The Executive Director of NIGSD participates in the Youth Forum of the United Nations Economic and Social Council 2022

Dr. Sherifa Sharif, Executive Director of the National Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development (NIGSD)- the training arm of the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development - and member of the Committee of Experts on Public Administration CEPA of the United Nations Economic and Social Council participated; at the Council's Youth Forum entitled "Recovering from COVID-19: Young people taking action for a sustainable future".
During her speech, Dr. Sherifa Sherif stressed the importance of enhancing youth participation to ensure compatibility with their needs, noting the importance of investing in youth-led initiatives that indicate that we are on the right path towards achieving the 2030 goals.
Sherif explained that with the approach of 2030, the need for systematic change appears in the Middle East and North Africa region and at the level of the continent, noting that the Covid-19 pandemic and its social, economic, and health impacts have highlighted the importance of global coordination and accelerating access to international goals.
 Sherif stressed the importance of raising awareness of sustainable development to achieve these goals.

Sherif referred to activities and initiatives that promote the 2030 Agenda, including the Arab Youth Climate Movement from Lebanon, the Butterfly Project from India, and the “Be an Ambassador” initiative from Egypt for sustainable development ambassadors.

 Sherif explained that 60% of Egypt's population of 104 million are young people under the age of twenty-five.
On the Egyptian government’s efforts to invest in human capital in line with Egypt’s Vision 2030; Dr. Sherifa Sherif referred to the launch in 2021 by the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development and the National Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development, the initiative of sustainable development ambassadors "Be an Ambassador" to spread the thought of sustainable development among young people.

Sherif explained that the institute works as a think tank and an advisory body for the government, the private sector, and civil society, and aims to create awareness and promote good governance practices to implement Egypt's Vision 2030 and thus the sustainable development goals.

Dr. Sherifa Sherif said that the Be an Ambassador initiative is a gender-sensitive model that aims to build national capacities through experiential learning in the field of sustainable development.

 Sherif indicated that the initiative includes a series of basic and technical courses offered by a specialized group of experts via the Internet, in addition to the training of trainers (TOT) phase.
Sherif explained that the initiative was presented to her in the first batch by about 7,000 young men and women, noting that about 1,000 trainees, ranging in age from 18 to 35 years, graduated from it, representing public and private universities and civil society in all governorates.
 A specialized batch of journalists and media professionals was also launched, with the participation of 50 media professionals.
Sherif indicated that the second batch, which will start next June, aims to train 1,000 other young men, and about 3,000 young men and women have applied to it so far.

Concerning the goal of the Be an Ambassador initiative, the Executive Director of the National Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development explained that it aims to create awareness and spread knowledge of the sustainable development goals, empower youth and express opinions, and spread the idea of sustainability, and encourage green startups.

Sherif indicated that graduates of the initiative will be enrolled in an advanced program focused on climate change.

This is in the context of Egypt's hosting of the COP 27 Climate Summit, where the program will present advanced information and topics on climate change in cooperation with experts from UNIDO, UNICEF, Strathclyde, University of Dundee, and Al Maktoum University.
Sherif continued that the graduates of the initiative will benefit from their experiences in another initiative launched by the institute, "Green Minds", where the graduates will transfer their knowledge to school students (from primary to secondary levels) through an experimental phase of 5 schools.
Sherif explained that the Green Minds initiative aims to develop knowledge among Egyptian teenagers about the basics and goals of sustainable development, climate change, and how to save the planet.
Sherifa Sherif also referred to the programs offered by the Institute to empower women, pointing to the "She is a Digital Future" initiative in cooperation with Cisco International and UNDP, which aims to bridge the digital gender gap, in addition to women's leadership programs at the national level in the governorates, and at the level of the African continent.

These programs provide women with knowledge on several topics, including climate change, Egypt’s Vision 2030, and Africa’s Agenda 2063, noting that about 4,000 women leaders have been trained in 12 governorates, and it is targeted to cover all governorates during 2022, and at the level of Africa, about 450 women have been trained from 45 countries.
It is noteworthy that the side event was coordinated by Yara Odeh, Regional Representative for the Middle East and North Africa for the United Nations Major Group for Children and Youth (SDG 5), in partnership with Pax Romana, the Regional Coordination Group for West Asia; The main group for children and youth - its coordinator, Dr. Sameh Kamel, and the Arab Youth Platform for Sustainable Development of the League of Arab States.


The panel discussion was attended by Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin, UN Special Envoy for the 2030 Financing Agenda, Engineer Sarah El-Batouty, Founder and Chairman of ECOnsult, and Betty Osei, Coordinator of Green Africa Youth Organization from Ghana.