The Federation of Egyptian Industries and ILO explore improving prospects for refugees and Egyptian host communities.

Partnership for improving prospects for forcibly displaced persons and host communities (PROSPECTS) and the Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI), Egypt’s largest employers’ organisation, organised two rounds of a capacity development workshop for employers in Alexandria and Cairo.

News | 25 November 2020
Following the occurrence of COVID-19, the private sector and the economy at large faces a wide range of employment challenges. While these are globally challenging times for all, it is an especially trying time for refugees and Egyptian host communities alike.
As part of an immediate response to the challenges prolonged by the spread of COVID-19, PROSPECTS, which is funded by the government of the Netherlands and is implemented by the ILO in partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), United Nation’s High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and UNICEF, seeks to foster an enabling environment for socio-economic inclusion, improve access to education and protection for refugees and strengthen the resilience of vulnerable host communities.
The key objective of the ILO-FEI capacity development workshops was to further discuss and tackle employment challenges that employers’ organisations, companies, refugees and vulnerable host communities are encountering. The over 90 participants represented key employer partners and stakeholders, including FEI and its staff, representatives from other national employer organizations, representatives of FEI’s sectoral chambers, in addition to representatives from FEI’s member companies.
The four-day workshops followed an approach inspired by PROSPECTS’ fundamental principle of peace and coexistence. The workshops’ agenda and topics included sessions about the ILO and specifically employers in the ILO, refugees and their rights in relation to International Labour Standards, international and national law and practice, with a special focus on integrating refugees into the labour market and addressing employment challenges facing companies and Egyptian host communities amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The last day of the workshop was dedicated to a practical Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) session.