Egypt Youth Employment: Economic Empowerment under FORSA programme

As part of major economic reforms implemented since 2015, the Government of Egypt has launched a conditional cash transfer programme entitled Takaful and Karama (Solidarity and Dignity in Arabic). The programme has gradually expanded its reach, and currently due to the repercussions of COVID 19 pandemic, an increase is expected to benefit around 3.4 million families in Egypt. As fuel subsidies and other “fiscal consolidation” measures have been taken to decrease public debt, T&K represents the main social assistance programme providing income support to its poorest segments. Poverty has been on the rise in Egypt and stood at the last count at about 33% of the population. The Government acknowledged the need to complement cash transfers with services and incentives to promote jobs and income generation among its vulnerable segments. The Ministry of Social Solidarity (MoSS) thus announced the launch of the National ‘Forsa’ (Opportunity in Arabic) programme in 2017. The ILO has since supported the Ministry in conceiving the programme. Forsa targets working age members of “poor” households, e.g. those qualifying for T&K benefits under its means testing and those that are not currently benefitting but had applied to T&K and had been found to live close to the means-test PMT score. A World Bank loan in 2019 has been signed including additional budget support for T&K as well as USD 50M to kick-start Forsa. Forsa will provide services and incentives to promote both self-employment/income generation and access to existing jobs/wage employment. The ILO has provided continuous support to the Ministry in the development of the Programme. Together with the WB it has advised the Minister and senior staff of the Ministry on good international practices in setting up “active” social assistance programmes or “graduation” programmes. It has then funded technical expertise within the Forsa programme unit established by the Ministry, as part of its programme on youth employment in Egypt. With the signing of the above-mentioned loan, the National Forsa programme is now effectively starting. For the first time in Egypt, the Government is launching a comprehensive “active” social assistance programme, targeting its most vulnerable segments. It is critical that the first phase of the programme demonstrates tangible results, for these efforts to be scaled up, and for significant public spending to be invested on such an important policy line. In comparison with other middle-income countries, Egypt to date is dramatically underspending on socio-economic assistance programmes. Egypt would need to spend an additional USD 1 billion per year on these types of programmes to come to par with middle-income countries’ average spending.

Project symbol

EGY/20/01/NOR

Admin unit

DWT/CO-Cairo

Start date

01/06/2020

End date

31/08/2024

Total allocation

2813362

Total expenditure

Status

Closed

2813362

Development Partners

Norway, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Country/Countries

Egypt

Outcomes

Outcome 3: Full and productive employment for just transitions
Outcome 4: Sustainable enterprises for inclusive growth and decent work