January 14, 2015 - Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, on behalf of Christian Paradis, Minister of International Development and La Francophonie, today announced additional support to encourage economic growth and empower women and young people in Egypt.
“Canada is committed to supporting long-term stability in Egypt by funding initiatives that offer meaningful employment and a secure, self-sufficient future for those who need it most,” said Minister Baird. “Our support will help stimulate economic growth, provide jobs for young people and encourage women’s entrepreneurship and employability.”
Canada is providing an additional $5 million for the Decent Employment for Youth Project. In addition, Canada will be launching a $15-million call for proposals to support projects that increase access to financial and non-financial services, resources and markets to increase the employability, productivity and income of women in Egypt.
“Empowering women to be active economic actors has significant potential to increase sustainable economic growth, bring more benefits to women and their families and accelerate poverty reduction,” said Minister Paradis. “The ensuing projects will help to provide the information, skills and tools that Egyptian women need to become active agents of their own future through productive employment and the development of entrepreneurial activities.”
From 2009 to 2014, Canada provided $50 million to Egypt in long-term development assistance. Minister Baird will next travel to Cairo for meetings with senior political and religious figures.
A backgrounder follows.
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Canada is providing an additional $5 million for the Decent Employment for Youth Project managed by the International Labour Organization. This project focuses on providing skills training and expertise aimed at helping young people secure jobs and start businesses in such sectors as tourism and manufacturing.
The Decent Employment for Youth Project supports the Government of Egypt’s efforts to stimulate sustainable economic growth and provide appropriate jobs for young people, especially among groups such as woman-headed households, people with disabilities, poor people living in rural areas and unemployed graduates.
In 2011, Canada contributed $10 million in support of this project. Today’s announcement of an additional $5 million will provide assistance to key government ministries, private sector partners and not-for-profit organizations in implementing youth employment policies and programs. The project focuses on providing training and expertise aimed at helping young people secure jobs and start businesses.
To date, with Canada’s support, this project has increased the professional capacity of approximately 35 percent of all technical staff at the Ministry of Manpower and Migration and has rolled out skills for employment curriculum and training programs to all of Egypt’s higher-education technical colleges and 15 public universities. The project has also created more than 2,500 job opportunities for youth, women and other marginalized groups in its target regions. Overall, the project has significantly strengthened the abilities of government ministries, the private sector and not-for-profit institutions to implement Egypt’s Youth Employment National Action Plan.
Women’s economic empowerment is an important part of Canada’s efforts to help build sustainable economies in the developing world. To this end, Canada will be launching a $15-million call for proposals designed with the aim of improving opportunities in Egypt for women’s entrepreneurship and women’s participation in the work force. This call will support projects that increase access to financial and non-financial services, resources and markets to increase women’s employability, productivity and incomes. Projects submitted under the call for proposals would have the following ultimate and intermediate results:
- Increased women’s empowerment for sustainable economic growth.
- Increased productivity and job opportunities generated by women entrepreneurs.
- Increased employment of women by businesses.
- Reduced gender-specific barriers to women’s entrepreneurship and to women entering into and remaining in the work force.
Details of the call for proposals will be announced in the coming weeks.
