140 million from MSMEDA and EU to develop community services

Nevin Jamea, Minister of Trade and Industry and CEO of the Project Development Authority, witnessed the signing of contracts between the Enterprise Development Authority and a number of NGOs in the governorates of Assiut and Sharkia, as part of the implementation of the activities of the Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises Development Authority (MSMEDA), to implement the activities of the agreement to address the phenomenon of irregular migration in 11 governorate.

The 11 governorate are (Beheira – Sharkia – Dakahlia – Gharbia – Qalyubia – Menoufia – Kafr El Sheikh – Minya – Assiut – Fayoum – Luxor), which are the governorates that export the most to the phenomenon of irregular migration, with a total funding of 27 million euros, a grant from the European Union .

The contracts signed with these associations aim to: Providing the necessary funding to implement projects for public community service for the people of the two governorates and providing employment opportunities for young people in the fields of community services and environmental and health awareness (70 thousand operating days).

The signing events were attended by Mr. Ibrahim Al-Afia, advisor to the European Union ambassador and head of European cooperation in Cairo, and Eng. Tariq Shash, the executive vice president of the agency.

Nevin Jameh explained that this signature marks the beginning of the implementation of the various components of the agreement, foremost of which is the community services component, which aims to provide financing of 140 million pounds to implement 37 projects in the field of health, 36 projects in the field of environment, 32 projects in the field of kindergarten and 25 projects in the field of literacy.

It is expected that these projects will provide 2.6 million daily jobs for young people in the age group from 18 to 29 years, and about 1.2 million citizens will benefit from the services that are implemented, whether in the field of health care or the environment.

She emphasized that the activities of the agreement are carried out in full coordination and coordination with the Ministry of State for Immigration and Egyptians Affairs Abroad, as about 800 seminars are being implemented to raise awareness of the harms of irregular migration and alternative job opportunities targeting about 16,000 citizens.

Nevin Jameh indicated that this agreement aims to provide employment alternatives for youth in the targeted governorates through community development projects and labor-intensive infrastructure that have a good financial return in addition to programs to train young people and provide them with new professional and industrial skills that enable them to enter the labor market or establish small projects.

Micro-enterprises provide them with adequate income, and indicated the importance of this agreement in providing employment opportunities for irregular or medium-skilled workers, especially in infrastructure improvement projects.

On his part, Eng. Medhat Masoud, Head of the Central Sector for Community and Human Development in the Enterprise Development Authority, explained that the Irregular Migration Agreement includes three programs and major components to provide employment diaries for young people.

The first component is for youth employment in infrastructure development and improvement projects using semi-skilled and unskilled labor instead of machines.

As for the second component, it is concerned with employing young people in the fields of health and environmental awareness, literacy and kindergartens.

The third component depends on training young people on a large number of crafts and industrial and manual skills to qualify them for self-employment through the establishment of small or micro enterprises or to develop their capabilities according to the requirements of the labor market It makes it easier for them to get good job opportunities.