War II.