Ministry of Planning and Economic Development Launches First Edition of Sustainable Universities Initiative in Collaboration with Cairo University

The Ministry of Planning and Economic Development has launched an intensive workshop program for candidates nominated by Cairo University to coordinate the first edition of the Sustainable Universities Initiative, in collaboration with Cairo University, under the patronage of the Prime Minister.

The program was inaugurated by Dr. Mohamed Alaa, Deputy Director of the International Cooperation Office and responsible for the Human Rights Unit at the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, and Dr. Mohamed Sami Abdel-Sadek, Vice President of Cairo University for Community Service and Environmental Development. They emphasized the importance of these programs in refining the knowledge and skills of the participants.

Dr. Mohamed Alaa explained that the main objectives of the initiative’s program include understanding the initiative and its pillars, and the role of students in working on it. Additionally, raising students’ awareness of the right to development issues and introducing them to the most important local and international strategies, programs, and policies related to the initiative’s pillars. He added that the objectives also include informing students about the most important national projects undertaken by the state and building the leadership skills of the program participants through their interaction with various important experiences during the training events.

Alaa further stated that the program aims to bridge the gap between the theoretical and practical aspects and establish positive relationships between students from various faculties, reflecting positively on the future cooperation between the university faculties in the success of the initiative and forming a nucleus of students from each faculty to participate in coordinating the college’s activities and the initiative at the university level.

He also emphasized that the “Sustainable Universities” initiative aims to directly build the capacities of students through training and qualification programs or indirectly by having students who have previously been trained by the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development train other students within the university. This initiative also aims to benefit from the ideas and suggestions of young people and open channels of communication with them to invest their creative energy.

The program witnessed intensive attendance from representatives of the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, through several sessions on Egypt’s 2030 vision between reality and aspiration, another on the vision of the Sustainable Universities Initiative and its objectives, performance indicators, a session on the state’s efforts in the “Decent Life” national project, lessons learned from it, and another on the national project for the development of the Egyptian family and gender issues, with the participation of Aya Nawar, Deputy Head of the Sustainable Development Unit, Mohamed Awad, Policy Analyst, and responsible for the Sustainable Universities Initiative at the ministry, Ahmed Reda, Project Coordinator for the “Decent Life” at the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, and Dr. Aliaa Amer, Director of the Equal Opportunities Unit at the Demographic Center.

It is worth mentioning that the “Sustainable Universities” initiative is based on two main axes. The first axis focuses on community service, through which participating students implement activities and events aimed at serving the community, such as combating illiteracy, raising awareness of the importance of community participation to achieve sustainable development goals, and organizing scientific and cultural camps and forums attended by experts and specialists to present creative ideas. The second axis focuses on scientific research, through which students are empowered to conduct scientific research in the field of sustainable development, especially concerning youth issues and how to integrate them into the state’s public policies related to development in all its dimensions.