Egypt’s Planning Minister Witnesses Graduation of 300 Trainees in the National Women's Leadership Program

H.E. Dr. Hala El Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, participated today in the closing ceremony of the project "Increasing Women's Participation in Public Life in Egypt" and the graduation of 300 trainees in the National Women's Leadership Program. The ceremony was attended by Dr. Maya Morsi, President of the National Council for Women, Dr. Ashraf El Arabi, President of the Institute of National Planning, Dr. Magid Osman, President of the Egyptian Center for Public Opinion Research (Baseera), Ambassador Christian Berger, Head of the European Union Delegation to Egypt, and Louisa Gomaris, Responsible for International Labour Organization (ILO) Standards and Gender Equality Programs at the International Training Center affiliated with the International Labour Organization in Turin, Italy.

During her speech, Dr. Hala El Said explained that the participatory mechanism for implementing the project brought together the National Council for Women, the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, the National Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development, the National Planning Institute, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics, Baseera, the European Union, and the International Training Center affiliated with the International Labour Organization in Turin, Italy. She clarified that this participation confirms the collaborative approach adopted by the Egyptian state in achieving comprehensive and sustainable development.

Dr. Hala El Said emphasized that the project aims to contribute to empowering Egyptian women and enhancing their capabilities for full participation in public life by building their capacities, as well as supporting women in accessing public services, policies, and programs that promote gender equality. This represents a key direction for the Egyptian state, with collaboration from all parties, reflecting the state's full awareness that women's economic empowerment has become an economic necessity.

El Said affirmed that women's issues and efforts to empower them economically, socially, and politically constitute a shining intersection in all axes of the Egyptian state's vision and developmental programs, as confirmed by the Sustainable Development Strategy "Egypt Vision 2030" and the "National Strategy for Women Empowerment 2030". She explained that these plans are translated into projects and programs that contribute to women's empowerment and positively impact indicators in this field.

She added that the Presidential Initiative for the Development of the Egyptian Countryside, "Decent Life," is one of the projects that contribute to improving the living conditions of Egyptian women by providing good health services, adequate housing, and productive job opportunities. The project has improved the quality of life for about 8 million women in the first phase, with the aim of reaching 26 million women in all villages of Egypt in the project's three phases.

El Said also referred to the National Project for the Development of the Egyptian Family and its role in enhancing efforts to improve women's status and enhance the quality of life for Egyptian families through its comprehensive axes, aiming to achieve economic empowerment for women by providing financial and non-financial services for women's projects and training programs for employment in close cooperation between all development partners from the government, private sector, civil society, financial and banking institutions, in addition to providing positive incentives through a deferred savings document for women conditional on compliance with guidelines ensuring the preservation of their health and the health of their families.

El Said pointed out the government's efforts to enhance digital transformation and promote the field of electronic government services to support the provision of public services to all citizens, especially women, to meet user requirements and facilitate access for all citizens, and reduce the cost of transactions, especially for women in remote areas, referring to mobile service cars and technological centers in neighborhoods and cities.

She also mentioned that the government provides various mechanisms for encouragement and honorable competition and promotes creating a suitable and safe working environment for women and people with disabilities in government institutions, highlighting the launch of the "Government Excellence Award for Equal Opportunities and Women Empowerment" as a category of institutional excellence awards.

El Said also mentioned the launch of the National Initiative for Smart Green Projects in Egyptian governorates as a pioneering initiative to deal with the environmental dimension and the effects of climate change, including a category for women-related development projects, where the second cycle of the initiative received nearly 1000 projects in the women's category, representing about 36% of the total smart green projects submitted in all categories of the initiative.

El Said continued to discuss the project's main objectives, including supporting the production and dissemination of classified statistics and data that consider gender equality, confirming the Egyptian state's keenness to develop national databases and digitize them, explaining that each database is classified according to gender to optimize dealing with female issues and women optimally, pointing out the launch of the Ministry of Planning's "Gender Responsive Planning Guide" to emphasize the importance of gender-classified data, as the guide aims to integrate the gender dimension in all developmental and investment plans of the state.

She added that developing skills and technical knowledge and building capacities of women for leadership, management, and participation in shaping public policy represent important outcomes of the project, a key direction for the Egyptian state within a broader and more comprehensive framework for investing in human resources, confirming the state's keenness to provide training programs and capacity-building directed towards women to qualify them for further active participation in development efforts and assuming leadership positions.

El Said concluded by mentioning that nearly 40,000 women from all governorates were trained during the past year in various training programs, including the Executive Women Leadership Program, and there will be graduations for trainees from the Women's Leadership School for qualification for leadership, which includes the Egyptian Leadership Program Abroad to connect Egyptian women abroad with the homeland. Additionally, there's the initiative "She... for a Digital Future" executed by the National Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development, the training arm of the ministry, along with the "Be an Ambassador" initiative for sustainable development to spread the culture of sustainable development among Egyptian youth. The percentage of girls who graduated from the initiative reached about 60% of the total trainees from all Egyptian governorates.