Project Objectives

Increasing the private-sector investment rate is key precondition for the development and growth of Egypt’s rural economy. But, as is the case in rural areas of many countries, Egypt’s rural areas are not always viewed as a first choice for investment, not only due to their remoteness and poor infrastructure, but also owing to the lack of awareness among rural communities about their economic potential and capacities. Indeed rural communities in Egypt face serious obstacles in accessing education and training opportunities, as well as credit, by cause of the inadequate provision of public and private services. For that purpose development programmes aimed at enabling an increase in the overall investment rate should encompass and consider those aspects as priorities. The rural economy can be an important source of employment if the right interventions are in place to ensure that these jobs are decent, environmentally sustainable and meet the aspirations of the Egyptian youth.

Against this backdrop, the project “Egypt Youth Employment (EYE): Jobs and Private Sector Development in Rural Egypt” aims to promote decent private-sector employment in rural Egypt through increased opportunities for employment within large enterprises and also within rural Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) along value chains of highest employability and growth potentials. The project is intended to capitalize on ILO’s expertise and experience in the promotion of decent employment in the rural economy and to build on past rural-focused initiatives implemented in Egypt and other countries.

Implementing Partners

This project is implementing in partnership with the Ministry of Investment and International Cooperation, and in cooperation with key partners as the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (MSMEDA) and Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI), in addition to other entities as the Central Bank of Egypt, the Ministry of State for Local Development, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) and the providers of financial and non-financial services.

Project Strategy

The project adopts a two-pronged strategy combining 1) the direct support component, reflected in carefully-designed value-chain development interventions in selected economic (sub)-sectors, with 2) an institutional and capacity development element, embodied in several training and skills development initiatives, using ILO well-renowned enterprise and entrepreneurship tools, that will further enable and reinforce the value-chain interventions to realize their objectives.

Target Beneficiaries

Men and women in rural communities, MSMEs within the selected value chains, business development and financial services providers, public institutions involved in the implementation of the project.

Project Outcomes

Outcome 1: Strengthened capacity of stakeholders to make informed decisions about addressing opportunities and challenges for the promotion of decent jobs in specific economic sub-sectors in rural Egypt;

• Identify priority sub-sectors/value chains in consultation with government and national partners;
• Support lead firms to implement enterprise-level action to improve growth and employment in priority (sub-) sectors/ value chains;
• Facilitate the capacity development of ILO relevant stakeholders to engage effectively in the development of (sub-) sectors/ value chains.

Outcome 2: Decent work opportunities promoted along selected (sub) sector/ value-chains in rural Egypt

• Based on ILO training tools, provide management and skills development, technical support, and advisory services, to partnering SMEs/ suppliers to enhance productivity and working conditions within selected sub-sectors;
• Design, facilitate and implement tailored training for employment programmes, based on the needs of the firms in the selected sub-sectors.

Outcome 3: Emerging MSMEs/small-scale producers supported/ scaled up in rural Egypt to contribute to local economic development (LED) and to promote decent employment opportunities

• Engage, capacitate and integrate emerging MSMEs to enhance and upgrade their contribution along targeted value chains;
• Promote and scaling-up MSME and entrepreneurship development initiatives/ programmes in rural areas.