Introduction

Software and software engineering touch every human in every corner of the globe, yet many parts of the world are vastly underrepresented or completely absent from participating in software engineering research, development of software applications, and the creation of software-intensive products. Various nations across the African continent and the Middle East are examples. In this chapter, we use the nations of Jordan and Ghana as exemplars to review current efforts within the region. Ghana and Jordan were selected as exemplars for several reasons. First, both Ghana in West Africa and Jordan in the heart of the Middle East are both economically stable countries that border nations of varying economic and political unrest, making them attractive to persons in the region seeking educational and professional opportunities. Second, like the geographic regions where they are found, Ghana and Jordan contain large concentrations of young people who are undereducated and underemployed. Currently, young people within these two nations have limited opportunity to contribute to the development of emerging markets and are therefore poised to make an immediate impact if given the opportunity. Lastly, the economies of both nations have been steadily increasing for the past ten years with annual rates of growth at or near global averages, suggesting economic stability conducive to software engineering education and development.

The goal of this review is to answer three fundamental questions, namely, how big is the gap in software engineering practice in the Middle East and Africa, what has been the impact of this gap on EDI globally, and are Ghana and Jordan contributing at sufficient levels to software engineering practice? To answer these questions, a systematized review of each nation’s population, GDP, human capital, and global software footprint was conducted. Using guidance from the lead authors, Dr. Samarah and Dr. Ocansey, themselves natives of Jordan and Ghana, respectively, academic literature, global population repositories, and industry resources were reviewed to gauge the extent to which each of these two nations is contributing to software engineering practice, education, research, and policy. Google Scholar was used to conduct an initial search of the academic literature using the terms “Global Software Engineering,” “Software Engineering Education in Africa,” “Software Engineering Education in the Middle East,” and “[EDI] Global Software Engineering Education.” Authors used reference harvesting techniques to identify relevant literature from articles identified in the initial search. Repositories and industry resources cited throughout the chapter were used to provide estimates of current population and economic trends in the two exemplar countries and their respective regions. Electronic databases including Academic Search Complete (EBSCO), Embase, and CENTRAL were also used to access full manuscripts of identified articles. Search criteria were scoping and represent an exploratory analysis of the literature available on this topic. We caution against generalizing findings presented in this chapter as representative of the entire region, but rather challenge the reader to apply the information presented as two case studies to be referenced as prototypes in future equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives. We argue that the populations of Jordan and Ghana, like their respective regions, are ideally positioned for innovation. Using a systemized review of the literature, we identify four themes relevant to current efforts to encourage diversity in software engineering from the Middle East and Africa, namely, increasing access to education broadly, identification of current gaps in engineering practice, improving software engineering education and related research efforts, and improvements in policy to encourage software engineering innovation in underrepresented regions. Emanating from these four themes identified in the extant literature, we propose a plan for positive change to bring diversity from Africa and the Middle East to software engineering innovation and the future of software based on four pillars: (1) Access and Social Justice, (2) Software Engineering Practice, (3) Software Engineering Education and Research, and (4) Software Engineering Policy.

Pillar 1: Access and Social Justice

There is a crisis of education in the Middle East and Africa. This region includes scores of linguistic, ethnic, and cultural subgroups that far outnumber the territorial borders superimposed on the map during the last two centuries. The population within the Middle East and Northwest Africa (MENA) is younger than the global average including an estimated 108 million people between the ages of 15 and 24. Millions of these children and young adults have limited access to primary, secondary, and post-secondary forms of education [1].

Armed conflict in the region has made a fragile situation even worse, forcing the displacement of millions of people and limiting the availability of critical resources. The United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Refugees estimates the global population of displaced persons and refugees at 84 million individuals, with 51% of that number being children and youth 18 years old and younger [2]. Estimates on the number of displaced persons within the region vary between 15 and 16 million people, a number that is expected to grow in the proceeding decade. Like the global population of refugees, displaced persons within these countries are more likely to be under the age of 18, be women/girls, and have limited access to ongoing education [2].

Nearly half of the population in MENA are under the age of 24, with one in five individuals between the ages 10 and 24 years old. The human potential contained in this concentration of youth is enormous; however, to tap into this potential, equal access to educational opportunities is required. It is widely known that disparities in education contribute to social and health inequity. In the Middle East and Northwest Africa, these disparities are abundantly clear when examining the average return in annual income for each additional year of schooling. Researchers examining wage income as a function of schooling and experience found that MENA countries fall below the global average by as much as half [3]. Egypt has the lowest rate of return in the region at 5%, which is half of the global 10% average. These observed disparities are exacerbated by gender, with women in the region receiving significantly less return for identical levels of education. What’s more, women and girls in the region have less access to education, further limiting their ability to maximize their potential [4].

Education has physical health consequences as well, with evidence suggesting that the length of time a person remains engaged in formal education predicts health and longevity [5]. Education is such a strong predictor of health that a dose-response relationship between increased education and better health outcomes has been observed and replicated over time [6,7,8]. Education among women and girls carries specific benefits, including improved infant and child mortality, fertility, more sustainable population growth, and improved child nutrition [9]. These findings have important implications for the scores of youths and young adults with limited access to education in MENA with a particular emphasis on women and girls in the region who are further disadvantaged than their peers.

Global Software Engineering

Global software engineering (GSE) is now standard practice [10,11,12,13]. GSE refers to the software development carried out by decentralized teams of experts located around the globe working concurrently to develop commercially viable software for companies, governments, and related groups. Scores of institutions have developed GSE-specific training programs to meet swelling demand in this domain [11]. John White, former CEO of the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM), wrote in their 2006 report on the globalization and offshoring of software that

… Computing and information technology has experienced a dramatic shift in the past five years to a truly global industry, the forces that have driven and shaped this change are still at play and will continue.

—John White, CEO, Association of Computing Machinery

The intervening decade and a half since this report was published have provided ample evidence to support this prediction. GSE is the dominant form of software development for multinational companies looking to compete on a global scale. The demand for GSE-capable software engineering talent is predicated on the availability of quality GSE training programs that produce capable engineers. GSE is distinct from other subdomains within software engineering education in that the integration of global methods is essential to effective practice. Effective GSE training and practice requires teamwork across institutions with varying cultural work norms and different skill sets. To do this effectively, GSE educators and producers must collaborate with diverse talent from underrepresented regions. Emerging cohorts of young people like those in MENA countries are ideally positioned to inform the continued expansion of GSE.

Access Is Social Justice: Global Software Engineering

Social justice is focused on the preservation of the dignity and worth of human beings including their basic human rights. Inclusive to human rights is respect for an individual’s well-being through the preservation of basic needs including water, food, shelter, health, and education [14]. These rights overlap with one another with each component sharing collinearity. Access to education and economic opportunity is therefore essential to any social justice effort aimed at the promotion and preservation of human rights. Equal access to education is a powerful antidote to the effects of displacement, poverty, and social disparities [15].

Although all forms of education have the potential to address these long-standing disparities, GSE education should be considered as an essential component of any plan to expand educational and economic opportunities to under-resourced populations. The expansion of GSE-related employment is expected to continue over the next decade, which will have important economic implications for the significant number of people aging into the workforce in MENA. In the absence of opportunity, these individuals will likely fall prey to intergenerational cycles of poverty and poor health outcomes observed in the region over the last half century [16]. In addition, the expansion of GSE to labor markets left largely untapped in MENA necessitates the inclusion of workers from within those regions to inform products and ensure accurate representation. This, of course, must specifically include women who are globally underrepresented in software education and development [17].

Strategies to Expand Access

Unlocking the potential of young people, specifically women and girls, in MENA is an important social justice strategy that can be leveraged for the preservation of human rights in the region. Promoting equal access to education must be a key part of this strategy. Promising trends have been observed in the region with some estimates indicating that the education gap between men and women in the region is shrinking [18]. Despite these improvements many challenges remain including securing employment following education [3, 19]. Among areas within MENA where access to education has been expanded, the quality of the education provided is often low, which impacts employment opportunity [20]. Failure to secure sufficient economic opportunity following investments in education can undermine progress made in the region.

Effective interventions aimed at addressing education disparities in the region should be multifaceted. First, efforts to expand educational opportunities should be targeted toward women and girls who are often left out of education and labor force participation due to cultural mores and societal structure [21]. Evidence suggests that all groups benefit from interventions targeted at the most disadvantaged groups. Second, recruitment efforts should focus on identifying motivated students who are qualified or nearly qualified to participate in GSE-specific training. For students who are nearly qualified, bridge programs should be offered to ensure adequate preparation prior to enrollment and retention. Third, GSE training programs must track with global standards for education to ensure marketability of students following graduation.

Efforts to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion in software engineering education in MENA countries must elevate beyond rhetoric and include systematic planning for the inclusion of young people broadly and young women and girls specifically. Institutions of higher education, non-governmental organizations, and governing bodies would benefit from expanding GSE training programs within MENA countries as an effective social justice campaign to promote economic opportunity and social health. The human potential locked within the scores of young people aging into the labor market in MENA represents a major challenge for globalization. Institutions that work toward unlocking this potential through systematic investments in education and training will undoubtedly benefit.

Pillar 2: Software Engineering Practice

In this section, we look at software engineering practice in Ghana and Jordan as two exemplar case studies from Northwest Africa and the Middle East, respectively. The objective of this review is to understand the gap in software engineering practices in the Middle East and Northwest Africa and to assess whether Ghana and Jordan are contributing to software engineering practices at sufficient levels. To answer these questions, we conducted a systematized review of each nation’s population, GDP, human capital, and global software footprint.

Demographics

Africa and the Middle East are vast and varied regions. To gain an insight into software engineering practices, it is helpful to first look at current demographics of the region. In a 1987 study on software expansion in the developing world, Robert Schware concluded that some countries may acquire a competitive advantage, while others may lack behind, suggesting that governments and policy makers need to implement strategies to encourage country-wide software development [22]. Thirty-five years later, we argue that the region as a whole continues to have potential to act as a main player in this field. To provide a comparative view of the region, we take Ghana and Jordan as two representative countries. We then examine seven key indicators informed by World Bank Open Data and compare them to world standings. These indicators are population, population growth, GDP, GDP growth, government expenditure on education, school enrollment, and the World Bank Human Capital Index (HCI) [23].

Population and GDP

In 2021, Ghana had a population of 31.73 million people with a population growth of 2.1%, while Jordan’s population during that same year was 10.27 million with a 0.6% annual population growth compared with a world population growth of 0.9%. In addition, 30% or more of the population in both countries are ages 0–14, with Ghana at 37% and Jordan at 32% compared with 25% for the world.

The GDP growth of Ghana and Jordan was 5.4% (77.59B USD) and 2.2% (45.75B USD) in 2021, compared with a global average GDP growth of 5.9%. More important, however, are trends in educational spending across both countries. The expenditure on primary, secondary, and tertiary education as a percentage of overall education spending in Ghana is 22%, 37%, and 18% for primary, secondary, and tertiary education, respectively. In Jordan, the government spends 42%, 34%, and 23% of their overall education expenditure on primary, secondary, and tertiary education. Although varied, these data suggest that the largest portions of expenditures across both nations are within primary and secondary education. It stands to reason then that this investment in early education may drive increased enrollment in tertiary education. Looking at school enrollment for tertiary education as a percentage of gross education enrollment, 19% of students in Ghana matriculated to tertiary education, while 34% of students in Jordan matriculated to tertiary education. Globally, 40% of students as a proportion of gross education enrollment matriculate to tertiary education. This comparison underscores the need for more work in the region to provide primary and secondary education students with meaningful pathways to tertiary education.

Human Capital

A meaningful indicator is the Human Capital Index (HCI). Key findings using this index suggest that the likelihood a child born in Ghana and Jordan grows to full productivity with complete education and full health is 45% and 55%, respectively, which are lower than probabilities calculated in middle-income countries. The HCI for girls is slightly higher than that for boys in both countries with estimates suggesting a 0.46 and a 0.58 probability for girls in Ghana and Jordan, respectively. In addition, the HCI ratio of the richest to poorest 20% in Ghana is 1.16 and in Jordan is 1.23. The global average of the richest to poorest is 1.35 with a global range of 1.12–1.68.

Global Footprint

If we examine country presence on the public Internet, we find that the Google search engine shows Ghana with 74,000 publicly accessible websites and Jordan having over 4 million. The Microsoft Bing search engine returns about 10,000 websites for Ghana and over 2 million websites for Jordan. If we look at scholarly output with a measurement of access via a country domain name, Google Scholar shows 13 for Ghana and about 33,000 for Jordan. The low numbers for Ghana may be attributed to using website domain names that do not have the country two-letter code. This conspicuous absence of country-specific domain names is telling in that it suggests an incentive to mask locality in order to gain access to online space. Looking at big tech companies’ presence in Ghana and Jordan, we see that Google opened its Africa Artificial Intelligence (AI) center in 2018 in Accra, while GE had an office there since 2014. Twitter has recently announced plans to open its first Africa office in Ghana as well [24]. In Jordan, the King Hussein Business Park houses more than 75 national and international companies such as Microsoft, Cisco, HP, and others including more than 100 startups and the Oasis500 high-tech incubator [25]. Oasis500 was launched in 2011 [26] and has received 14,000 startup applications with a recent evaluation of $200M. Importantly, 26% of Oasis500 founders are women [27]. The Country Commercial Guide forwarded by the International Trade Administration of the US Department of Commerce identified software as a leading sub-sector in Jordan. The report gives guidelines for opportunities in IT infrastructure projects, Arabization, gaming, financial services, and e-government [28]; however, it did not offer any guidelines for seeking opportunities in the software sub-sector. In comparison, the same guide for Ghana does not offer much guidance on software sub-sector opportunities [29].

Given the region’s population scale, expected population growth, and high concentration of youth, both countries offer substantial untapped human capital. Although there is a rising scene of startups in both Ghana and Jordan, the common theme remains one of development and untapped potential. Like development initiatives in Jordan and Ghana, startups in developing nations should focus their energy on serving the local market by first creating innovations that have a direct local impact. Once developed, initiatives within these nations can expand their reach regionally and then globally.

Pillar 3: Software Engineering Education and Research

In this section, we apply a similar case study model to examine software engineering education and research in the Middle East and Africa. The goal of this exercise is to answer another fundamental question: what is the gap in software engineering education and research in the region, and what has been its impact on EDI globally? Are Ghana, Jordan, and neighboring countries making meaningful contributions to software engineering education and research, and how does this impact EDI? Does the region provide software engineering education that includes both a global and a local perspective? Is the region producing innovations, new products, and new services, or is it simply consuming, maintaining, and servicing products built by other developed countries?

It is telling that in 1991, the United Nations University in Macau created the International Institute for Software Technology (UNU-IIST) with an agreement encompassing the UN and the governments of the nations of Macau, Portugal, and China. In 2003, a colloquium was published to celebrate the tenth anniversary of IIST with a renewed mission to bring software technology capabilities to developing countries [30]. In 2015, a new director was charged with rebuilding this institute [31] as the United Nations University Institute on Computing and Society (UNU-CS). As this change shows, the impact of software was clearly understood even in the early 1990s, and it became more apparent in the past ten years. Although the UN mission to bring software capabilities to developing nations is noble, we argue that this effort needs to be led by the nations themselves to bring lasting change and full participation, equity, diversity, and inclusion. We examined several studies that looked at different aspects of software engineering research or software engineering education in the context of Ghana and Jordan. In the following section, we describe some of the studies in detail and suggest improvements to software engineering research and education in the region.

Software Education in African Nations

Cyriaano and Osman argue that software engineering education in Africa not only needs to consider a global perspective but also include understanding of the student and local environments. They argue that often the curriculum being taught was developed in the context of industrialized societies with examples that are foreign to the African students [32]; thus, the effectiveness of the coursework is not achieved, and students are often left confused and lost. For example, one study looked at how teaching an Artificial Intelligence (AI) undergraduate computer science course represented challenges for students in Namibia and how the course plan and approach had to be adapted to the local context [33]. In another study, Korpela and colleagues set out to answer higher-level questions related to software engineering’s ability to improve people’s lives and economic conditions within Nigeria. Specifically, Korpela and colleagues investigated the way in which information systems development has improved life and human conditions in Nigeria using the results of over 15 years of European-African research. They concluded that this development can have a direct impact on Nigeria and can be generalized to other African and developing countries as well [34].

Software Engineering Education in the Middle East

Studies investigating the impact of software engineering education in the Middle East ranged from research looking at general software engineering education, specific case studies for STEM programs at the tertiary education level, and software engineering coursework to specific topics in software engineering and its applicability to the industry. One study by Al-Zaghoull and colleagues looked at software engineering education in Jordan and how to improve the curriculum beyond global standards from IEEE, ACM, and the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK). They examined the changes proposed by their local educational accreditation commission, the Higher Education and Accreditation Commission [35]. One can conclude from their study that not only a global view is necessary but also a local context.

Another study by Radaideh et al. benchmarked the software engineering education curriculum at the undergraduate level at one STEM university, Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST). Their focus was to examine how compliant the curriculum is with the IEEE Software Engineering Body of Knowledge, in particular, knowledge areas in software requirements, software design, software testing, software construction, and software maintenance. They found that the JUST curriculum is compliant with the first three areas and partially compliant with the last two [36]. Looking at specific software engineering courses, Hanna et al. compared courses taught at Jordanian universities with those in other countries including the United States and the United Kingdom. They also examined which courses are software engineering specific and which ones are not. They found that more than 60% of courses taught in such programs are non–software engineering courses and that the coursework needs to be augmented to prepare students to join the market force [37]. Yet, AbuLail and Shkoukani show that software reverse engineering is critical to software engineering education [38], suggesting that cross-training is required and necessary for software comprehension and for bringing to society software engineers who can make improvements to existing systems with full understanding of the system operational and local context.

It is clear from the studies originating from developing countries that there are multiple aspects that need to be addressed in order to achieve higher participation and inclusion of this region in software engineering research and education. Specifically, these components are (a) collaboration and awareness of software engineering research and education among regional countries, (b) software engineering education in primary and secondary schools, (c) changes to curriculum to include both a global and a local perspective, (d) supporting software engineering education research, and (e) greater participation and collaboration between academia and industry in both theoretical and applied research. We are starting to see evidence of the region taking note that they need to work together to play a meaningful role in this space. For example, collaboration among regional countries, the Africa and Middle East Conference on Software Engineering, and the Software Engineering in Africa conference have merged into a new conference, the Federated Africa and Middle East Conference on Software Engineering (FAMECSE). These initiatives, we hope, are welcome signals of a more robust future of software engineering education in the region.

Pillar 4: Software Engineering Policy

Software, software engineering, and the countless products and tools produced therefrom impact every community in the world. Yet, huge swaths of the global population are functionally absent from software engineering education, research, and development. EDI in software engineering is not simply a philanthropic initiative; it is also a sound development strategy for policy makers and visionaries seeking to shape future markets. The gap between the wealthiest and least-resourced countries in the world is projected to continue growing in 2023 [39]. These disparities are particularly alarming when looking at projected outcomes for young women and girls [40]. Regions with limited access to software engineering education, research, and development continue to fall behind the rest of the world in innovation. This phenomenon, of course, is not for lack of available talent. Regions like the continent of Africa and the Middle East are frequently overlooked for investments in education and research, despite the overwhelming presence of human capital in the region [2]. Improving EDI within software engineering education, research, and development within this region must be included in future plans for the global development of software engineering.

Onshoring Global Software Engineering

Evidence suggests that the infusion of knowledge diversity within software education and development can produce vast amounts of creativity and innovation [41]. This process, however, is not without challenges. Failure to mindfully infuse diversity within GSE contexts can result in an erosion of innovation [42]. This corrosive effect on innovation often occurs at the intersection of diverse forms of technical knowledge and shared forms of common knowledge [43]. Globalization within software development has historically been based on the recruitment and retention of diverse forms of technical knowledge and labor that could be leveraged as an “offshore” resource. Offshoring global software engineering is still common today [44]; however, the practice is becoming increasingly antiquated in the context of emerging evidence characterizing the benefits and best practices of knowledge management (KM) [45, 46]. In contrast to offshoring practices that are largely unidirectional, effective KM involves an exchange of information that is based on the social characteristics of teams, shared values, organizational structure, and free availability of information [45]. Policy makers and leaders interested in the benefits of EDI within software engineering should take heed of this emerging evidence and transform their knowledge sharing practices accordingly.

To affect software engineering futures in their own country, leaders and policy makers should be invested in a correctional process of onshoring software engineering talent. For decades now GSE developers have exploited global software engineering talent in India, Central and South America, and Eastern Europe to reduce the costs of company processes [44]. Offshoring, however, is a short-term strategy often leveraged by developers in wealthy nations for cost-saving benefits and not much else. Onshoring, in the context of EDI in software engineering, is instead focused on the development of an ecosystem of domestic innovation such that emerging markets can contribute to the development of software innovation. Categorically distinct from offshore labor provided to foreign-based multinational companies, onshoring software engineering within Middle Eastern and African nations will require investments in education, research, and development.

Using EDI to Change the Global Software Engineering Landscape

Investments in EDI within the context of software engineering development and innovation have the potential to change the software engineering landscape globally. Leaders and change makers who fail to recognize the enormous potential of EDI within GSE do so at their own peril. Evidence suggests that software companies that prioritize the recruitment and retention of a culturally, ethnically, and gender-diverse workforce outperform companies that do not. Specifically, companies rated in the top quartile for ethnic and cultural diversity outperform those in the bottom three quartiles by as much as 36%, a figure that has been steadily increasing over the last five years [47]. This marked increase in profitability becomes even more clear when focusing on gender-diverse organizations who, on average, are 48% more likely to outperform their non-diverse competitors [47]. EDI in software engineering increases innovation and creativity [48], increases access to new markets [49], and improves a team’s overall adaptability [50].

To effectively create change for a more diverse future in software engineering, effort must be expended in underrepresented regions to recruit, train, and retain the software engineering talent of tomorrow. Africa and the Middle East contain hegemonic potential with respect to GSE. The availability of talent and untapped markets within these regions are ripe for training and innovation. To benefit from the diversity these regions have to offer, critical investments need to be made across four distinct domains, namely, education, awareness, research, and development. First, high-quality software engineering education and more broadly STEM education need to be available from grade school to college level. In the absence of available educational needs, incentives need to be forwarded to encourage those who seek an education abroad to return to their country of origin to strengthen domestic innovation and development. Second, public and governmental authorities need to contribute to public awareness about the positive benefits of software education and development. Third, software engineering research should be led and conducted by diverse teams within the region working to solve global and local challenges. Fourth, the development of software applications and software-intensive products for consumers within the region must be designed by diverse teams from within the region to ensure success.