Employment for Youth in Egypt (EYE): Working Together in Qalyoubia and Menoufia

Youth employment is a major challenge in Egypt. The unemployment rate among youth has reached 31.5 per cent, 23 per cent for young men and 48 per cent for young women. 90 per cent of people unemployed are under the age of 30. However, unemployment is not the only problem in relation to the labour market in Egypt. A central focus of recent Government action and of this proposal is on fostering entrepreneurship among youth. Egypt’s central bank has opened a special credit line of 200 billion LE (20 billion USD) to commercial banks for SME lending. This is a major opportunity for many more young people to enter in business. However, many capable youth carrying good business ideas will not succeed in securing the funding and getting through the start-up phase without technical support and coaching. Only 7% of youth are today self-employed/entrepreneurs, mostly involved in micro/informal businesses. The two Governorates selected for this proposal are particularly symptomatic of the overall national context, with large populations and youth unemployment rates of 33.7 per cent in Qalyoubia and 27.1 per cent in Menoufia in 2015. These areas were also selected based on ILO’s established capacity to operate there. The Danish-funded “Decent Jobs for Egypt’s Young People” was launched in 2013 in these 2 Governorates. It has succeeded in establishing solid relations with the local authorities there. The ILO has become familiar with the needs and capacities in the area, and will be able therefore to build upon the knowledge base acquired, the local capacities developed, and the established cooperation agreements. This will allow the proposed project to meet the projected targets despite the very tight implementation timeline imparted. Two Business Development Service (BDS) units have been created in the Governorates and provide market relevant training. A partnership with the Government is in place to facilitate the creation of 13 small to medium factories in Qalyoubia in the ready-made garments sector to employ 1,625 workers. Entrepreneurship education programmes have been launched at the University of Benha in Qalyoubia and special entrepreneurship training programmes for women are being implemented with the National Council for Women and the Social Fund for Development. This proposed project builds on the lessons learned and partnerships of ILO youth employment programme in Egypt. Some 30M USD have been invested in the past 5 years on job creation initiatives for youth. This has allowed the ILO to build an extensive network of key implementing partners and experts. It has also cemented ILO relations with the Government, in a security and political environment which has become increasingly restrictive for many NGOs and international players to pursue their work.

Project symbol

EGY/16/02/NOR

Admin unit

DWT/CO-Cairo

Start date

13/12/2016

End date

30/09/2020

Total allocation

1194600

Total expenditure

Status

Closed

1194740

Development Partners

Norway, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Country/Countries

Egypt

Outcomes

Outcome 4: Sustainable enterprises as generators of employment and promoters of innovation and decent work