Youth unemployment rates in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region have been the highest in the world for over a quarter-century.2 This has been a source of frustration and social unrest for the region’s youth. Over the past fifteen years, MENA governments and development organizations have responded to this challenge, launching many youth employment policies and programs across the region. This policy briefing reviews the MENA youth employment challenge, documenting previous policy and programmatic attempts to address it and analyzing why they failed. It contends that program and policy failures have largely been the result of weak implementation and governance structures. Furthermore, it argues that boosting employment should remain a top priority and calls for renewed efforts.