USAID mission director hails technical education progress in Egypt

CAIRO – 27 September 2019: The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission Director in Egypt Sherry Carlin said that Egypt has seen a real boost in technical education during the past period, powered by private sector cooperation, and awareness of labor market needs.

The remarks came during a meeting between USAID’s Carlin, Minister of Local Development Mahmoud Shaarawy, the director of the Local Development program in Upper Egypt Hisham Hilbawy, and a number of ministry leaders, read a ministry statement on Friday.

During the meeting, Carlin introduced new disciplines in USAID training program, where students get trained in logistics, renewable energy, and agriculture fields.

Carlin further discussed the details of its funded project “WISE,” which stands for the Workforce Improvement and Skills Enhancement, in cooperation with the Ministry of Local Development to merge the gap between supply and demand through establishing sustainable institutional mechanisms like “Begin your journey” program.

The statement added that Minister Shaarawy expressed his appreciation to the huge size of cooperation between the ministry and the USAID over the past period, wishing for increased fields of collaborations in the future. He said the ministry appraises all the programs atop of them those targeting the development of the local administration, workforce, technical education and enhancement of skills, which help in providing job opportunities, and qualify workers to labor market.

Some of the ministry programs in Upper Egypt, were presented by Minister Shaarawy, who highlighted development projects in Qena, and Sohag governorates with investments worth L.E. 18 billion, and partial funding from the World Bank over five years.

The Minister of Local Development also stressed the keenness of the political leadership and the government in bringing about real economic and social development in Upper Egypt governorates.